Any suggestions on how to make this a "gift" or to say nothing?

[hidinginthenightgarden]

My parents asked what me and DH wanted for xmas and we said a night away in a hotel and childcare.
As we don't know where to go I suggested a buy a gift thing so we could pick from a bunch of locations. This was 1-2 weeks ago and today DH said that he thinks it will be crap if we do buyagift as everyone needs to take their cut so the experience wont be great. He has a point but he is saying that I should ask my parents for cash. My parents hate giving cash and there is a good chance it will get frittered away on other stuff instead.
I have considered speaking to parents and suggesting maybe some kind of voucher but do not know if they exist but also, if they have already bought it they will think we aren't grateful/don't want it.
Is there a way to do this without offending?

I'd just say that if they haven't bought it already you had another suggestion. All of the big hotel chains (hilton, radisson etc) will do vouchers you can use at numerous locations. We're getting vouchers for this hotel group as we fancy a country Inn type thing (and want to take the dog ) www.houseofdanielthwaites.co.uk

Do you know what the date will be? Can you choose an area, and tell your parents that if they haven't already purchases anything, you are really interested in a night in Maui, so they could nook direct if they wanted to?

My parents have done this for us - but the date is fixed by our flights. So they pick the hotel that suits their budget, and phone to book. Getting dinner paid for it apparently the tricky bit, but is fine with a bit of conversation, and a set of credit card details - or finding somewhere that does Dinner bed and breakfast.

Hope you have an amazing weekend. We have very few babysitting options out here, so a night away on the bank, and childcare, of Mum and Dad is truly a gift we treasure.

Thanks, we want country too but I don't know of any chains that do vouchers.

I think the best would be to decide where you want to go. Then they know it won’t be frittered

We won't be flying anywhere so date is unknown. We just want somewhere not far from my parents so we can drop the kids off and go from there.

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The flights are us coming to the UK, not the night away!

Don't do hotel vouchers. When you go to book through their website the cost of the room dramatically increases!

Farmstay uk do gift vouchers for specific amounts if you would do a nice b&b instead of a hotel?

Just get them to book it for you on booking .com or something?

Really don't like B&B's but thanks for the suggestion.

Whatsup they can't book it as we don't know when we are going!

Would think buy a gift would be ok as it is essentially a marketing scheme? So hotels will pay to be in scheme/ offer a discount.

We’ve been bought buyagift type vouchers for a hotel stay, but invariably the hotels are in locations we don’t want to visit and not great hotels.

If you know the hotel but not the date, I’m sure the hotel would knock you up a voucher even if they don’t “officially” do them.

Or get your parents to make a simple voucher as the “gift” and they pay at the time?

Get them to give you a home made voucher, and you 'redeem It' when you're ready

Groupon do cut price hotel vouchers, you could have a look with your parents to see if they were happy with that type of gift.
Then when you have selected a date/place etc your parents could give you the money to cover it.

Travelzoo is another company that do cut price hotel deals.

Can’t they just book it when you decide? They give you a budget and when you see something that suits you ask them to pay. They aren’t giving you the cash to chance it getting lost on everyday life and you aren’t stuck with unwanted vouchers? Kinda like an IOU

Wait until you book then they can pay.