Staycation - image courtesy of thisoldhouse.com

While thinking about our own Holiday season plans in the office recently, a number of us found we were all in a similar boat - plenty of time off, just no money to go anywhere with.

This has become a more prevalent occurrence since the credit crunch began to take hold of the world’s economy.  We got to thinking, how can we still enjoy our time off, but have the feeling we are still on holiday.

Over the next few days we thoughts we would share a few tips assembled from the Metrotels.net team, so here is Part 1:

Credit Crunch Staycation Tips Part 1:  Stay at home, but spruce it up.

We wrote a post a few days ago about Design Hotels and their Seasonal Spaces+ promotion in association with interior design website mydeco.com.  That is a first class example of how you can turn your bedroom into a suite of a luxury design hotel.  They broke down the looks of over 170 hotels into the pieces required to make it.  Ok, this is not quite a Credit Crunch saver if you want to do it properly, but at least it might give you some tips on how to make your room look different.

We found a useful article on thisoldhouse.com about buying products that actual hotels sell, and it got us thinking.

Perhaps the best way to do a staycation at home - and on a budget, is to actually change your home slightly.

By this we mean, actually remove evidence of your daily life from your rooms for the time you are off, i.e. dump your house phone in a box (along with your mobile / Blackberry), put unopened post or bills in the same box, pack a case with enough clothes for the time off you have, clean your house throughout and make all the beds fresh.

This way, when you actually leave for work in the morning - case in hand, and return “home” later that day, it will be as though you are arriving in your holiday home.  If you have prepared properly, there will even be a welcome hamper in the kitchen and a bottle of something nice in the fridge.

Okay, we know that this blog is all about metropolitan boutique and design hotels, so that’s why part two of these tips will be back on the hotel track…we just thought it might be nice to share the thoughts of our team with you.

Credit Crunch Staycation Tips Parts 2:  Stay in a local hotel to you - but do it properly….coming soon.