Staying on Budget at a Luxury Resort

So you’ve saved up enough points to stay at a brilliant 5-star resort. Maybe you only got the room comp’d or wish you had enough points for the all-inclusive package. As an average traveller, how do you keep the costs under control so you don’t run a tab greater than $5,000 while still having a great time? It’s a bit of an oxymoron but, like I did at the Conrad Maldives, here are 5 tips to keep your wallet intact.

1. Free breakfast

If you’re able to get free breakfast, I’ve found this to be one of the best ways to save money. At the Conrad we would often have a super late and really full breakfast at 10-11AM which in essence became a brunch. As a result we never had to buy lunch.

But what if you’re still hungry or if you’re not able to have that late breakfast? Well that’s what #2 is for.

2. BYOF

Bring your own food. We prepared beforehand and brought a bag full of granola bars, cookies and other snacks from home so when we got hungry in the afternoon, we would just munch on these snacks to tide us over until dinner.

Now onto a more hotly contested topic. What about cup noodles? Too ghetto or not? For us, we knew that the Conrad dinners would be an big expense and to balance things out, we had 3-4 days of cup noodle nights. This was totally fine for us because there were a few days when we didn’t really want to head out and just wanted to eat some noodles and watch TV. Packaged food makes budget-friendly travel companions.

3. Afternoon Tea/Happy Hour/Manager’s Reception

Every resort will have some form of these type of events so the tip here is to just take advantage.

– The Conrad Maldives had afternoon tea every day from 4-5PM which gave us an excellent selection (albeit more or less the same every day) of sandwiches, cookies, cakes and amazing TWG tea. During our 10 days there, we must’ve gone there at least 5-6 times.

– Happy Hour is another one that we fully took advantage of. In the Maldives, luckily I still had my Gold status so we were able to take advantage of the 5-6PM Happy Hour which consisted of unlimited drinks and one canapé. Then from 6-7PM, all drinks were 50% off which was best combo-ed with an early dinner.

– Manager’s Reception usually happens once a week at resorts and is open to all guests so you can always bank on at least one evening of complimentary drinks and hors d’oeurvres!

4. Free activities and entertainment

There are always a number of free activities offered at every resort.

– Non-motorized water sports are typically free so if there’s a good spot for snorkelling or if you just want to take out the kayak or paddle boat out for an hour, those are always fun times.

– The fitness centre normally has a few free programs running each day.

– Chilling by the pool, on the beach or on a hammock are always free and relaxing.

– In the evening, there is also live entertainment so don’t miss out on those.

5. Get Out

If you can, I would highly encourage you to explore the areas outside your resort. At a resort like the Conrad Bali, we were easily able to walk out and try out local restaurants that were much more affordable and many times also much more authentic.

On top of food, there are always activities outside the resort to take advantage of including excursions, local guided tours, markets, hiking trails or even a simple walk into a neighbouring town or village. There is so much more to resort life just a few steps away!

But most important of all…

At the end of the day, it’s all about having a great time and spend money where it needs to be spent. For us, diving to see manta rays and snorkelling with whale sharks was non-negotiable so we saved where we could and splurged on these!

Will Tang has been a member of Toronto Travel Massive since 2013. Since quitting his consulting job in 2012 he is now the travel blogger behind Going Awesome Places writing about epic adventures, detailed trip itineraries and helpful tips and tricks to travel better. You can follow him on Travel Massive.