Tagaytay Hotels with Garden

It was a long weekend.  My husband and I wanted some R&R during those times.  We just thought of a staycation or anywhere near the metro just to relax.  We thought of Tagaytay as it has been quite a while since our last visit there. It was already days before the weekend when we scouted for available hotels. Although, we knew that there are a lot of accommodations available in Tagaytay. There are a number of hotels and lodging that we first chose to stay: Chateau Hestia, The Lake Hotel, Crosswinds, Theodore Hotel and Joaquin’s Bed and Breakfast. If you are familiar with these hotels, their common denominator is that they all have gardens outside their rooms.  My husband and I prefer to have a relaxing garden view in the absence of a beach, which I mostly preferred when we’ll be on a vacation.  Since it’s a long weekend and last-minute booking, we definitely won’t be able to get an available accommodation on nearby beach resorts (READ: Batangas).

Chateau Hestia seems like a nature inspired accommodation with cottages and cabins that are made of wood, bamboo and various Filipino inspired materials. From their website, it seems very relaxing as it is surrounded by a garden. However, it doesn’t seem to have any aircon on their rooms. Though weather in Tagaytay can be cooler than in Manila, it can still get hot during noontime at summer season.  So, an aircon is a must! Also, its location is not near the Tagaytay center.  You may check their rates here.

The Lake Hotel is quite known for an events place for weddings. They have indoor and outdoor rooms with the view of Taal Lake. For the accommodation, their standard rooms have mini garden while the others have veranda and lake view room.  This hotel is quite pricey or maybe its summer season and only days before our preferred stay date that makes the price higher than usual.  You can check their prices here.

Crosswinds Resort Suites is located inside Crosswinds Tagaytay village which has a Switzerland inspired house.  It is far away from the busy and usual Tagaytay center so the place is more peaceful and relaxing.  The hotel is more like a condotel where each room is equipped with kitchen area.  All rooms have wonderful view of the mountains and nature.  The Swiss inspired surrounding will make you feel like you’re in another country.  We’re considering this hotel but it’s quite pricey.  Check out their room rates here.

Theodore Hotel is a bed and breakfast accommodation with only 5 rooms.  Each room is designed based on its theme with artsy decors.  Rooms have balcony with garden and Taal Lake view.  This hotel is cheaper than The Lake Hotel.  Unfortunately, it’s quite confusing whether this hotel is still operational or has changed name.  When browsing through goggle, the hotel is tagged as permanently closed but further research, I found that this has been renamed to Basilisk Hotel.  Both names can still be found in booking sites.  Just to be sure which is operational, I tried calling them but there was no answer.  UPDATE: I believe Theodore Hotel has been renamed to Basilisk Hotel according to their signage.  Not sure though if management has changed and if there were renovations made.  Check out Basilisk Hotel rates here.

Finally, I landed at Joaquin’s Bed and Breakfast, which is almost beside The Lake Hotel and also near Theodore Hotel / Basilisk Hotel.  Joaquin’s Bed and Breakfast is a small hotel with just 8 rooms.  Each room has its own veranda where some have mini garden while some just have a balcony.  All have a good view of Taal Lake.  Upon landing on their website, we fell in love with its rustic design and of course your very own garden in your room!  And so we chose this hotel among those mentioned above.  Their room rate is quite expensive when booked directly from their website so it’s best to book from various travel websites.  Check it out here.  I’ll review this hotel in my next blog post.

Do you have any other recommendations for hotels with garden or garden view.  Please do share as we love to explore more of these in Tagaytay.

Trivago, Traveloka, TripAdvisor: What's the difference?

I'm sure you have all heard about hotel booking apps such as Trivago, Traveloka and TripAdvisor.  They all have similarities and I'm not quite sure what are their differences.  I'd like to share with you on how I use these three apps and my opinions on each.

My Travel apps

I've been using TripAdvisor for the longest time in my search for best rated hotels.  Their review sections are legit and believable.  I, myself, is also a contributor to review some hotels and restaurants.  Yes, TripAdvisor also have various restaurants posted per location and even things to do on those locations.  I also make use of TripAdvisor's hotel search for best prices as reference but I haven't really tried booking from them. I will tell the reason why later.

TripAdvisor Mobile App

Trivago has been popular because of their TV commercial.  Since then, there were a lot of reviews already on various hotels which I'm quite skeptical with since they're just fairly new.  Similar to TripAdvisor, Trivago also provides best prices on hotel search.  But the booking companies that they are partnered with were mostly Booking.com (or at least that’s what’s always showing upon search).  Unlike in TripAdvisor, you will find various booking companies upon search such as agoda, booking.com, hotel quickly, hotels.com and even our local Travel Book.  Although these are also available in Trivago, you will notice that mostly Booking.com appears the cheapest.  Again, I also use Trivago as reference in finding cheap hotel deals.  Trivago, by the way, only has hotel search unlike with TripAdvisor and Traveloka which has flight search (TripAdvisor even has restaurant search and things to do).

Trivago Mobile App

I came to know Traveloka through their sponsored ad in Instagram.  I seldom use this app in search for cheapest hotel deals since for me Trivago and TripAdvisor are enough.  But anyway, when you try searching for hotels, their booking partners are also similar to the two apps mentioned above.  They even show prices from TripAdvisor.  What I find very useful to this app is their flight search.  The prices that they will show you upon search on the cheapest flight is very close to the prices when using the airline's app directly. This is very convenient when you want to know which of the airlines provides cheapest flight deals.  Similar to the two apps mentioned above, I only use this for reference.  TripAdvisor also has flight search but I haven't really used it.

Traveloka Mobile app

I only use these 3 apps for reference.  I haven't really used them for bookings, whether flight or hotel deals.  The reason being is that I also have accounts in booking sites such as agoda and Travel Book where I can accumulate points so I directly booked with them instead. (I’m not sure though if you can still accumulate points when booking through TripAdvisor and be directed to agoda or Travel Book.) And there were times that booking directly from booking sites can be a bit cheaper.  But I still use these apps, again for reference.

In may last HongKong trip, these three apps were very useful to me: Traveloka in search for cheapest flight (I booked a flight 3 weeks before our travel schedule), TripAdvisor and Traveloka for hotel deals.  In my hotel search, both TripAdvisor and Traveloka shows different cheap deals that makes it quite confusing.  There are some booking sites which appears both in these apps but shows different prices.  Well, in the end, I just booked directly to my chosen hotel's website.  It is a bit cheaper than these apps.

Trivago, Traveloka and TripAdvisor are great apps in your hotel and flight search.  They will be very useful and really saves time in your search.  But I suggest you still include in your research the hotel's website price and promo deals.  There will be times when your chosen hotel will no longer have available room on your preferred date but when you ask directly the hotel, there could still be available rooms for you. So be resourceful!

Which of these apps you find useful? Or do you have any other recommended similar app?

Happy New Year!

It's new year once again.  It's 2018! Our earth has been living for 2,018 years!

I am writing this short post just to let my readers know that I am still alive! 😋😁  It's been quite a while since I have updated this blog.  Even my FB page.  I was quite busy with my work life last 2017.  Really busy.  I never had the chance to update my blog.  I have a few pending and draft write ups but I wasn't able to finish it.  Hopefully this year, I'd get or should I say I will allot a little time to update my blog before it becomes "dead" (they say blogging is dead and vlogging is in)!!!  But whether its dead or not, I will still continue to write, whatever I please and whenever I have time.

Thank you everyone for continuous support on my blog and FB page.  I will still continue to provide information and share experiences whether on travel, beauty, or whatever, here in my blog.

See you in 2018!  Happy New Year!