Is all inclusive food actually good or just cheap and easy?

This poster was just having a little self deprecating joke at herself.

Didnt say it did. Just the difference I noticed between the places I have stayed in. The adult centric places have had better quality food than the family friendly.

Having children didn’t miraculously turn me into someone who stopped caring about food quality and only cared about ‘filling my boots’!

The more adult only 5* resorts I've stayed in tend to have good food when it's all inclusive. The more family orientated ones not so much. I wonder if it's because the families tend to take a more "fill your boots" approach to the food, so they prioritise quantity over quality.

I used to book all inclusive when I went on holiday with a now ex BF because he would walk to every restaurant to save one euro whilst all the time I would be getting more hangry so all inclusive was the best option as far as I was concerned. The places I went to had a fabulous choice at lunch, chicken, fish, salads, chips etc but the evening options although lovely and tasty were more dinner type foods. Usually in the evening they had a local cuisine option and obviously the usual Italian, Indian, Chinese fare. I wouldn't say the food was bland and I ate loads. Tip - always take a packet of Rennies with you when going all inclusive 😀.

Varies.

i stayed at an AI place in Morocco and the food was amazing - but I mostly ate the tagines etc that they made. They also had chips and pasta and tomato sauce etc for the non adventurous eaters .

most Ais have a bland range for the kids and for the people who only ever eat English food and want it on holiday as well.

I guess it depends where you go. I stayed at an AI 4* spa hotel last year and the food was great!

Best All Inclusive food I've had is Club Med, and specially the gourmet dishes.

With a buffet the best thing to do is try to make up a meal, rather than a mix of what you fancy or go to an All Inclusive where you can order from a menu.

When I have tried Half board it’s just the version of All Inclusive.

I did AI years ago and at one place the food was amazing, a few years later and the food was adequate, I went to one this year and the food was awful, Brussels sprout casserole as one choice every single day!!!! We ate out a few times and the food was amazing and a reasonable price, so we’ll be doing B&B from now on.

Depends on the hotel - i stayed in a 5* hotel in rhodes and it was all fine dining, the ai was exceptional.

some people are booking the ai for the alcohol not the food so the hotel caters accordingly

A 5* hotel means different things in different countries.

5 star AI in Dubai is very different to 5 star AI in Greece.

I’ve done AI for the last 30 years the very first one I went to in Spain inc cigarettes & cigars 😂

I’ve done AI probably every year 2-3 times all over Europe Egypt Turkey Maldives Mexico Cuba Jamaica

It can vary greatly from hotel to hotel Mexico is my favourite for food
But I don’t eat much so food isn’t that important
but I go mainly for the drink ( don’t drink much but I like to now it’s freely available

but even when AI we still go out every other day for drinks / food for a change

We went to your bog standard AI a couple of times back in the 2000s, and it was fairly average but DH and I have travelled extensively in fairly exotic places so maybe our standard was higher. Maybe times have changed in the past 20ish years.

AI has never been our thing but we went when our children were young because of ease.

@Hufflemuff Benalmadena?

Most AI is cheap and cheerful. It's aimed at the British mass market who want to drink and snack a lot.

Well no, because many AI hotels have guests who are Spanish/French/German and loads of other nationalities too. There is a lot of snobbery around the supposed ethos of AI, a lot of sneering about chicken nuggets, chips and getting hammered at 10am.

People who can't see why people choose AI are just being deliberately obtuse. You are not imprisoned in the hotel and can choose to leave whenever you like, and take meals in local restaurants if you want to do so. But going AI means you have paid up front for all your food and drink and you are not ever going to be hit with a bill on check out. Your kids can have as many orange juices, water or soft drinks as they want without constantly pestering you for another 2 euros. Ditto ice creams. If you have a family of fussy eaters, or even a family who just can't decide on what to eat, there is none of the evening debates/arguments over where to go to eat as everyone can have what they like in the restaurant. You don't all have to eat at the same time. A buffet is a brilliant way of getting kids to try new things as they can just put a tiny bit on their plate to try - my 5 year old developed a love of squid rings on an AI holiday.

We have done self-catering, our last holiday was self-catering and although it was great it was a pain having to either go to the supermarket and buy food to cook, or be organised by booking tables in advance at the local restaurants which were very busy.

I’ve been to a fair few and there are many benefits- not sure you can say you’ve been to two and then question “why people rave about them so much.”

Depending on the type of holiday I’m on, I personally prefer to spend my evenings exploring the town/beach and trying out a variety of nice restaurants. But when I have done AI it’s mostly been really good. I did one in Bulgaria and it was bloody hideous, it was pretty cheap to be fair and for the second half of the holiday we went to other restaurants and paid. The few others I’ve done have been great, lots of choice at the buffet, a good variety each night, a separate section where you can go over and order things to be made by a chef fresh in front of you (certain meats, fajitas etc) and it just feels nice and easy.

Just recently got back from a Club Med all-inclusive and the food was absolutely amazing!

I think in the main AI is for people who value ease and convenience over food quality

For me, one of the things I most enjoy about travelling abroad is good food and I would just rather be able to choose restaurants than be stuck with whatever is on offer.

We usually stay in an Airbnb and go out for one nice meal a day and have the other be snacky stuff at home

We went to Malta last year all inclusive and the food was really nice. All the hot food was well seasoned and they had different fish and meat each day with a selection of local dishes and the more generic crowd pleaser dishes.
the desserts each day were the same though! Nice, but by the end of the week i wanted something different!
AI are a different type of holiday to just B&B. I love both for different reason, the AI is not the holiday for the food connoisseur!

I don’t think anyone goes on an AI hol for the food. We used to go when kids were small because we knew there would be something on the buffet they would like and didn’t feel we were wasting money if they didn’t. Also the pool, kids activities etc.

Kerkyra blue Corfu! Not much in the area of the hotel, but the hotel was lovely and the food the best all-inclusive I’ve ever experienced

Food varies, often not as good as a restaurant as the dishes are mass catering. We have had great food in lots of places. It does get boring after a while.
We only do AI because of the children…there idea of a holiday is playing in a pool 90% of time. It is convenient to have food on site. Restaurants everyday 2x day with children is too much imo. With AI we might just have lunch at the pool (paella, bbq meats etc) and then a meal in the evening.

Although we love AI, we are actually considering half board next year, so we can be closer to things that are going on! I'd love the AI holiday Village experience thats not located in the arse end of nowhere.

We go AI because its easy. Especially with kids, if they want to drink 4 hot chocolates every night during the evening entertainment thats fine. I dont need to fuss over spending €20 per night on poxy hot chocolates.

Same with lunch. Even if its just a toasted sandwich and chips - at least thats not cost me €10!

If I can just mention, both highish end mid size hotels we have just stayed in in Majorca ( camp de Mar and sant elm) offered half board and neither had buffets apart from breakfast ( and even then you could order fresh eggs Benedict or toasties etc ) evening meals were just a la carte from their excellent restaurants that outsiders came too as well . It’s well worth looking ( if fussy) what half board options are available at quality hotels that aren’t really set up for AI - we went B&B at the universal aquamarine in sant elm as an example , but ate their 2 nights out of 4 and I could happily have been on half board - which would have been about £260 extra in total for the 4 nights and was well worth it - superb stuff -whole fish carved at your table etc