There are some things you must find out about me: I like spending time with my family and friends and I like to cook dinner. However I do not love internet hosting at house through the holidays.
I do know that some folks completely love making ready a giant, festive dinner with all of the fixings and welcoming family members into their properties for a giant celebration. I’m simply not one in every of them. I do not like the quantity of cooking, cleansing and hovering about it takes to verify everyone seems to be having time.
However I’ve discovered an incredible different for internet hosting through the festive season: Skip it fully and as a substitute, test right into a lodge. Final yr, for instance, I spent Thanksgiving at a lodge in Orlando — and it was the right approach to kick off the holiday season.
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Gaylord Palms. TARAH CHIEFFI/THE POINTS GUY
This is why I believe you must forgo internet hosting duties and spend the vacations in a lodge.
Associated: 10 luxury hotels that go all-out for the holidays
You do not have to cook dinner, clear up or play host(ess)
My husband and I’ve three children — all boys — and as laborious as we attempt to make it in any other case, our house’s cleanliness stage is questionable at finest. The quantity of labor we’ve to do to make it presentable is greater than we will handle on high of protecting these boys fed, clear and clothed.
So final yr, we flew to Orlando, the place a pristine room was ready for us on the Gaylord Palms Resort close to Walt Disney World.
Associated: Something for everyone: 6 things to know before you visit a Gaylord resort
We returned to our room every afternoon to seek out the beds made, the rubbish emptied and the room tidied. I nonetheless did my finest to maintain the youngsters’ mess below management in between cleanings, however this alone alleviated lots of my vacation stress.
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I’m an enormous advocate for tipping hotel staff and restaurant servers, and I like to recommend tipping much more across the holidays when you’ve got the means. Tipping a bit of further is a simple approach to say “thanks.” Plus, it was effectively well worth the peace of thoughts understanding I may absorb further household time somewhat than spend the vacation cleansing nonstop.
Although we tried to save cash by stocking up on breakfast necessities and snacks for our lodge room, we additionally dined out throughout our go to. Most inns I’ve visited across the holidays serve celebratory meals on Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.
I loved lunch poolside on the Gaylord Palms Cypress Springs Water Park. And whereas I am undecided {that a} tuna poke bowl is a traditionally correct vacation meal, it actually made me really feel grateful that I used to be sitting by the pool in sunny Florida as a substitute of in chilly southern Indiana cooking for lots of people.
Most inns plan particular meals and actions
In lots of instances, you do not even have to go away your lodge for a standard vacation meal. Down the street at Universal Orlando, a number of on-site inns serve vacation meals. Loews Portofino Bay Hotel, Hard Rock Hotel, Loews Royal Pacific Resort and Loews Sapphire Falls Resort all serve a festive buffet on each Thanksgiving and Christmas.
Outdoors of Florida, there are a number of different inns that serve particular meals on Thanksgiving and Christmas. Big Cypress Lodge in Memphis serves a Southern-inspired meal of Thanksgiving classics, whereas the Ritz-Carlton, Grand Cayman, serves a standard turkey dinner (or a “Thanksgiving-to-Go” for company who wish to dine within the privateness of their suite). Nickelodeon Lodges & Resorts in Riviera Maya and Punta Cana serve a particular Christmas brunch, so you’ll be able to refill earlier than you hit the seashore or water park.
Along with scrumptious meals, inns across the globe mark the festive season with particular occasions and actions. In previous years, we sang together with carolers and met Santa within the foyer of Loews Portofino Bay Lodge at Common Orlando. Each lodge at Common will get into the vacation spirit.
This yr, Common’s Cabana Bay Seashore Resort at Common Orlando held a tree-lighting ceremony the day after Thanksgiving. It was full with complimentary scorching cocoa, cookies and shock character meet-and-greets.
Along with specialty meals, Santa stops by at each Nickelodeon Lodges & Resorts places on Christmas, and youngsters can take part in particular holiday-themed actions like cookie adorning.
Or, if you’re somebody who loves a vacation turkey trot race, Big Cedar Lodge close to Branson, Missouri, holds an annual “Gobble Wobble 5K” the day after Thanksgiving.
You will create new vacation traditions and recollections
The above actions are only a handful of examples provided at festive enjoyable inns you’ll be able to go to through the vacation season. Yow will discover comparable choices in locations everywhere in the world. Regardless of the place you journey for the vacations, the distinctive experiences that you may’t have at house assist create cherished vacation recollections.
My household has made a practice of visiting a Gaylord Lodge through the holidays to expertise the annual holiday event called Ice!
Doing one thing like this — and getting out of our traditional routine whereas filling the day with enjoyable actions — meant I wasn’t wrestling the iPads away from my children or considering up methods to maintain us busy.
You possibly can earn last-minute standing nights or expend expiring certificates
I do not find out about you, however this yr I’m grateful for all of the methods points and miles have improved my travels. I’ve earned perks like room upgrades, late checkout and free lodge nights because of my Marriott Bonvoy Boundless® Credit Card (see rates and fees) and American Express Platinum Card®.
The Amex Platinum grants me automated Marriott Bonvoy Gold Elite standing (enrollment required), which comes with perks like room upgrades, late checkout and bonus factors earnings on stays. My Marriott Bonvoy Boundless card comes with an annual free night time certificates (as much as 35,000 factors; sure inns could have resort charges) on my cardmember anniversary.
I virtually forgot to make use of it a pair years in the past, which led to another fun story — however this is not concerning the time we took our canine for a staycation with a view to keep away from shedding a free lodge night time. That is to remind you that the vacation season is the right time to test for any free night time certificates or different money-saving bank card advantages that could be on the verge of expiring.
For instance, my Amex Platinum comes with up to $600 in annual hotel statement credits every calendar yr (as much as $300 biannually) on pay as you go Fantastic Lodges + Resorts® or The Lodge Assortment bookings via American Categorical Journey® (THC requires a minimal two-night keep). And because the outdated saying goes, when you do not use it, you lose it.
Associated: Last-minute tips for locking in hotel elite status before the end of year
You can too justify throwing vacation traditions out the window and creating your personal if you must squeeze in a number of last-minute nights to maneuver as much as a brand new elite standing tier. You will get to take pleasure in a particular vacation with your loved ones and lock in elevated lodge advantages for the approaching yr. Now that is one thing to be glad about.
Backside line
Do not get me improper — I like throwing a celebration. However I’m extra of an appetizers, drinks and board video games sort of hostess.
Reasonably than drive myself up the wall attempting to plan the right vacation occasion, I’ve discovered a festive different. It permits my household to have fun all of the issues we love concerning the holidays with none of the stress.
Nevertheless you select to have fun, I hope you have got a really merry vacation season.
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