Budget Weekend Getaways

What sort of pictures come into your mind when you think of budget weekend getaways?

Somewhere old and shabby, with cigarette burns on the bedspread and stains on the carpet? Moth eaten curtains? Furniture left over from the seventies?

Or maybe a backpacker hostel, with bunk beds and shared bathroom and kitchen facilities?

Certainly you wouldn’t expect luxurious white bed linen, or great views like these …

I must confess: we weren’t expecting much when we went down the Gold Coast last weekend to celebrate 30 years since our first date (yes, we were only 10 years old at the time 😉 ).

Hubster and I are very tight budget minded, so whether we are planning a weekend getaway or a longer holiday, we like to get a good deal. (In fact half the reason I’m finding it so hard to convince the hubster that we *need* to do another overseas trip soon, is that we managed to achieve our trip to Europe in 2015 for such a great price, that in comparison everything we look at now seems terribly expensive!)

But I digress. We first discovered Wotif.com some years back, and love how it makes planning budget weekend getaways, even at the last minute, a breeze. For example, last year we stayed in the Sunshine Coast Hinterland for hubster’s birthday, which I wrote about in Why are Weekend Getaways so Great?!

I seem to remember that Wotif.com was originally set up as a way of selling hotel rooms at the last minute at greatly reduced prices, that would have been otherwise vacant. You could only book a month or two in advance, however that isn’t the case any more.

Since the early days when the company started out in a Brisbane garage, it has grown to feature accommodation not just in Australia but around the world, and flights as well.

But the main attraction for us has always been the price, and we’ve never been disappointed.

And yet, the accommodation we booked for last weekend was SO DARN CHEAP, we prepared ourselves for the worst, telling each other we were just happy to have a chance to escape the pressures of work, household chores, and the like, for a couple of days.

Of course we checked out the photos and reviews when we booked, but we all know that what you see online is not necessarily what you get in real life!

We were impressed from our first glimpse of the resort, and even more so once we saw the grounds and foyer. However heading up in the lift, we still had a feeling that standards would be about to drop ….

Well, you should have seen our faces when walked into our lovely unit! There were so many things we loved about it, I may have even done a little happy dance 😉 .

1. It was in a great central location.
2. Although it was an older building, it had clearly been renovated recently and the decor was simple yet stylish.
3. Our unit was on the 13th floor – unlucky for some perhaps – but not for us! We were not expecting a view so this was a pleasant surprise.
4. Our unit had not one, but TWO balconies – one off the living room with ocean views and facing the landmark Q1, and one off our bedroom with a gorgeous view of the Gold Coast hinterland.
5. We had everything we needed – air conditioning, a very comfy bed, fully self-contained kitchen, TV, DVD player, etc.
6. The unit complex offered underground parking, two swimming pools, a spa, a gym, and a sauna.
7. We were just one block from the beach.

And do you want to know what we paid?

Wait for it …

Just $89 per night.

I know, right! I didn’t think you could get a room anywhere for less than $100 a night, let alone a whole unit as lovely as this.

And, I later found out, it was the first weekend of the Queensland school holidays! Who’da thunk it?!

It might have been a budget weekend getaway, but it was the perfect setting to mark 30 years of being together (where has the last 30 years gone?!).

Are you a budget weekend getaways kinda person; the sort who can’t remember when you last had a holiday; or a “to hell with the expense” type? Have you ever booked a holiday through Wotif.com?