Smart Way Trave and Tour

Normally the hotels are segregated into five different ratings. ‘One Star’ being the lowest rank and ‘Five Star’ being the highest. This raking system is called the star ranking system.

I am sure we all have experienced that when we look for a rating for a hotel. we find the same hotel ranked with three different ratings on different websites. Why does that happen? This happens because there is a lack of a Unified global system for rating hotels. Different countries, different websites and different rating agencies follow different methods for rating hotels. For example: The Sanctuary Hotel of South Beach in Miami, Florida is rated as a 5 star, 4 star and 3 star by different websites.

As you go up from one star to five star hotels, the services, facilities, staff, decor, ambiance and comfort provided, increases.

★
These hotels are the most affordable options.

Amenities: A single star rating for a hotel indicates minimum quality of maintenance, cleanliness, furnishings, and other services. The items provided are very basic and functional. The staff members are more informal and the food services are normally provided in a common designated eating area. Rooms would be small and even congested sometimes.
Accommodation: Only the basic necessity-services are provided by the one star hotels. Variety of cuisines are not offered and the hospitality is also minimum. TV’s and AC’s may or may not be provided.

★★
These hotels are affordable and convenient.

Amenities: A hotel with a two star rating will provide a wider range of items. The rooms will be larger and services are of a better quality and standard. The beds and the washrooms are well maintained.
Accommodation: They normally have a restaurant which is operational for all the three times; breakfast, lunch and dinner. The food will be cooked with greater care. The staff will be considerably formal and the variety of dishes offered will be limited.

★★★
These hotels fall into the semi-luxury category.

Amenities: Extra care is taken in maintaining the cleanliness, hygiene, furnishing, hospitality and F&B services. The decor is good, good provisions are made for the recreational and the kitchen services.
Accommodation: The staff members are formally dressed and are hospitable. The beds and the washrooms are well maintained. There will be a good range of choices for cuisines and the food is cooked with good care.

★★★★
These hotels fall in the luxury category.

Amenities: The standard of furniture used, cleanliness, hygiene, and the decor will be high. A good provision for recreational services and a well stocked kitchen is provided. The space available in the rooms will be more. The bedrooms, washrooms are well maintained and quick rooms services are provided. Many luxuries like jacuizzis, dance-floors or discotheques and lawns will be provided.
Accommodation: Staff members will be perfectly dressed in uniforms and they provide personalized services. Great care is taken in the food cooked and in the utensils and crockery used. You will find multi-cuisines offered here. Two or more restaurants are created and are also made available to outsiders.

★★★★★
A five star hotel is a synonym for luxury.

Amenities: There is class in the decor and the ambiance. The furniture and the interior designing will be affluent. A wide range of items are offered and all the needs of the customers will be taken care of, personally. Recreational activities and F&B services provided will be of a high quality.
Accommodation: Every guest’s personal needs are addressed to. The beds and the maintenance is of an excellent standard. Rooms would have ample space and all the facilities like heaters, AC’s, TV and jacuzzies will be basic services. Multi-cuisine dishes will be offered and the crockery, utensils and the inputs used in cooking are of the best grade. Many extra facilities like conference rooms, lawns, cafe, casino’s and bars are provided.

Six and Seven Star Hotels
The hotel ‘Burj Al Arab’, in Dubai is conspicuously known as a seven-star hotel. It is really rated as a 7 star hotel? The fact is that, no rating body has till now rated any hotel more than 5 stars. The hotels that claim to have 7 or 6 star, address themselves like that to show their supreme-luxurious status. They do offer a better range of amenities and luxury rooms and services. The customers who live at Burj Al Arab come via helicopters and use Rolls Royce automobiles as taxis. Every room has a Jacuzzi and rain showers in it and the customers have easy access to the Helipads. Even after having all of these affluent features, Burj Al Arab is still called a self-proclaimed seven star hotel.

Besides the star rating system, the other widely used hotel rating system is the Diamond Rating system.

One cannot rely completely on the hotel star ratings as different rating measures are used by different bodies. You will need to look for customer reviews to see if it matches your need. Also look at the pictures that are put on hotels official websites; they can give you a clearer picture. You can also rely on one particular authentic website and follow it, as you will learn about how they rate a hotel and will be able to understand their future ratings

Come holidays and it seems like all you’re doing is spending, spending and spending. The cash just doesn’t seem to stay in your hands and you really don’t know what to do to make it last. At times like these it is quite natural for some to have their holidays turn into a dreading feeling. And if that’s what’s happening to your holiday, then that’s not a good feeling at all! So how do we turn this thing around and enjoy the holidays in the way that they are meant to be? We try some holiday budget tips! The biggest money crunches can be solved with a little planning and budgeting and that is exactly what we need to concentrate on. In the following article then we shall be concentrating on some holiday budget tips and how to go about getting the best of both worlds with simple budgeting.

Holiday Budget Guide

In the following paragraphs we shall be looking into certain important aspects of holiday budget planning and how to ensure effective money saving techniques. Continue reading for holiday money saving tips through these pointers.

Overall Budgeting
It is extremely important that you have an overall budget properly in place or there are chances that you’ll end up spending much much more than what you want, and on things that you don’t need. Here are some tips to keep in mind when learning how to make a budget for your next holiday:

Make a list of the things that you need to be spending on. Having a complete list ready helps to plan better than being faced with last minute items.
Calculate the money you have that can be spent and then put in a bulk sum against each item that you need to spend on. Try and stick to this sum.
Keep a small amount as a safety net for any sudden or unexpected expenditures.
It’s not really possible to suddenly come up with a bulk of money at the start of a holiday for spending. The trick is to save up for it throughout the year so that you do not feel a crunch all at once. Try and open a saving account a year or several months in advance and dedicate it merely to the holiday budget. In that way you’ll have quite a sum to work with at your disposal.

Shopping
Shopping is one of the most expensive things that you end up doing in the holiday season. Maybe it can’t be cut out completely, but you can definitely control how much you spend on shopping. Here are some shopping for holiday budgeting tips:

Make a list of all the people you need to buy things for. Then write in the amount that you want to spend for each of them. Stick to it!
Look for discounts and schemes. Sales are also a great way to save some money.
Do NOT let your emotions come in the way of shopping, then your budget is as good as useless.
Shop online so that you’re not tempted by the grand displays and countless other tempting offers that are running.
Don’t wait for the last minute to do your shopping. The more you wait the more expensive it becomes. Try to get your shopping done months in advance.
Try and pay with cash so that you are aware of what you’re spending and can thus keep a check on the same. Also, it’ll help prevent impulse buying.

Vacation Planning
There are many who take vacations around the time of holidays and want to know about vacation budget tips. The following are some budget vacation ideas and tips:

Plan a holiday is advance. Last minute traveling, booking and accommodation costs much more. You can easily avoid this by doing the right budget travel.
Consider starting an account to further the holiday fund as well.
Look for discounts on hotels, flights and other aspects. There are a lot of these schemes available during the holiday season. Be informed and you could save yourself a lot of money.
Find out about the days that are the most expensive to travel on and see if you can maybe go a day or two before or after that day. This will help save a lot of expenses.
Consider other modes of transport that are probably not as expensive as airfare.
Try and cut out on certain elements of a holiday like saving on accommodation by putting up with relatives and friends or at a hostel. This is a great way for vacations on a budget

You can expend these holiday budget tips and use them in all aspects of day-to-day planning as well – may it be decorations, planning the party menu or the party favors. And basically that’s how it’s done. With these holiday budget tips, it should’ve become easier for you to plan and budget this holiday season. Think about it this way, if you plan now, you can have a stress free holiday! The way it’s actually meant to be.