My New Traveling Companion. Mister Aladin.

Just very recently, I stumbled upon a website named Mister Aladin and tried it for the first time by booking an accommodation in Jakarta for a night during the weekend.

Interestingly enough, this website caters all my needs efficiently and overall, my experience was a great one. It will most likely become my go-to hotel booking site.

WHY?
Before getting to answer the “why”, I think it will be better for us to go backward and talk about the day Mister Aladin was born.

<<< GOING BACKWARD <<<
Mister Aladin is a hotel-booking website which seemingly a bit young and was launched in the late 2015 (Nov). Its main visions are to empower and inspire people to travel. Currently, Mister Aladin offers an extensive range of hotel & villa selections, both domestic and international, simply to accommodate the increasing needs of people to travel.

THEN WHY?
One of the great things about Mister Aladin is its sincere dedication to Indonesians. After all, it’s a hotel-booking site, made in Indonesia, for Indonesians which sprouted the complete understanding towards Indonesian travelers’ needs in finding a series of certain accommodations based on many important aspects.

FIRST, for a traveler like myself, I honestly look forward to staying at a clean nice accommodation with a reasonable price, most of the time. When it comes to “reasonable”, no I don’t mean a five-star hotel with the rate of 200-1000 US dollars per night. “Reasonable” is often ambiguous, but “reasonable” for me means a hotel that fulfills a number of personal qualifications (clean room with good location), which costs me below 150 US dollars. Yes, if you’re judging me right now, I’m that kind of travelers. Well, my main argument is, not everybody is that rich, darling. Traveling ain’t cheap.

In this case, Mister Aladin does fit in as a hotel-booking website that helps me find good quality hotels with affordable prices. You can actually browse a number of hotels with very good deals! (Check out their ongoing promos now)

For example, I am going to Bangkok on 9 September and looking for a hotel for a night. So I did a thorough search. Then I found this Sofitel Bangkok Sukhumvit for a stay at 9 September 2016. The price I got here at Mister Aladin is Rp 1,559,583 (inc. tax and service). Then I checked the same hotel on a hotel portal website, and found the cheapest price there for the same hotel is Rp 1,689,968 (inc. tax and service). In this case, I can actually save about 10 US dollars per night. See what I mean?

SECOND, Mister Aladin provides travelers with a good range of hotels and covers a lot of domestic and international locations. Unlike other similar websites, Mister Aladin is focused on accommodations (hotels and villas). That’s why Mister Aladin is more thorough in their goal in finding you good quality hotels. BUT… It’s not that Mister Aladin doesn’t care about your travel needs other than hotels. That’s why they come up with a new feature named “Personal Travel Assistant”. They will help you with any issues you may encounter during your holiday, from booking last-minute flights to helping you find a good place to eat in your travel destination.

Going to Singapore anytime soon? Check Mister Aladin and you will find a great amount of selections from 1 to 5 stars hotels.

THIRD, discount promotions. From the home page of Mister Aladin, you can find e-banners for ongoing promotion. For example, since Indonesians are in the spirit of celebrating Indonesia’s Independence Day this beautiful August, Mister Aladin has this “Promo Semangat 45” with hotel discount up to 45% and extra discount up to Rp 170,000! Just by entering the code “SEMANGAT”, you’re entitled for this spiritful discount! Yay.
Some other discount promotions are also available. Click here to access other ongoing promos on MisterAladin.com.

FOURTH, you can choose your desired accommodations based on your mood. Yes, this is something new! You’d probably never find this on similar other websites. I mean, this is a fun feature. When you plan for your holiday, there is always a goal out of it.

Some would love to have a budget travel, so that the accommodation desired is more on the budget side. Or, some people are looking for a weekend getaway. So, to cover up the mood, Mister Aladin will let you see the hotel selections based on this mood. You just have to tick the location(s) desired, and a number of hand-picked accommodations will be presented for you. Like this. 😉

FIFTH, a complete dedication to Indonesians. As mentioned before, Mister Aladin is made in Indonesia and for Indonesian travelers. In this regard, Mister Aladin promises to give the best local prices for users. Plus, the customer service is very helpful. You can reach them via phone call, email, WhatsApp, and also via online chat.

SIXTH, the process of booking hotel is very easy. See the “How to Book?” paragraph below!

HOW TO BOOK?
See the below steps for easy booking (ignore step 1 if you wish to book without being a member). This is based on my real experience, so here are the explanations completed with the screenshots.

1. Sign up.
Signing up is a matter of choice. But signing up will shorten a bit of the already-easy booking process. Just fill in the email form and sign up. Email confirmation along with the password will be sent to your registered email address.

2. Find your desired hotel.
You can always browse the hotels for the destination you wish to visit and don’t forget to input the desired check in and check out dates. After getting the right hotel with presented prices, you can see the room selections (if available) and choose your room by clicking “PESAN”.

3. Booking Form.
You will then be redirected to the next page which is a booking form.

– First page is “DETAIL” page, where you need to provide the name of the guest. If you’re log in within your account, it will automatically be filled with your data. If you’re the guest, you can click “LANJUT”. Alternatively, if you’re not the guest, you can tick the tiny box below stating that you’re not staying and you book for other people. Then you can fill down the form with the guest’s name, email and phone number. When finished, click “LANJUT”.

– Second Page. You will then be redirected to the next page “PRODUCT” which will state the necessary information of the hotel and room you choose.
Here, you should check whether the information is correct or false. If it’s false, you shouldn’t proceed to the next page. If correct, you can proceed. Oh, in this page, you can also add special note such as bed type, non-smoking/smoking room etc, which will be informed to the hotel. But all the requests will usually only be fulfilled based on the availability during check in. You can also put promo code here for on-going discount promotion.

– Third Page.The last page is “PEMBAYARAN” or payment. You can choose a method of payment you want. At the moment, the available methods are Credit Card/Debit Card, ATM Automatic, BCA KlikPay, Mandiri ClickPay, CIMB Clicks. Fill in the requested information and proceed for payment.

4. Booking ID.
If successful, you will see the new page stating that your booking is successful.
The booking ID will be informed. You will also get an email right after, informing the succession of your booking with complete details and a PDF attachment (voucher) for your order.

Based on my experience, for checking in, you will just need to mention guest’ name and voila, the receptionist will prepare a room for you based on the ordered room. Easy as pie!

One more perk! On Mister Aladin website, you can also find travel blog, which contains many useful information for your traveling purpose. It has great articles about Top Destinations, Trip Ideas, Travel Guide and Top Lists of relevant places to visit!

So, try Mister Aladin out and give it a chance. You will perhaps find your true “travel companion” on this site! 😉