I'm a big fan of staycations and I've written about a few of our stays here and here. Our family has always spent staycations in Makati hotels and so I decided to look for a hotel in a place where we rarely visit. We don't often frequent the south, specifically Alabang, because it's a little bit far from where we live. I also read that Ascott Limited, a member of CapitaLand, recently opened a new serviced residence in the south so I chose to book it to experience the property that so many bloggers are raving about.
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I booked an overnight stay at the Somerset Alabang Manila - the first international serviced residence in the south. The new property is located in the developing Filinvest City in Alabang. Filinvest City is a fast-growing business district that has multinational corporate offices, retail outlets, residential houses/condominiums and leisure venues such as malls, restaurants, and sports center. The property is highly accessible from the airport and also closely linked to the industrial parks in Laguna, Cavite, and Batangas, as it is found right off the exit of the South Luzon Expressway (SLEX).
The twenty-storey hotel has 150 rooms for both business (expats and visiting international/local company executives) and leisure travelers like us. All rooms are fully-equipped with state-of-the-art appliances and furniture, the kitchens have modern appliances and utensils and a washing machine is also available for use. Unlike other deluxe hotel rooms, the one-bedroom suite that I booked also comes with a microwave, griller, and oven toaster in one. That is absolutely perfect especially for my husband who loves piping hot bread to go with his black coffee.
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I installed the Traveloka app recently and I tried to use it to book our stay. I didn't have any high expectations about the app because I did not want to keep my hopes up. I tried to play with the search functions and I was extremely pleased with how fast it returned results after every search. I love that it showed a great variety of inns/hotels/apartments as well as condotels and even displayed all the available room categories.
For the benefit of first-time Traveloka app users, I am going to share with you the step-by-step process on how I used the app. Relax, don't fret, the app is really easy to navigate so you'll get the hang of using it I'm sure. But first,click here to download the app.
The Traveloka app is available to ios and Android users. Android users will have a version of the app that will be best suited to your mobile phone's operating software. This is how the app looks like on an ios device:
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After downloading and installing the Traveloka app on my smartphone, I registered for a Traveloka account using my name, email address and mobile number. Upon signing up, you have an option to enable Traveloka to send information about future promotions and exclusive discounts. I opted in because why not? A verification code was then sent to my email address so I can confirm and complete the account sign-up.
To book a hotel (or flight), you simply need to tap the "Hotels" option, enter desired destination, check-in date, duration, total guest/s, and room/s required, and then tap the orange bar to search.
TRAVELOKA APP BOOKING TIP: Make sure to tap the Ongoing Promos tab to check if there are available flight coupons and hotel coupons as well as hotel discounts available for use.
I tried to search for hotels in Makati City, Pasay City, and Parañaque City and eventually zoned into Alabang, Muntinlupa City. The search returned several results with prices ranging from Php1,900 to Php6,000. The search results can be sorted to show hotels based on highest popularity, lowest price, highest price and highest rating.
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I love that the app search results shows not only the room rates but also hotel star rating, Traveloka client rating as well as TripAdvisor score and reviews. When you click on a specific hotel, the app will show the amenities/facilities, hotel address/map, establishments near the hotel, hotel description, as well as available room types and rates. The available room types and rates section also shows if the room comes with free breakfast, free cancellation, refund clause as well as available rooms left.
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I chose the deluxe apartment, one bedroom, with kitchen option and the rate came with free breakfast but is non-refundable. All the information that I needed to know about my booking was displayed in the app and not written as a fine print on an obscure page somewhere.
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The Traveloka app offers three (3) payment options: credit/debit card (Mastercard or Visa), over-the-counter, and bank counters. I paid using my credit card because the other 2 options were only available for use from 8AM to 9PM.
Upon payment, the app instantaneously displayed a confirmation of my booking with the itinerary ID. After a few seconds, the hotel voucher was issued and just like that my hotel booking was confirmed!
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The whole account set-up, searching for the hotel suited for our family staycation, payment and issuance of hotel voucher all done in a little over 30 minutes. It could have been quicker if I already made up my mind where to stay before setting up the account. The booking procedure was quick and hassle-free. It's a bonus that the app did not crash as well! The best thing about this booking is that I got a cheaper rate than booking straight from the hotel website. Thank you Traveloka for the efficient and convenient booking. I'll most definitely use this app again when I book another hotel staycation.
So yes, we've come to the point where I share one of the best staycations we've had so far. Are you ready?
The entire hotel houses pieces of art and as soon as you enter the lobby, the humongous art installation created by Olivia d'Aboville will amaze you - all of its 400cm x 90cm wonder. The artist used textiles that were made in the Philippines (indigenous) and dyed in different colors/hues to create this masterpiece.
If you are reading this and you have never been to the Philippines, read 20 incredible facts about the Philippines before you plan your itinerary via the Huffington Post.
I will be sharing photos I took during our staycation in another blog post so I hope you watch out for it.
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Have you tried using the Traveloka app? How was your experience? I would love to know. Please feel free to leave a comment below to share your experience or if you have any question.
I booked an overnight stay at the Somerset Alabang Manila - the first international serviced residence in the south. The new property is located in the developing Filinvest City in Alabang. Filinvest City is a fast-growing business district that has multinational corporate offices, retail outlets, residential houses/condominiums and leisure venues such as malls, restaurants, and sports center. The property is highly accessible from the airport and also closely linked to the industrial parks in Laguna, Cavite, and Batangas, as it is found right off the exit of the South Luzon Expressway (SLEX).
The twenty-storey hotel has 150 rooms for both business (expats and visiting international/local company executives) and leisure travelers like us. All rooms are fully-equipped with state-of-the-art appliances and furniture, the kitchens have modern appliances and utensils and a washing machine is also available for use. Unlike other deluxe hotel rooms, the one-bedroom suite that I booked also comes with a microwave, griller, and oven toaster in one. That is absolutely perfect especially for my husband who loves piping hot bread to go with his black coffee.
BOOKING OUR STAY USING THE TRAVELOKA APP
I installed the Traveloka app recently and I tried to use it to book our stay. I didn't have any high expectations about the app because I did not want to keep my hopes up. I tried to play with the search functions and I was extremely pleased with how fast it returned results after every search. I love that it showed a great variety of inns/hotels/apartments as well as condotels and even displayed all the available room categories.
For the benefit of first-time Traveloka app users, I am going to share with you the step-by-step process on how I used the app. Relax, don't fret, the app is really easy to navigate so you'll get the hang of using it I'm sure. But first,click here to download the app.
The Traveloka app is available to ios and Android users. Android users will have a version of the app that will be best suited to your mobile phone's operating software. This is how the app looks like on an ios device:
After downloading and installing the Traveloka app on my smartphone, I registered for a Traveloka account using my name, email address and mobile number. Upon signing up, you have an option to enable Traveloka to send information about future promotions and exclusive discounts. I opted in because why not? A verification code was then sent to my email address so I can confirm and complete the account sign-up.
To book a hotel (or flight), you simply need to tap the "Hotels" option, enter desired destination, check-in date, duration, total guest/s, and room/s required, and then tap the orange bar to search.
TRAVELOKA APP BOOKING TIP: Make sure to tap the Ongoing Promos tab to check if there are available flight coupons and hotel coupons as well as hotel discounts available for use.
I tried to search for hotels in Makati City, Pasay City, and Parañaque City and eventually zoned into Alabang, Muntinlupa City. The search returned several results with prices ranging from Php1,900 to Php6,000. The search results can be sorted to show hotels based on highest popularity, lowest price, highest price and highest rating.
I chose the deluxe apartment, one bedroom, with kitchen option and the rate came with free breakfast but is non-refundable. All the information that I needed to know about my booking was displayed in the app and not written as a fine print on an obscure page somewhere.
The Traveloka app offers three (3) payment options: credit/debit card (Mastercard or Visa), over-the-counter, and bank counters. I paid using my credit card because the other 2 options were only available for use from 8AM to 9PM.
Upon payment, the app instantaneously displayed a confirmation of my booking with the itinerary ID. After a few seconds, the hotel voucher was issued and just like that my hotel booking was confirmed!
So yes, we've come to the point where I share one of the best staycations we've had so far. Are you ready?
OUR HOME AWAY FROM HOME
I booked an overnight stay in a one-bedroom deluxe apartment. The room rate comes with free breakfast for two and free wifi connection plus all the other amenities that comes along with the chosen room. Our room was located on the 15th floor facing one of Filinvest City's green spaces. I've stayed in Ascott Makati as well as Ascott Singapore and I can say that Somerset Alabang Manila is comparable in terms of overall look and feel as well as space allotment.The entire hotel houses pieces of art and as soon as you enter the lobby, the humongous art installation created by Olivia d'Aboville will amaze you - all of its 400cm x 90cm wonder. The artist used textiles that were made in the Philippines (indigenous) and dyed in different colors/hues to create this masterpiece.
If you are reading this and you have never been to the Philippines, read 20 incredible facts about the Philippines before you plan your itinerary via the Huffington Post.
I will be sharing photos I took during our staycation in another blog post so I hope you watch out for it.
Have you tried using the Traveloka app? How was your experience? I would love to know. Please feel free to leave a comment below to share your experience or if you have any question.
