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Original poster

Not leaving the hotel when on holiday

168 replies

LaDamaDeElche · 09/10/2023 11:16

Do you go and see things when travel to a different country, or just stay in the hotel? I get it if you're doing a week all inclusive in Spain or something, that people want to just unwind and everything is paid for, but how about if you travel further. My dad has just been to the Caribbean and didn't leave the hotel in two weeks. He always does this - Mexico, Dubai, Greece etc - never even venturing out to a local restaurant. They usually go to the same hotel chain too, so it's like the same holiday over and over, but just travelling for more hours 😂 They just drink, eat, sunbathe and repeat. They've been to some beautiful countries and just seen the airport and the hotel. It seems so weird to me, but maybe it's normal and something a lot of people do.

OP posts:
MCOut · 09/10/2023 14:55

LaDamaDeElche · 09/10/2023 12:46

AI may be different in the Caribbean, but it isn't if you go to a specific chain. The best hotel in this particular chain is in Tenerife. If you look at the pics, the hotels are very similar wherever you go. My dad doesn't do the beach, so that's not a consideration for him. I get that there are hotels in the Caribbean that are super luxurious and you'd probably be happy staring there for the duration, although I do think it's normal for most people to do the odd trip if they're there for two weeks, but he is literally having the same holiday, with longer flights and then complaining about the flights to me and my siblings. It just doesn't make sense to me. Tenerife is still hot and travelling there is less impactful on the environment, and my ears with all the moaning.

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While I don’t understand why he wouldn’t leave the hotel, I have to disagree that the experience will be the same. I am biased though.

Even if he didn’t leave, the food is different, the vibe is different (different music, different culture of staff) and the guests are different (more from the Americas) so you end up having different conversations. Most importantly, for me, the sea temperature is different. I’ve had some lovely holidays in the Canaries but even in the height of Summer the water is freezing comparatively.

WonderingAboutBabies · 09/10/2023 14:58

We did it for our honeymoon in Mexico. We thought we'd be so shattered from the wedding that we booked an all inclusive just south of Cancun. We were bored within 3 days. The food was all the same, the entertainment was the same.
We were itching to get out but it was so, so expensive, w reluctantly forked out £1,200 to go on 4 excursions.

Fast forward 8 months later, we decided to backpack around Bali and it was the most incredible thing we've ever done. We spent one day lounging around the pool as our flight home was late at night.

However, having said this, we do realise we are young and child-free. Things may change when we have kids - we might be wrestling each other for the last sunbed by the pool whilst the kids are in holiday club!! 😂

KingsHeath53 · 09/10/2023 14:59

Depends which caribbean island! A lot of them there isn’t much there apart from beach.

margotrose · 09/10/2023 14:59

I've done all sorts of holidays and enjoy lazy ones by the pool as well as ones where you go out exploring everyday.

Why does it matter to you if he wants to go all that way to sit by the pool for a week? Sounds like heaven to me Grin

newamsterdam · 09/10/2023 15:02

NotSuchASmugMarried · 09/10/2023 11:20

I have different types of holiday but when I go all inclusive I rarely leave the resort. It's kind of the point.

Then why bother to go to different places?

everetting · 09/10/2023 15:02

Works for some people. I would hate it.

margotrose · 09/10/2023 15:08

newamsterdam · 09/10/2023 15:02

Then why bother to go to different places?

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Different weather, different food, different accommodation, different people, different types of facilities and entertainment?

Calmdown14 · 09/10/2023 15:22

I can sort of understand it in somewhere relatively close like Spain. You have gone for the sun and the pool and it is about as near as you can get those things. Although it's not for me but I can see the appeal.

See little point in travelling to the Caribbean to do it though.

gotomomo · 09/10/2023 15:24

We tend to rent a car at least once and perhaps have a nice meal elsewhere even if we are ai, the ai is for convenience rather than not wanting to go out

HamstersAreMyLife · 09/10/2023 15:41

If I go AI I barely leave the resort. I pick hotels where there are slides for the kids and food we like. It's expensive so I won't pay to eat outside the hotel as it defeats the object. We do go for walks but they are usually touristy areas so nothing much to see. The rest of our hols I book b&b and we go exploring, usually cities but before I had kids I'd travel around. Different types of holiday!

Sugarfish · 09/10/2023 15:47

I like all sorts of holidays but for proper relaxation I prefer an all inclusive in the Caribbean. It’s a totally different league to AI in Europe. The beaches are stunning and the hotels are usually bigger, cleaner, 24 hour, have several restaurants including local food and drink if you want it. Entertainment is decent as well. Staff can’t do enough for you. I do like to do the odd excursion as well though. I ended up doing a bit of exploring in Cuba and it was fascinating. Can’t say I’ve got much culture out of holidays to the Canary Islands for example. They’re always very touristy.

I love Europe but I travel a lot for work and a lot of the major cities have merged into one for me at this point. I do have a massive soft spot for the Balkan’s though and would recommend exploring the cultures in those counties.

Different people like different things, I don’t get why this is hard to understand?

samupnorth · 09/10/2023 15:56

It’s completely weird to not leave the resort . Why bother travelling at all ? Just go for sunbeds if you want a tan and visit the local leisure centre to swim . Otherwise , explore the country you’ve flown to !

UsernamenotavailableBob · 09/10/2023 15:59

I hate AI holidays because I like to explore and try different foods. I understand if you go to the Maldives and there's nothing else to do but loaf around but don't you get bored of that? Especially if you do 2 weeks of it?

Deadringer · 09/10/2023 16:03

I like city breaks best, love a bit of sight seeing and eating out in different places but I suppose for a really relaxing break I would give an AI resort a try, especially when I am older and I am not as mobile, but if I wasn't going to leave the resort I wouldn't bother with high prices and long flights like the Caribbean or whatever, I would find somewhere I liked a bit closer to home.

Vitriolinsanity · 09/10/2023 16:10

If I've booked a holiday specifically to read, relax and chill then your dad's version of a holiday is bang on.

Beezknees · 09/10/2023 16:12

I always leave the hotel to do excursions even if it's Spain or somewhere. When we went to Lanzarote we went to Timanfaya national park, Cesar Manrique's house and a boat trip.

Mrsjayy · 09/10/2023 16:14

We do A I and always leave the hotel although we do have some drinking lazy days I couldn't sit in. I know people who only go Dominican Republic and never leave the resort !

PikachuEars · 09/10/2023 16:24

LaDamaDeElche · 09/10/2023 13:06

How is it different from going to the Caribbean just to chill though? It seems kind of similar to me. You're on a tiny desert island. All there is to do are those things and a limited number of restaurants. In the Caribbean there's more to do and see, depending on the island.

But choosing to go to a tiny Maldivian island with nowhere else to go, and going to the Caribbean and not going anywhere outside the resort is pretty much the same, no?

Either way you're making the choice to restrict yourself to a resort-based holiday. If you can see the appeal of the Maldives, it doesn't seem much of a stretch to see the appeal of a resort in the Caribbean?

Holidaying in the Maldives is obscene, really - flying half way round the world to lie on a beach that's been entirely sanitised for tourists, adding to the carbon emissions which entirely will eventually entirely destroy the islands. Yeah I'm a hypocrite because I've been there and done it and throughly enjoyed it but it's the worst kind of tourism.

Original poster
LaDamaDeElche · 09/10/2023 16:35

Either way you're making the choice to restrict yourself to a resort-based holiday. If you can see the appeal of the Maldives, it doesn't seem much of a stretch to see the appeal of a resort in the Caribbean? As I said in my OP, I can see the appeal of a resort based holiday short haul, just not flying for 9 hours with a big time difference to the same hotel chain that you have stayed in Tenerife and various other countries. That I can't see the appeal of, especially if you don't like travelling.

OP posts:
larlypops · 09/10/2023 16:37

I always go AI for convenience but we go out explore, eat out and do excursions then other days just laze around the pool

Original poster
LaDamaDeElche · 09/10/2023 16:40

KingsHeath53 · 09/10/2023 14:59

Depends which caribbean island! A lot of them there isn’t much there apart from beach.

One of the big ones, where there is stuff to do.

OP posts:
Original poster
LaDamaDeElche · 09/10/2023 16:44

Why does it matter to you if he wants to go all that way to sit by the pool for a week? Sounds like heaven to me It doesn't bother me, the moaning about the travelling for days on end after arriving home bothers me. It happens every time, which is why I don't understand why he doesn't just book the exact same holiday in the same chain hotel in Spain or Greece, as the experience would be almost identical being that they don't leave the hotel or go to the beach. Perhaps slightly different evening entertainment, but that's it. Even some of that would be very similar. Better for the environment than flying all those extra miles too.

OP posts:
Original poster
LaDamaDeElche · 09/10/2023 16:45

Baffled1989 · 09/10/2023 13:49

@ActDottie just so you know if you ever find yourself in an AI situation you are allowed to freely leave the hotel and eat elsewhere, you’re not held captive and will not be arrested.

😂

OP posts:
SirenSays · 09/10/2023 16:48

That's my idea of holiday hell

Scaredycats · 09/10/2023 16:48

Agree AI in the Caribbean is just a different league to Europe. We did a 14 day honeymoon in the Caribbean and didn’t leave our hotel once. The resorts are huge, there were 8 restaurants, premium spirits and wine in the AI etc. We had planned on a few excursions but in the end didn’t bother. I think the weather, beaches, people and hotels were all far nicer than Spain or Europe. We’ve done plenty of travelling holidays but some people do find it is just nice to relax, read a few books, eat nice food and drink a few cocktails.