‘Destination Weekends’ at InterContinental Singapore

Good hotel rates for Singaporean Getaway or for your regional friends visiting you!

Spend your next weekend seeing the sights, shopping and dining in Singapore. From now until 31 December, enjoy the next night free when you book your stay on Friday or Saturday at the InterContinental Singapore. The ‘Destination Weekend’ promotion is valid for bookings reserved on Best Flexible Rates and applicable to citizens, permanent residents and employment pass holders of Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand.

Full prepayment is required and no cancellations or amendments are allowed. Blackout dates apply. For further information and reservations please email: sinhb-resvn@interconti.com.

Free Sat & Sun night stays when you stay Fri night in selected Millenium Hotels

FREE SATURDAY AND SUNDAY NIGHT STAYS

when you stay Friday night!

In celebration of long weekends, Weekends for Free will be giving away more than 3,000 room nights in an unprecedented 1-for-2 offer.

Simply make a booking between 30 May and 8 June 2009 at any of our 11 participating hotels throughout Asia for stays from 1 June to 31 July 2009. Rooms only without breakfast.

Rates start from as low as USD115++. As availability is limited, book online today!

Participating hotels

Singapore - Grand Copthorne Waterfront Hotel - Orchard Hotel - M Hotel - Copthorne King’s Hotel - Copthorne Orchid Hotel Singapore

Malaysia - Grand Millennium Kuala Lumpur - Copthorne Orchid Hotel Penang

Thailand - Grand Millennium Sukhumvit Bangkok - Millennium Resort Patong Phuket

Philippines - The Heritage Hotel Manila

Indonesia - Millennium Hotel Sirih Jakarta

If you need the promotion code to get this unbeatable special offer, drop me a message to ask for it!

50% discount for your dream holidays at Banyan Tree? It's true!

In celebration of Banyan Tree Hotels and Resorts’ 15th anniversary, the group is offering an exclusive selection of packages that highlight the best of its two brands, Banyan Tree and Angsana.

The 15th anniversary specials, “Best of Banyan Tree” and “Best of Angsana” packages are available from 18 May 2009 at banyantree.com and angsana.com respectively, for stays from 18 May to 30 September.

A limited period 50% savings await guests who book between 1-15 June for stays from 1 June to 30 September 2009.

Oh no, I want to book the 50% promo, this is my dream for banyan tree holidays at such an affordable price, but when will it be the best time? Birthday?

Gucci Spring/Summer 2009 Online Sale in US Gucci portal? It's true!

Gucci Spring/Summer 2009 Pre-Sale Online 30-50%

Today I accidentally read a forum introducing the online sales from Gucci US website. Is the market really bad? This is my 1st time in my life seeing Gucci on sales via their own website. Really unbelievable and awesome! :o-

The discount is from 30-50% from US. Not sure if Singapore outlet has started in Great Singapore Sales, but certainly... this is the recession price for Gucci via their very own website.

Well, for ladies, you may find many of the models not available in Singapore, so this might be a good chance for those who wants real good deals. Might still wait for a few days for the shipment, but you would need an US address as this is for US Client only. There are now registered US address available for many US online purchase, you may wish to register online like Global Shoppers, etc. Citibank has a link to it. Easier for us Singaporeans. I have one address already :")

Nothing for guys, sorry.. but well, you can buy for your girlfriend, mum or whoever your date :")

Here the website for the ladies:
http://www.gucci.com/us/us-english/us/sale/handbags

Stay in Singapore Hotels? I Always Do...

People ask me, why do you like to stay in hotels, and worse, why Singapore hotels?

Easy answer... getaway and breakaway from stress without leaving Singapore. Fair enough? Lame answer... to boost Singapore hotel industry and Singapore economy by consuming locally?
Smart answer... too much money, don't know where to spend?

Haha, whichever it is... All I know I won't spend too much money on hotels and always look out for hotel promotion whenever it is available. So that I won't feel much of a pinch. If you would have spent $300 over for a noisy weekend in Costa Sands or Downtown East with kids running around, barbeque smell over your body for 24 hours, and worst... Noise pollution!! Over my dead body please!!! I would rather go for a quiet luxury hotel with down pillows and sumptious buffet breakfast, thereafter catch a movie, swim at the pool, gym in the hotel, call for room service... that's truely relaxed, ok? In some occasions e.g. National Day, New Year eve, I treated my families to stay as well too!

So ask me, which hotels I have stayed over in Singapore, and here it is my summary that I can recall so far....

1. St. Regis Hotel
2. Oriental Hotel
3. Regent Hotel
4. Ritz Carlton Hotel
5. Intercontinental Hotel
6. Carlton Hotel
7. Redezvous Hotel
8. Orchard Parade Hotel
9. Treasury Resort Hotel
10. Fairmont Hotel
11. Swissotel Hotel
12. Elizabeth Hotel
13. Grand Mercure Roxy Hotel
14. Novotel Clark Quay Hotel
15. York Hotel
16. Park Royal Hotel at Beach Road
17. Amara Hotel
18. Furama City Centre Hotel
19. Golden Landmark Hotel

Each hotel costs me S$100-200 per night, believe it... I can get that cheap if I want to. :) Ooops, except for Ritz Carlton and St. Regis, but they are still the discounted price.

Looking for more good promotions for my next few getaways soon!

My Bali Short Getaway Part 1 (Mercure Kuta Resort)

Romantic Sunset you will never forget...

Ok, finally I can make a comparison of those on professional photos that I posted previously and those I took from Mercure Kuta Resort and All Seasons Legian Resort in Bali. After all, it is only US$38 per night! Dirt Cheap la!

Spent $55k Indo Rupiah to reach Kuta from Airport, checking the resort and they upgraded me from Standard to Superior Room. Standard room is at ground floor or basement without any view, so I was given 2nd floor with a balcony, and that's the difference. Without seaview is fine, looking at the greenery you will feel fresh every day too from the hot weather in Bali! The best part of the hotel is definitely the infinity pool at the roof top, you see my pictures you will know why I want to book here. :)

Something interesting happened when I was at the pool taking these sunset photos, a professional photography group was there taking the hotel and sunset pictures for their official hotel website. I was requested to post my "sexy" back picture facing towards the sunset... and I may be featured in one of their pictures. So watch out and see if you can recognise me!

Mercure Kuta Resort

Mercure Kuta Resort Hotel (Pool is right on top next to the roofs) and Lobby

Upgraded from Standard to Superior Room with balcony and toilet with a window next to TV

Bathroom with a room view and a nice resort feel

View from Balcony - Lush greenery, hotel lobby and a koi pond

Infinity Pool at the roof top of the hotel, with spa cottages & open restaurant next to the pool

Go With Visa® and Stay for 25% Off at participating Hilton hotels

This summer, see more of the world for less. Receive 25% off our Best Available Rate* at participating Hilton hotels when you pay for your stay with a Visa Signature® or Visa Infinite® credit card. Stay between now and September 30, 2009.

Only valid by booking online at hilton.com/visa, once Visa Signature, Visa Infinite or Visa Platinum card membership has been verified on hilton.com/visa or visa.com/signature.

Remember to register your membership at Hilton HHonour before you do the booking!

Starwood Hotel Chain Promotion - Stay 2 weekend nights get 1 night free!

Further to Marriott promotion in my previous blog, Starwood hotel group, which includes Sheraton, St. Regis, etc. comes out with their own promotion which allowed their Starwood Preferred Guests to book their hotels worldwide for 2 nights and points will be credited to their SPG account to redeem the free night before 27 September 09!

To get this deal, all you need to do is to register yourself as a member of SPG at https://www.starwoodhotels.com/preferredguest/index.html, then further registered for this free weekend promotion and start booking your holiday rooms! If you intend to book for a 4 days 3 nights holiday in Melbourne e.g. Westin Melbourne for AU$265 per night x 2 = $530, and redeem your 3rd night through contacting local office for SPG, which means your each night costs you only AU$177 per night only for the top luxury hotel in Melbourne.

The war just started for hotels to fight for business in this economic downturn, and the gains will definitely go to the consumers like us!

Stay 2 weekend nights in Marriott brands of hotels and get 3rd night free!

Guys, this a good deal for all of you who will be travelling overseas and wish to pamper yourself in luxury hotel chain. This is worth it!

Book by May 1, 2009 with your Visa card. Here’s a chance to make your weekends last longer and your budget stretch further. Stay 2 weekend nights at any Marriott, JW Marriott, Renaissance or Courtyard hotel outside the USA and Canada, pay with Visa and receive a 3rd night free. As you might imagine, an offer this good won’t last long. So book by May 1, 2009 with your Visa card for stays from March 27 through May 31, 2009.Reserve your free 3rd night now, or call (888) 236-2427 and reference promotional code RR2.

Too bad it does not apply for my Melbourne trip in June :( so extend to you all!

Good deals for my Australia Airfare in June

After much struggling to accomodate my dad's timing after his relief teaching, I finally decided to book a trip to pamper my parents who have never been to a Caucasian country. Meaning, either I would have to chose a trip to Europe or Australia, whereafter it is cheaper for bring the two. Always wanted to bring them to have a different
perspective of western lifestyle and environment.

Gotten a very good deal for Emirates Airlines flying to Melbourne this June holiday by accident. In fact it is only known to me when I used the search engine to find any cheap deal. This economy airticket costs me S$407 including tax per pax! This is 50% off from those usual promotional airticket offered by other airlines such as Qantas, BA or SQ. A fraction of what I would pay for usually, now I can buy my parents a trip easily without feeling much pinch to that faraway Aussie Land, i.e. 1 single price for the price of two to Aussie! This is as good as travel to Bangkok by SQ flights but this is 3.5 times more the distance paying this almost same amount! Can't be help in this current economic situation :op

I am lucky to be the last few to get this price ticket in June for such school holiday seasons in Singapore, afterwhich couple days later no more of this price available and it goes up to double or triple the price! This price also fly Emirates to Brisbane, but I guess Brisbane are more for people who enjoy great barrier reef for scuba or underwater world for kids. However, it is winter in Australia in June, thus Melbourne would be a better choice for some serious sight seeing, Penguin Island or Great Ocean Road.

Now I am certainly looking for good deals to book the accomodation there, should I get a service
apartment or hotel? Wait till there is another promotion coming soon... I hope I can get it, no matter how! So would I see Lady Sarah Ashley in Melbourne? Guess not unless I go to Alice Spring, haha...

Bali... Here I come on May Day!

Recently Air Asia has offered $0 for their new route to some Indonesia destinations from Singapore, starting from 24 March onwards. Bali is one of them. While I was looking for places to go for a short getaway during Good Friday, I saw this promotion, thus trying my luck cos usually peak season like this they will not offer $0. And yes, indeed. But the return trip offer is still good at $214 including tax. So without hesitation I book it!

Then I continue with my resort booking following next. As a member of Accors Advantage Plus, I took advantage of their recent promotion of offering US$38 per night for their exclusive 3-day hotel offer around the world. I might be crazy but I booked 2 resorts for 1 night each for my 2 nights stay in Bali! Say I cheapskate but I like to try new and different things especially with such good offer, moreover this 2 hotels are not far apart as Legian and Kuta beaches are linked together, according to the map.

There are Mercure Kuta Bali Resort and All Seasons Legian Bali Resort. Take a look at the pictures and imagine I am right there now! Anyway, I will verify whether they are good and reveal soon!

1-2 May: Mercure Kuta Bali Resort

2 - 3 May: All Seasons Legian Bali Resort

Photo Source: Multiple Websites

Bali... Here I come on May Day!!!

50% Off Online Redemption of Krisflyer Miles from 1 Feb - 15 Sep 09

To all travel freaks like me... Too good to be true!

From 1 Feb till 15 Sep 09, Singapore Airline is offering up to 50% discount of usual Kris Flyer Miles for selected flights online redemption at selected month. All other destinations also have 25% discount. So worth it!

E.g. If you intend to visit Shanghai within June 09, usual mileage required is 40,000 miles for a return trip, now it will be 20,000 miles only! That's 50% off for some hot destinations such as London, Shanghai, Seoul, San Francisco, Sydney, Zurich by SQ or Chiangmai, Phuket, Cebu or Shenzhen by MI.

Note of the restriction is, if you intend to fly in Shanghai on 29 June and depart on 4 July, you will receive 50% discount on 1 sector and the usual SQ discount of 15% discount on return sector. Beware of that when your trip stretched between 2 months.

Thus if you have 50,000 miles accumulated right now for example, originally you are able to fly to Shanghai for 1 person, now you can have 2 persons to go with! But you have to do Mileage nomination process on Krisflyer miles before you can get your partner who own a Krisflyer membership to go with you for free! Moreover, you still have 10,000 miles to keep. Otherwise, it is also good to treat it like buy 1 get 1 free, just need to purchase 1 more ticket for your companion :)

So if you already have a Krisflyer membership, quickly convert all your eligible credit card points to mileage, grab this offer and ready to pack your luggage soon!

More details are available at http://www.singaporeair.com.sg/

Best Time to book Your Hotel Stay on Valentine's Day

Valentine's Day is approaching around the Corner, some couples may think of dropping ideas to go overseas now for a romantic getaway at Maldives, Phuket or Bali 5-star resorts, while looking at the current economic downturn. Save Money of course! But does that compromise young couples to spend their quality time with each other? Probably not for some.

So save money to travel, then where to go then? Escapade from work or family and yet not overspend unnecessarily, cos you will never know if your job is at stake anytime. But, there is an option to stay away from the chaos without spending more than $200-300 for a couple and without travelling hassle!

Recently I browsed some hotel sites in Singapore just for fun (in fact, just a routine check at times). Perhaps the hotel chain starts to feel the pinch of the economic downturn effect and volume of tourists decreases over the past few months, many of such hotels have dropped their room rates slowly between 10-30%, while some offering some good deals even during peak season such as Chinese New Year and Valentine's Day, slashing the price as low as 50%.

In the past, even a no- star hotel can go as high as $180 per night in Singapore, such as during last year F1 Race in September last year. But now, you can find some great hotels here with a real good and hot deal!

Ok, which are the few that I found has started to giving some hot deals for the loving birds to spend their time right at homeland for Valentine's Day?

5 STARs:

1. Hilton Hotel in Orchard - S$203. This price includes 1 night stay with a choice of king or double beds in deluxe room and free breadfast for 2. Come with broadband in room. With additional $50 or more, you can enjoy Executive floor room and butler services easily with some cocktail break to add on. This rate has never been that cheap for such international hotel chain before during the good old days.
2. Conrad Centennial Hotel in Suntec City - $194 for twin bed, $235 for Kind bed in a Classic Room. It also comes with free breakfast for 2. Broadband with a fee. Same here with additional $50 you can enjoy club facilities.
3. Grand Copthorne Waterfront Hotel in Havelock - $204 for double or twin rooms and includes breakfast for 2.
4. Mandarin Oriental Hotel in Marina Square - $228 for double or twin rooms and includes breakfast for 2.

There are many more other 5-Star hotels less than $250 per night such as Inter-Continental, Marina Mandarin and Pan Pacific that offer similar package and attract locals to generate their business revenues through such domestic spending, if tourist industry is not going to revive for the next few months, or even a year. Even you want to look for lower budget, there are many good bargain for 4 star rating hotels as well such as Changi Village hotel, Gallery Hotel, M hotel, Novotel Clark Quay or Le Meridien, etc. All less than $200 per night. Most of these offers extends till mid of 2009, so grab this bargain if you have some spare cash to spare to relax in your own homeland and yet, feel like going for a holiday! So many choices to choose from, I hope I have one romantic hotel stay this coming Valentine...

So where will it be? ;op

2 Important Warehouse Sales whenever I visit Hong Kong

Ok... 2009!

This is my 1st blog of this brand new year, I admit I am a little lazy at times and don't know what to write to make it fits my lifestyle, but of course I would love to give tips to shoppers whenever I can, from where to shop or what good deals I have bought from various sales. Be it a belt, tee shirt or bag, ok I will reveal it if possible where I got it from. Anyway, blog is just a matter of sharing, right?

Ok for shopaholics, for the 1st one I am revealing, is 2 important warehouse trips I will make whenever I visit Hong Kong! So get ready when it is winter or summer sales, it can go as low as 70% discount for some luxury brands.

1. Space Warehouse

Location : 2/F, South Horizons Plaza (East Wing), South Horizons, Hong Kong

Transportation : Take the bus ( 90B ) at the Admiralty MTR station or the bus ( 590 ) at Central MTR station. Sorry did not take any photo here as it is quite easy to find. Just watch out a down slope when the bus turns left and quite a few people would drop off, you can see the Black signboard "Space" on the right side of the bus. If you missed the bus stop, it will continue a little before it turns right to a straight road, it is just along the Horizons Plaza, just need a little more walking backward will do.

Famous brand : Miu Miu, Prada* off-season goods* Prices are up to 30% - 70% off.

Opening hours : Mon Closed, Tue - Sat 10:00 - 18:00, Public holiday 12:00 - 18:00

Remarks: Off seasons but you can still find good deals there if you are a Prada die-hard fan, I bought a Prada polo tee at S$220 after conversion (70% off from original price). I almost want to buy a sunshade cap but after thinking of the number of times I would wear, I gave up even it looks cool on me. Other than that, not much choices for guys but gals one should have quite a handful of items, especially bags. If you are bag freak, this is your heaven!!

2. Horizon Plaza

Transportation : No bus to reach there, so the best is to visit Space 1st, take a cab from there about S$5 and you will reach there.

Famous brand : Moschino, Paul Smith, Max Mara, Joyce Boutique, Lane Crawford* off-season goods* Prices are up to 30% - 70% off.

Opening hours : 10:00 to 19:00 daily.

Remarks: It was a tall building by itself, and there is a roof top cafe for a sip of coffee after you finished your shopping crave. Appeared like a factory, when you entered the lobby, there is a lady wearing costume passed you a piece of paper which guide you to various floor, even you unable to copy down all the brands from the directory. My best hunt is definitely Joyce Warehouse, you can simply find any brands in there such as Yohji Yamamoto, Hugo Boss, Jil Sander, Dolce Gabbana, etc. I bought Y's tee and Hugo boss undergear while my friend got a Hugo Boss high-cut canvas shoes. Believe it, my undergear is only S$10 per pc and Y's tee at $$40, and best my friend's shoes is also S$40 too!

Realised that they have different discount at different season. I was there in Summer so the discount might only 30-50% but when it comes to autumn then winter, it will drop further to 70-80%!! But I guess, you just grab whatever there is suitable for you on the shelf, who will bother to come back again for the same piece when it is gone by then! Haha...

Is this the main entrance? No, it is a glassdoor next to the main road but same building.

The directory at a glance

Shop till you drop racks