How much would you expect to pay for this holiday?!

[Workin8til6]

Sorry to post in chat but I want to get a wider range of responses than in the holiday forum. How much would you expect to pay in total for this kind of holiday? I’m having a disagreement with DH (and need to prove that I’m right haha)

• One week all inclusive
• Two adults, one toddler (1) one preschooler (3)
• Somewhere in Europe. No particular location but warm and by the beach. Avoiding Bulgaria and turkey or any massive resorts eg Benidorm, would rather Portugal or Greece or italy but not tied to one specific location if that makes sense.
• reasonable flight times that don’t involve getting up at 3am or arriving at midnight
• quite fussy on standards. Don’t want a “pile em high sell it cheap” type place. Needs to be very clean, not at all “tacky”, basic but good quality food. Nowhere with stag dos.
• not during school holidays, can go late June or early September
• somewhere that offers a room big enough for us to be able to shut the kids away in the evening. So either a two bed place or at least a separate bedroom. Not just everyone together in one hotel room.

Thanks!

I’d budget 7k for that. 1000 per night for 4 people all inclusive staying in a suite in a nice hotel would be what I’d expect to pay outside of school holidays. Obviously you could get it cheaper though, loads cheaper in fact, but you’ve said you’re quite fussy…

All inclusive somewhere nice, reasonable flight times and two bedrooms I'd think around the £3k mark, give or a take a little.

Although, jf you're wanting to avoid school holiday prices I wouldn't book for end of June or start of Sept. I'm in Scotland and our schools finish for summer the last school day of June so parents always take their kids a couple weeks before that to try make it a bit cheaper but because of this holidays are usually just as expensive

I'd say 2-3k depending on location and how nice a hotel/apartment you're looking for.

Although, jf you're wanting to avoid school holiday prices I wouldn't book for end of June or start of Sept. I'm in Scotland and our schools finish for summer the last school day of June so parents always take their kids a couple weeks before that to try make it a bit cheaper but because of this holidays are usually just as expensive

I agree. It's not always as expensive as the actual school holidays, but it can still be pretty costly. If you're not restricted by school holiday dates you'll get a much better deal if you can avoid late June and early September.

If you are considering booking it yourself try jet2 Holidays They are offering free child places at the moment.
They have everything from cheap and cheerful to more upmarket website easy to negotiate so can get quotes

It is a bit of a 'how long is a piece of string' question, but if you want nice AI in an upmarket resort with a more spacious accommodation option, it is likely to be very very expensive, even £5k+.

But you really could get a nice quiet holiday with perfectly nice accommodation for well under half that with a little compromise on expectations. You have to decide whether it's worth paying at least three thousand pounds more for 'a bit nicer than quite nice'.

Maybe talk to a travel agent or phone the package providers from your local airport. Tell them what you want and see what they suggest?

What is the dispute with DH?

A week inclusive for 2 adults a toddler and a school aged child to Mallorca is costing me £3500- 4 star!
I would expect 2-2.5k in July

Late June might be more expensive as European schools are off then, so maybe 3500 then, September should be a little less.

Outside of school holidays 2k. Look at Jet2holidays.

5k ish

For the sort of resort and accommodation you are looking for I would assume £4-5k. Cheaper options will be available but they are probably not the standard you are expecting.

About 2k.

£1500-£2000

Have done this holiday lots of times over the years with kids a little older and it's always in the range of £1700-£2500 depending on where we go. Definitely never £4/5k!! That's peak season prices, I'd never pay that out of season.

Around 2k. Look at Jet2 website.

Thanks everyone. Maybe it’s not as straightforward as it seems which is a shame as I love it when I’m right and DH is wrong 😂

Basically I think that for what we want we need to expect to pay £3-4K and DH thinks we can get it for £1500. The problem is that we do a search, and at first glance there are places around that sort of price, but then you check and it’s all in one small room and the flight leaves at 5am. By the time you’ve upgraded to a bigger room/2 bed and changed the flight to a more sociable hour the price has almost doubled.

Also on paper there are 4* places available for cheap prices but when you read the reviews I can tell we wouldn’t like it. We are both very fussy, we don’t want lukewarm buffet food, don’t expect to have to wait for a table in the restaurant, don’t want to have to reserve your sunbed at 6am every morning. Don’t want a big noisy holiday club but also want there to be child friendly facilities. We want to go somewhere that isn’t miles from a good hospital (DD has severe food allergies and we worry about needing urgent medical attention if she ate something she shouldn’t).

If I’m honest we are quite snobby. The only reason we are choosing AI is that it means we get a week off from cooking. I don’t want to eat out because it’s a complete waste of money with two fussy young kids and their food allergies mean I will spend the whole time trying to explain eg what gluten is in Greek and it’s very stressful trying to make sure they have the right food. So we actually want to eat in the same place every day so that we can explain once to the staff and then they know.

But yeah we are just tearing our hair out trying to find somewhere that fits the very long list of requirements, and then I’ll find something that seems to tick all the many many boxes and DH will say “ohh we’re not paying that, there are others for half that price!” But all the cheap ones get ruled out for one or more of the reasons listed above!

Also sorry should have said that we are not tied to school term times but we are tied to university term times. So can’t leave until 20something of June. Or would have to be back by 15th Sept.

I would sit down with your DH and write the list of non negotiables like you have done here and agree them upfront. Then go to a travel agent and get them to do a search for you.

If you can afford it then spending 1.5k on a shit holiday is much worse value than 4k on a holiday you all enjoy.

Hi OP, we just booked a holiday exactly like this for end of June, in Crete. There are four of us, and DC are 3 and 5 so had to pay full price. Total cost for one week all inclusive at a lovely 5 star hotel, with flights etc, was £2,400 (so about £600 each). If we'd gone in July/August it would be double that, if more. I think we got a good deal for such a great hotel.

You won't get naice AI for £1500, no way. Let your DH look if that's what he thinks.

What about a villa with a cook/housekeeper? Or self catering, but just buy nice, easy food from the supermarket and eat out if you see places that look like they might suit. Barbecue, prepared salads, that sort of thing. Just choose somewhere near a large supermarket.

Gluten free will probably be easier in Spain, lots of supermarket foods are marked as 'sin gluten' so it seems to be well catered for there. All the restaurant menus had allergy symbols on them when we went to Lanzarote a couple of years ago.

Have a look at Blue Lagoon Village in Kos or Stella Palace in Crete, I think that would tick most of your boxes. We’re happy to compromise on flight times or departure airport though to save sometimes several hundred pounds (some times even over £1k). You definitely need to agree what’s a nice to have and what’s a must have.

Oh I’d personally avoid on the beach as I’ve heard nightmare stories about getting refunds if it goes wrong with covid restrictions. Jet 2 have been praised a lot during covid, with first choice / TUI being somewhere in the middle.

I am uber fussy but find Jet2 good for filtering out my non negotiables, and then filter by Tripadvisor ratings.

I wouldn't expect to pay more than £2K max for what you want, you just need to do a lot of trawling.

I agree with you. Yes there are lovely places available for £1500 but with your requirements the price goes up quite a bit.

Tell him to find one of these cheaper places, work through the actual preferences on the website such as upgrading rooms, board, adding hold luggage etc to get a better idea of what £1500 will get.

My husband is the same and he has loads of 'requirements' that aren't included in the base prices you see advertised so winces when the final total is revealed.