Anyone disappointed by their holiday?

[Panic71]

Here now and really trying to throw myself into despite being really gutted by the hotel which is absolutely not worth the money we paid. Trying to just enjoy it but all the extras have come as a shock for what we expected and read to be all inclusive.
Turns out all inclusive doesn’t get you a sun bed either!

I’m in Sweden and this year we had a lot of ’climate tourists’ who has never been here before. They only came to escape the heat in southern Europe, and were quite happy even when it rained.

I'd honestly rather stay at home than go to either Dubai or Abu Dhabi.

UK, in Wales,

Ha! I love restaurants! And choosing them for myself and DH. But, honest to God, the thought of doing lovely restaurants every night and the DC's refusing their food breaks my heart! It's an essential compromise.
@gawditswindy

We used to alternate between cheaper restaurants where there was always a pizza or cheesy pasta option, and nicer places for me and DH, where DS would just have some chips, bread roll and an ice cream . Doesn't hurt them for a few meals and there was always food at the apartment if he was still hungry .

Just remembered son and girlfriend and others went to Mali when university finished they had an amazing time, accommodation, restaurants etc excellent.. So girlfriend and mated went back a month ago. What a difference, restaurant menus changed and much more expensive ditto drinks, bars short staffed. We're talking a huge change in twelve months.

We're all suffering from inflation.

Yes - we flew into Italy when we stayed in north Croatia and drive through Slovenia; also flew into Croatia when we went to Montenegro. We hired the car from the airport and flew in and out of the same place - imagine it would be different if you planned to fly back from a different airport .

Yes, that is why I said I know it’s not for everyone. I would rather stay at home than go on an AI to Spain. We can all do what we want, aren’t we lucky.

Reading through this thread I do wonder whether people’s expectations have changed. When package holidays started, just being in the sun was enough. But now people have nice homes, a high standard of bed linen/furniture etc and want ‘nice’

Same with food. It’s really good and varied in the UK now and the ‘chips and English breakfast’ doesn’t suit everyone.

I know lovely surroundings and facilities are really important to me but back in the day, give me a pool and some sunshine and I was sorted. Holiday fatigue perhaps?

I've recently got back from Greece with my 2 kids 11ds and 15dd.
They've never been abroad and I haven't been for 25 years, but after a hideous few years, I wanted to treat them to some good memories.....I did AI , and the food wasnt brilliant, a pool holiday is totally not really "me" , but we all totally embraced the sunbed wars, crap food labelling , horrendous karaoke and bingo and the many characters at the hotel....we went during the horrific heatwave & honestly, we just chilled by the pool, worked around meal times, met friends and everyone managed just fine, I had low expectations based on the online reviews, but everyone managed to find something that they could eat. I paid 1.5k for the week, and apart from a boat trip, we only spent about 100 euros , mainly because it was too hot to walk anywhere 😆
I hadn't felt that relaxed for years, and I was dreading being the only adult there!
I'm so sorry for people who have been so disappointed though, I'd have been gutted, but I think definitely going with low expectations helped me xxx

Sorry but there's no way that would be €100. Croatia isn't any more than other European countries.

I agree, sorry but there is no way.

This is why we didn’t book to go away this year. Prices seemed to have doubled and I just wasn’t prepared to fork out for that!

@inky1991 just to balance things out - we’ve just returned from a lovely 2 week AI holiday. Food was lovely, hotel clean and whilst busy it wasn’t rammed. Hope you have a good holiday.

I was in Croatia earlier this year, food in restaurants and in the supermarkets was no more expensive than the UK. Wine was a lot cheaper. I got a bottle of very nice gin for €11! The site we were on charged €10 a day for a sun lounger and parasol I think.

We had an amazing AI holiday, you have to do your homework on the reviews though and we ended up spending about £1k more when booking than we planned (we figured we would rather do that then feel we wasted our money). We hadn’t been AI for 16 years and it was a similar experience. I think it really does depend where you go.

You're not alone. We've just returned from a holiday and the hotel we were staying in wasn't great. I liked it, but I didn't love it and felt like it just wasn't worth all the money that we spent. Ours was all inclusive too, the room was nothing like what we were expecting from the photos (we requested a move). I've never known an AI where you have to pay for food at the pool bar - cake, watermelon, waffles, icecream and drinks were free - everything else had to be paid for.

I think for people whose homes, food etc have improved, holiday accommodation is no longer 'better'.

When I lived in a shared house with just the one shared bathroom, staying in a hotel room with an ensuite bathroom was untold luxury, no matter how basic the hotel.

Now I have my own home, a hotel room has to work a lot harder to impress me.

Same with food. When my 'luxury' food was a tin of ravioli and some garlic bread, a hotel burger and chips was food of the gods.

Now I am married to my husband (an excellent cook), hotel food seldom impresses.

If you've had a good one can you make the hotel?

Just looking through TV listings. Show on C5 called When All Inclusive Holidays Go Horribly Wrong. You are not alone, it seems!

We went to Belek in Turkey, TUI Magic Life. Fab food and plenty of sunbeds. Cost £7k for 9 days so not cheap but comparing to other parts of Europe its very good. Recommended! Think you can get real value in Turkey for a luxury resorts. Tbh if your resort isn't luxury you cam always venture out and eat well fairly cheaply - did that it my 20s, we sweved the Daily Express readers and tge English food ( why?!)in Gumbet neat Bodrum ( which is stunning as is Gumbet in fact). Turkish people very friendly and welcoming.

This is why I always book separate flights, Airbnb a nice apartment and eat out every evening at a nice restaurant. On the first day we go to the supermarket and buy cereal, milk, bread, salad, sandwich fillings, fruit, crisps, cakes, biscuit, tea, coffee, etc and have cereal for breakfast and make a picnic to take with us for lunch. So much cheaper and more enjoyable to go to different restaurants each evening.

7k for 9 days? How many people?

@NCTDN 2 adults and 2 children and for 2 separate rooms side by side. The family rooms were sold out and would have made it cheaper but 2 rooms were better for us as my children are older - a 13 year old and a 10 year old. This price also included private transfers to and from Antalya Airport rather than the shuttle serving lots of resorts. £7k for 9 nights all inclusive, luxury and private transfers and banana boat daily was included.

I had this on my fortnight's honeymoon. All-inclusive boasted three restaurants. Two you had to book which we only managed once by getting up at six am to do so. The other was poor buffet food. We spent a huge amount of money getting food from a supermarket we found and spent all the money we'd been given at our wedding on all the not included excursions.

The rest was as disappointing as heck and the deluxe room was huge but with minimal furniture. Outside our room the resort was dirty and the beach filthy.

I totally empathise. It's horrible.

@Needspace2023 Do they still play the Magic Life song ?

We did Magic Life in 2013 to Fuerteventura, 10 nights AI for 4 of us, £2500. February, mind. I shudder to think how much it would cost now.