To think all inclusive holidays are very good value?

Would you be happy to share the hotel OP? Really keen for some great recommendations!

I'm currently in a 5* in Lagos in Portugal. Me my dm and ds. I think if it was just me and ds it would have been basically the perfect week but trying to balance the wants of a 64 year old, slightly snobby vegetarian hippy and an almost 13 year old boy has proven tricky! I'm quite happy to do the cheesy touristy stuff that ds likes, and the more cultural stuff dm likes, but neither of is happy with both!

The hotel is gorgeous though, and the food is good, with a different theme every night and a few things cooked to order (steak, fish, eggs). There's some authentic Portuguese food and not a baked bean in sight. We're right beside the pool which has been nice and there's been no scramble for sun loungers. We've done a couple of boat trips, the water park, seen wild dolphins and had a mooch around the old town. Dm is complaining we haven't been to the beach but there have been other more interesting things to do! We'll probably go tomorrow as it's our last full day.

This is my first time doing ai and it's not been bad at all, I'd do it again (though don't know if I'd holiday with dm again but that's a totally different thread! She is the queen of passive aggressive argumentative little quips and pulling sour faces)

Nope it is not unfortunately, we did get a decent price thanks to a free child place and we only have 1 child. Splashed out on a swim up room, not sure i can go back to a normal room now, love having the afternoon by our pool.

@Septembersun101 Where did you go? What was the name of the hotel please? Or pm if you don't want to say it, i have been looking at Greece but can't find one a hotel with water slides

We’re going to one tomorrow. It works great for us, fussy DS can eat try things and if he doesn’t like them, he can just get something else. He loved finding mates and playing in the pool all day, I can read my book and chill out from the stress of work. We might want something different when he’s older, but we love them right now.

I really like AI. Love the idea of all my needs being met and paid for effortlessly back at base. I can go off and explore, making the most of my time. I fit so much more in on these holidays than when evenings are about where to eat, or the dreaded self catering with hours lost to shopping, tidying etc. And yes, excellent value.

Love BLV it’s lovely, def not £3000 in August like OP’s mind 🤣

If anyone does go to Kos and visits Kos town, there is a great shop called Sunshine where you can build your own charm bracelet, pick a bracelet then pick your charms and they’ll make it.

I’m at the Blue Lagoon Village in Kos. It’s a big resort, very spread out, no sunbed wars, good à la cartes, one is BBQ, can grill your own food or all a chef to do it.

I like ai holidays but disagree with private beaches for guests only, so wouldn't stay in a place that offered that on principle.
Just because I live on the coast in the UK and wouldn't like it if a hotel stopped locals from going to any beaches here.

I usually go 5* AI Adult Only for my relaxing summer holiday. Generally £4K for 2 weeks so roughly £300 per day for DH and I factoring an ice cream or 2!

AI is great but only of you do your research and make sure it has everything you want.

@Hmmmmwineandchocswhere are you at the moment? We are looking for somewhere in Greece for next year?

We’ve booked all inclusive holidays for years. Now that neither of us drink alcohol anymore, we’ve decided we don’t think it’s very good value for us (no kids). Unless we’re staying in an isolated location such as the Caribbean etc, we won’t be booking another one.

It depends on what you want from a holiday. I can understand why not having to find somewhere to eat each evening and having a degree of certainty on how much your holiday will cost is attractive to many.

Hi op
can I ask, where did you go in Greece as I’m looking to book at the moment for next year?
Thank you

We’ve been doing AI for years now and love it, i spend a lot time researching hotels to get something really good and we generally book around a year in advance.
Currently still in Greece at a gorgeous resort.

Unfortunately when it comes to ai budget is king. I posted two resorts up thread where we are going, or just been to,

here is another one, albeit adults only. Even going to ikos, I’d say for 4 people l two adults, two kids, you’ve looking at significantly more for 2 weeks ai than 5 k you spent in total. Cost would be well over 20k.

https://www.calabashcove.com

@Septembersun101 can I ask where you went? We have been looking for somewhere for next summer and that sounds great!

I always think AI sounds very expensive but I'm slowly coming round to the idea as self-catering can be quite stressful. I presume your total includes flights too?

We spent £700 ferry and £1500 accommodation for 2 weeks in France. Probably an extra £400 for food (plus additional costs for various restaurants /trips out)

So £2600 for the base price of the holiday, which is less than half the cost per week away, but we've all come back feeling quite stressed so maybe worth us splashing out on AI next time!

I just don't know what to look for with AIs -I have the horrors of ending up somewhere where the British folk run to the sun loungers and everyone's moaning about having to eat local food.

We’ve done a few and it’s always been worth it as I don’t think self catering is the cheap option it used to be. Like others have said it is great when your kids can just have the drinks and the ice creams without it mounting up. Also for not stressing about fussy kids. That said though the AI prices seem to be going up now and I would begrudge some of the prices in seeing now. Very intrigued where the 5 star in summer holidays for £3k is.

If anyone is looking for a really good AI, you can’t go far wrong with the Atlantica Group of hotels in Cyprus. They also have a good choice of alternative restaurants so if you want to avoid the mass (albeit very good quality) buffet restuarants.

As pp’s have said, it depends on what sort of holiday you want.

We did it once when the children were small and it worked well. All they wanted was a pool, sun and food/snacks on tap and DH and I didn’t want to be running around trying to show them local culture/finding restaurants they would eat in that wouldn’t be appreciated.

For a fuss free holiday with younger children it was great.

But it’s not something we continued to do as they got older and I wouldn’t go back to it now now they have flown the nest.

DH and I really like exploring the places we visit and searching out local cuisine. Now especially we also want childfree accommodation (I know adult only AI exists) and also not to spend time penned in with other holiday makers - same reason a cruise is not on our wish list.

But each to their own and I agree they can be both a great holiday and good value if you choose wisely but I’d definitely be looking at the higher end AI resorts for a variety of eating options (and like the OP hold my nerve to a late booking to get a good deal on a higher end resort - because frankly the joy/pain of AI is that the the location/country doesn’t really matter at all, just the quality of the resort).

You do know you are not a prisoner?

We still eat out, and still get our value from the all inclusive - just having breakfast there means we normally break even

I love all inclusive in a large complex, children always fed, watered and entertained without much thought and with no extra costs. They're so much easier than self catering with young children. I think the people who say holidays with young children aren't enjoyable are just going on the wrong types of holidays.
Where did you stay? It sounds fab.

We were once offered to upgrade from b&B to AI for £50 per person, per week. It was excellent because we still went off site and explored the island as we always do, but once back in resort for an afternoon by the pool, drinks, snacks and ice creams were all covered. We would have a drink in the hotel before going out to dinner. I think we only ate an evening meal in the hotel once, after having been out all day. We went to the à la carte Japanese restaurant and food was phenomenal. I’m pretty sure that there must have been a mistake and the £50 should be per person per day but we enjoyed the massively discounted rate!