Holiday costs aren’t a scam

[Streppy]

To wonder if people don’t get sale and demand when it comes to holidays. I keep seeing people moan that holiday companies are scamming family’s with prices but why would a holiday in peak season cost the same as a holiday in January. If I booked a holiday to a tourist destination I would expect to pay less if I went out of season with hardly anything open etc. I’ve been looking at holidays in the uk today and one place Is almost fully booked for 2 years but the dates available are all out of season so reduced. To me that makes sense. I’m sure there are holiday companies that add on more than is needed cost wise in peak season but there not out to scam you. I keep seeing people say it’s unfair they can’t afford to take there kids abroad etc I never went abroad as a child we holidayed in the uk

But why are you assuming people can afford to holiday in the UK? Often it is more expensive to holiday in the UK than abroad.

I'm not really sure what your point is. I've never seen anyone say it's a scam.

Holidaying in the UK in summer is on par if not more expensive than Europe.

I have seen people saying it's a scam, and even saying they think the government should stop it.

Holidaying in the UK can be more expensive, but it doesn't have to be. we normally go away for a week in the summer (5 of us) and in the last 5 years have paid between £60 and around £500 for self-catered place. Most years it's been about £300, but we paid a bit more this year for various reasons.

But when we've looked for holidays we could have chosen to pay £3k in the UK. We haven't.

So saying holidaying in the UK is more expensive is not true if you want a cheaper holiday, there are them available, even in August.

I’ve just seen lots of videos of people complaining about the cost of holidays when I say I had holidays in the uk I mean camping. I have friends that have never been abroad or on a holiday. Why do we expect it as right.

Why should anybody have the right to go anywhere? We could still have to get permission from the local lord to leave the parish.

So Mexico in peak Caribbean season feb half term 6k the week before which is usually better weather £3850. The majority of the guests at the hotel we visit are American or Canadian so that increase is purely driven by the UK government and the school fines. The difference for next year is even more with the higher fines.

If they want to stick with the school fines the amount they add on for the school holidays should be averaged across the month.

I suppose it’s a scam in a way that you are limited to the time you can go because of children in school. Once term ends, the price goes up, this is because that’s when you have to take children with absolutely no choice. If people could take their kids in January or February I’m sure they would, but then you put them behind in education so it’s a double edged sword.

It is scammy to profit more of a bad situation, there isn’t more demand because that’s when people want to go, it’s because that’s when they have to go. We shouldn’t tolerate that to be honest, we should be free to go on holidays when we like, not told when we have too.

So indeed you prove the OP's initial point that people don't understand supply and demand!

So people online are posting videos about how they can't afford any of the holidays they want to do so instead of saving more or choosing something within their budget they call it a scam, have I got that right?

First they might just be talking bollocks for clicks, so I really wouldn't take much notice
Second, they probably need a lesson in capitalism.

I reckon anyone complaining if they rented out a holiday caravan and could get £3k a week for it during summer holidays rather than the off season £1k a week say would all take the £3k.

A holiday isn't a right, of course it isn't, it's a desire. Time off work is a right but what you can or want to do with that time is up to you.

I've heard people say this, but they're being ridiculous. It's not a right to go on holiday, you go if you can afford the prices and the prices are set by supply and demand. If not then don't go.

You seemed to have completely missed the point that it’s forced demand.

Schools need to move with the times. They should open year round and have core weeks where holidays are not allowed but in all other weeks, holidays should be allowed. For teachers as well as pupils.

It is not a scam.

Everyone (whether they have school-aged children or not) would most like to go on holiday in the UK in the warmest summer months, in the hope that they will get good weather. June, July and August are, funnily enough, peak season. Because the demand is high, then the price is high in just the same way that any other service or goods provided can be priced higher due to high demand. That is simple, basic economics.

Who wants to go to a holiday park and stay in a caravan or a tent for a week at the beginning of November? Not all that many people, and in order to increase their occupancy rate in low season, and to keep the place running and their staff employed, holiday prices are reduced at that time of year to encourage people to go.

The school summer holiday was never, as people fondly imagine, timed to coincide with when people want to go on holiday. Historically it was timed to coincide with harvest, when people in years gone by took their kids out of school to help on the farm. In more recent years, presumably they have continued to have the same dates because the middle of summer is when teachers and other school staff want to go on their holiday.

Historically it was timed to coincide with harvest, when people in years gone by took their kids out of school to help on the farm.

This is often talked about, but there isn’t a great deal of evidence for that being the reason. Harvest is often the end of August.

When the school system was set up, many children weren’t helping on the land, particularly not in more urban areas.

Schools were originally set up for more wealthy pupils (boys!) and it wasn’t thought to be good for them to be shut up in stuffy classrooms in the hotter months. When schools were introduced more widely across the country for the children of the general population, the holiday structured of the original schools were used.

@blacksax but it's not June, July and August. June is actually a cheap time to go away cause the kids are still in school.
Maybe England could follow Wales and allow term time holidays? However then you could say its not fair on teaching staff, so that's another issue. What is the answer?

Holidays in the UK suck. Look at the weather today!!!

When people are talking about hols being a scam, it’s about the cost in relation to the service you get.

Most people know it will be more expensive during school hols.
A lot of people also dint have the choice about when to go away.
But when you pay thousands fora poor product/service AND you know it only cost a few hundreds to the company (aka the so called put of season cost), yes it feels like a scam.

As for camping in the U.K…
You might not spend that much on the camping site. But you’ll end up paying a lot for indoors activities because it’s raining etc….
Overall, it’s not cheaper than being abroad.

And that’s because, surprise, surprise, the coat of a hols is not just the accomodation. Which is the only thing you’re referring to?

It doesn't only cost "a few hundreds to the company". The peak season costs subsidise the costs the rest of the year.

I keep seeing people say it’s unfair they can’t afford to take there kids abroad etc I never went abroad as a child we holidayed in the uk

Whoop-de-do

Who would teach the kids everything they miss when they're on holiday? If it's the schools, then who will teach the kids what they miss while they're being taught what they missed while on holiday?

It's not a scam because there's no deceit.

It's unfair that people who can't go in term time are charged more but since when did free markets and capitalism care about fairness.

It's been sunny all day in my part of the UK!

The root of the problem is the mass delusion we have a society that you absolutely must, must, MUST have a holiday each year (UK or abroad), and that if you don't you're somehow missing out / sad / stunting your children's development.

And then when these luxuries that we've been tricked into thinking of as "essential" cost too much, we squeal in outrage and claim that we're being scammed and that it's unfair we can't take our children out of school for a jolly.

You don't "need" a holiday. You do need rest, relaxation, and a break from work. But that needn't be in a different location.