Day 1 of holiday. Hell.

This is assuming that you either live somewhere that other people want to come to, or that you have the kind of house people would want to stay in! Not to mention being happy with strangers poking around in your stuff.

You sound stuck up, rude and grumpy tbh! How rude about people that use AI holidays. Some families struggle to go on these. want better? choose better!

You just have to accept that if you want to stay in a nicer hotel you have to pay more money. We often have a short break in a five star all inclusive (I would never do AI lower than 5*) but we do it because of the lower cost (although it still costs £5-£8k for a week in the summer). I know that it attracts the type of guests that I don't really want to mix with (loud and drunk) and I know that we will be crammed in like sardines around the pool and sometimes feel like we are eating in a canteen. However we avoid the pool at peak times, find the quieter bar, ask for an outside table to eat etc. It's really easy doing AI and with two teens who cost the same as adults it enables us to have more than one holiday.

We did all inclusive for a few years when the kids were pre teen /just into teens. It served a purpose, I don’t hate it but didn’t particularly like it. kids were happy and joined in the activities so I did get a holiday and could generally cobble together a decent salad from the buffet.
Now they are grown I wouldn’t go anywhere near AI. Bed and breakfast then eating out, nice food and nice wine.
Doesn't say what your family group is but I think it’s ages and stages. I see couples struggling with toddlers in nice restaurants and think to myself - you would be better at the 7pm mini disco and buffet. They are trying to have culture and probably also having a crappy time.

I mean - you're not locked in? Just go out, find other places to eat? Make the best of it.

y husband is an unjustified all inclusive snob. Based on our income that attitude is all fur coat and no knickers tbh but that doesn’t change it. We go on holiday every other year- essentially we save up for the luxury end by sacrificing. Maybe try that op? (Though as the working class scum half of this partnership I don’t know why he can’t suck it up. There’s good wine. Good food. Decent weather and a clean room. Just the people that grate really. I don’t know why he can’t just ignore them? )

I have a single income household with a much lower income than you - I take my kids to Air B&Bs or rent a villa, and we do our own thing.

If you know what you want but can't afford it every year, why not do it every other year? You could do something cheap and maybe short on the alternate years.

I think al inclusive is brilliant when you got kids ,also you can venture out of the hotel if it’s not to your taste .Ive been to some really good adults only al inclusives over the years remember you get what you pay for.

I don’t do hotels because basically other Brits annoy me, too loud, few manners. They are embarrassing mostly. And it doesn’t matter what income bracket they are either, the worst offenders were on a tiny island years ago, 90% of Weybridge/Richmond/Clapham were there braying and booming. It was excruciating.

we just got back from a 5* resort (self catering villas) in Greece and it was perfect. Even the loud brits who turned up at the end of our stay were far enough away mostly not to be too intrusive. Didn’t appreciate their boombox and cigarettes next door tho. No other nationality has done that on any of the other times we’ve been there.

@gilesday spend some time looking at smaller places to stay that aren’t AI, go for individual places, get a car and explore the local tavernas. We went even further afield this last trip and found some absolutely incredible places and met the most amazing people.

😂😂😂😂😂😂😂. You’re not a snob you’re a wannabe.
i love an AI, it’s easy with kids, I don’t have to think about anything and it’s just for weather and leisure. I also earn much more than you and my day to day life is “luxury”. Book a better hotel or maybe just holiday more than once like me and use an ai as your “do nothing”

We can't afford 5 star AI (and I am not sure we would want to even if we could) so the solution is - we don't go all inclusive at all. It is perfectly possible to have very nice, independent holidays, often for a lot less than an all inclusive holiday.
for me it isn't so much about the quality of AI but the concept. I am not a resort holiday person. For me a hotel is just somewhere to keep my stuff, sleep and wash. I see no point on spending vast amounts of money to sit around - even if it a very nice place to sit around.

Of course everyone has different likes and expectations of holidays.

I dont understand why anyone does AI in Greece when its probably cheaper to book B&B and eat out at nice local tavernas.

Ive not been to an Ikos but lots of friends/colleagees have and if I was spending 23K (quote last summer for our family) I'd be in the Indian Ocean or Carribean instead.

We're going to Rhodes B&B instead for October HT.

Agree - we did half board in a gorgeous Austrian hotel this summer (with kids), could not have been better!

You have to chose carefully for a decent holiday.

I've never understood why anyone would even want to do 'all inclusive', it always seems like an idea of sheer hell to me. I like to pick and choose where I go, what I do and what/where I eat. Having no choice in these matters, how is that a holiday? It makes no sense. I'd honestly rather stay home. For me, it's fool me once, shame on you fool me twice..... Sorry OP.

This has to be rage bait!

Sorry to break it to you @gilesday but if you are going to the same places as these oiks and have the same budget as the hoi polloi you are not better than them, no matter how much more comfortable you think you’d be at the Dorchester.

And should you find a way to cheapskate your way into the upper echelons you aspire to, the people who actually belong there are going to view you the same way you view the people you are currently on holiday with. An oik with pretensions who is better suited far away from the quality class.

In better news, getting over yourself costs nothing, so is a luxury you can actually afford.

Package holidays and AI are my idea of hell.

I prefer to book a tour somewhere in Southeast Asia where it’s just you, your driver and the tour guide and staying in 5* hotels.

No idea why anyone would go all inclusive in such beautiful countries as Spain and Greece, being countries you can move about safely and enjoy glorious food, different places every day/night etc. etc. What a waste of money.

You've got a pretty high joint income, so you've got quite a lot of options to choose from when it comes to holidays. Just do something different next year - book a private villa, book a nicer hotel, go to a city/country that doesn't have a mini-Britain type vibe.

Small is the way forward I think with ai. Or like you said pay more and eat out more. That way you experience more culture. We stayed in a bigger hotel this year and it was so loud music all the time, entertainment wasn’t great more for kids but not as advertised. Lots of people loving the bar at night. But it’s personal choice. I find it better if I book through a travel agent so I can specify better. I think that’s where I went wrong. It just wasn’t as relaxing as previous.

Our Turkey AI holidays have always been great and for me after years of self catering with 3dc felt like the lap of luxury. NO WASHING UP OR SHOPPING. Heaven.

Research is key and also enough ££ left over for off resort trips and visits and even meals.

You are BU for being a snob about it as you’ve obviously booked a “Brits abroad” style AI. If you wanted better to u should’ve booked better. I’ve never stayed in an AI and it been scummy, they’ve always been luxurious if anything. We stayed at Ikos in Greece which is AI and there was nothing at all to look down on there.
So AI hotels are not the problem, just the hotel that you have chosen OP.

Would your budget stretch to Ikos (AI) or Sani (not AI) next year? They are amazing hotels.

I’m not a fan of all inclusive that is just the buffet style where the food sits out so we don’t book those types of hotel. We’ve done 5* all inclusive in the Caribbean in adult only hotels quite a lot before we had kids where there were between 8-11 à la carte restaurants onsite which suited us great as at that time we were in stressful jobs and wanted time to relax/ read/swim etc. The food was nice and good quality with fillet steaks, lobster etc available everyday.
To afford the same in Europe for us and our children would be over budget as it’s much more expensive so we just done bother. Instead, we book villas or nice hotels with Breakfast and then explore and eat in local restaurants or even cook a couple of days with local produce if we’re in a villa. This suits us brilliantly as we can go and find local food and wine that we really want to try and then organise our day as we please for exploring with the kids or relaxing at the property 😇

Actually, I find that the hotels which attract different nationalities better. Not just Brits