Hotel Review : Aston Makassar Hotel

10:37:00 PM

Heyyy guysss :D!

How's everybody's weekend? Mine's been awesome, even though i originally planned to wake up as late as possible today and laze around all day but ended up being dragged for some ballgowns hunting for a family portrait session next month by my big sis *glum* *annoyed*.

For anyone who doesn't know yet, i HATE ballgowns with passion. They're heavy, long-therefore a total hazard for clumsies like me who find even maxi dresses hard to maneuver, full with cringe-worthy details and oh-so-expensive, i don't understand the appeal at all. Surprised? Don't be. I love tutus, tulles and organzas and anything Princessy like mad, but heavy ruffles, crazy embroidery, diamentes and beading? Yeah, i'll pass.

I also happen to hate the experience of bridal boutique shopping like mad. I guess i've always been self-conscious with my body, i do not like people seeing me stripping (and we all know how overly helpful bridal attendants always insist on helping you get naked WTF), i do not like people commenting on how this dress makes me look even bigger/how i might never get anything to fit me coz i'm gargantuan for Asian ridiculous effin' standard, etc. Sorry, i just really hate these kinds of stuffs. I know it might be hard to understand, a total fashion lover and a self-confessed shopaholic like me? Hates shopping at any form? Well yeah. I love shopping which involves hunting down nice (and cheap) stuffs for myself to make me feel and look good, i don't think ball gowns are stuffs that are destined for me.

Actually the experience today's not as traumatizing as my wedding gown hunting, where everything i tried on made me feel like a monstrous wedding cake and didn't fit (FYI, if you stumbled into this blog by accident and start to think that i am a blimp, i'm a UK size 8), i just don't feel comfortable in bridal boutiques. And the thoughts of having the "professional" photo session with a stiff photog wearing the dreadful ballgown makes me wanna crumple and bawl my eyes out. Yes, i'm dramatic-tell me something i don't know.

But yes, my weekend's actually been good *not that you'd guess it by reading the earlier paragraphs, LOLOLOL FML*, yesterday was exceptionally fun meeting up with my blogging girls and some minor shopping (great sale at Cache Cache! Wonderful bargain alert! I'm going back soon for some serious shopping sesh!) on the side, i hope yours are just as fun (or more).

Anyway. I wouldn't even try to explain why i yap for 5 long paragraphs about stuffs that's absolutely got nothing to do with the actual purpose of this blog post coz you should already be familiar with that by now, and i promise i am starting with it now. Yes, now.

Like i said in my previous Makassar Diary post, i am going to review the hotel we stayed in for five consecutive nights : Aston Makassar Hotel.

Professional picture of their hotel, taken from Google!

Since we've never been to Makassar before, we didn't want to take a risk and searched for better known hotel chains to stay in. As recommended from my cousin RD (who ended up NOT staying in this hotel WTF), we decided to book the Aston Hotel. Aston is a very familiar name (our Jakarta apartment's even sharing the same grounds as Aston Marina haha) and we've stayed in countless Aston branches-but with these kind of hotel chains you can't actually expect equality in their overall qualities. Many aspects like services, cleanliness and comfort might vary from one hotel chain's branch to another. I personally stayed in both well and not so well maintained Aston Hotel branches in the past so i am delighted to find out that the Makassar one is actually the best one i've stayed in (totally personal preference) so far.

I felt very embarrassed to snap pictures in the small but cozy lobby area (because people already stared at us like aliens, possibly because i am so blonde and i didn't see many colored hairs during my stay in Makassar) so.. eh... no pics of those and let's go straight to our room!

I tend to have a rough idea whether or not i would be comfortable staying in a hotel since the moment i open the door and step into it. I am more of a budget traveler, such as i prefer to stay in more affordable 3 stars hotels (or even in guesthouses lately, but for now when i say guesthouse i'm referring to those overseas because i still prefer to stay in chain hotels locally) rather than splurging in 4 or 5 stars hotels, but i stayed in fair numbers of 5 star hotels and those stars does not guarantee that i would be very satisfied staying there okay! But as soon as we opened the door to our room in Aston Makassar, i felt very welcomed and at home already ^^.

Comfortable bed!

Spacious area to store our belongings

Actually by looking at the positioning of the furniture, i just realized that this is actually KC and CL's room that we invaded first but when i cross to the room opposite, i liked the room better so we moved hahaha. Everything in the room's exactly the same lah so i decided not to bother and snap pictures of our actual room :p

The same table in our room soon became full when i unloaded my luggage *LOL*. Hey, when you go to another town for a wedding party you bring a lot more stuffs than you would on a normal trip, okay!

In keeping with the trend, there's a glass wall separating the bathroom area with the bedroom *LOL*. I personally don't understand this, maybe it's suitable for some sexy time, but what if you forgot to draw the curtain when you need to sh*t? I can't do it when i can see other people and vice versa!!!

One of the requirement for a hotel to win my heart : shower area without having to climb into a pesky bathtub!

I almost didn't post this pic because i find toilet pictures to be icky *LOL*

The cleanliness of the room and the bathroom are spot on, which is totally crucial for me! Other than that, i just get this very "homey" vibe from this hotel, i can safely say that this is one of the hotels where i feel the most at home! You know i stay in many many hotels so it's quite something for sure! I just felt super comfortable and not at all icky (like i feel in most hotels even the 4-5 stars ones sometimes haha) or spooked at all time.

Yes, spookiness plays an important part in hotel staying decision for me *LOL*, although we did deliberately stayed in a well-known-for-being-haunted hotel in Solo with #Undecided just because it's one of the best hotels there *sigh*. I was boldened by our incident-less first stay, but we actually faced some spooky stuffs on our second stay WTH. It's a true story alright, but maybe for another time haha.

So yup, the non-spooky feeling in general is tres importante. I stayed in both cheap and super expensive hotels before where i got so spooked that i didn't even dare closing the door whenever i shower (or at any time except when i have to do number two for reasons i already mentioned earlier) because i feel some sort of presence around me even though i am not very sensitive with supernatural thingy-no such thing here at all. Just very nice vibe.

And before i'm turning this post into some bonding-over-the-bonfire-horror-session (after making it a heart-to-heart complain post in the beginning hahahaha) i should wrap this post up.

(on second thought, do leave me a comment if you're interested in my horror stories, i'd do a post for it haha!)

I would highly recommend Aston Hotel Makassar for anyone who's going to Makassar for either a long or short trip and looking for a comfortable, clean and homey hotel. It's not dirt cheap though (although hotels in Indonesia are dirt cheap compared to Singapore, Seoul or Hong Kong), it was around IDR 500.000-600.000 per night (around USD 50) which is not exactly backpacker-friendly, but if you're willing to spend that amount of money then i strongly urge you to stay here, it's money well spent! (Not sponsored, just a happy guest! As an owner of a hostel, we often deal with unreasonable guests who leave super mean reviews so i try to be a better hotel guest coz what goes around comes around, right? Haha)

I will be back with Day 2 of the trip, stay tuned!