Is this an expensive holiday?

[Emmascout1774]

My aunt and uncle are trying to organise a family get together in a hotel in France next summer. We’ve got a big family so would be a great chance to get together. They said they had a good deal on the hotel for a week… £3k per room. For a week. Does include food. Obviously flights on top.

now this is totally totally out of the budget for dh and me. Three dc with nursery fees etc. we’re comfortable but not lots of spare cash at the moment. I think my family are really disappointed and I feel very embarrassed. But am I not right that this is a very expensive holiday?

We went to the South of France this summer for 7 days (albeit the less pricey Languedoc region). We paid under 1k each and that was everything - travel (we got the train from London), hotels, eating and drinking and excursions.

That said we tend to stay in perfectly fine but basic hotels, breakfast is usually a pastry and coffee in the market cafe and lunch a bakery meal deal (the French love these!) - we always eat out in the evening though.

You can spend a lot of money in France but equally there are a lot of perfectly nice, affordable hotels and reasonably priced places to eat out - pretty much every city amd town has at least one fancy restaurant that does an affordable set lunch menu. We once had an amazing set lunch in a Michelin starred place near Perpignan for 30 euros each.

You could hire a gorgeous old chateau or Manor House for all of you or a collection of gites and eat out every night for less.

As another poster stated, AI is not really a thing in France. You could rent gites with a shared pool and eat in local restaurants or self-cater for a lot less. One of the things I love about France is the variety of amazing food in the local markets and supermarkets - not sure why you'd want to stay in a hotel and miss all that!

You do get traditional "full board" options in some hotels in France as well as more family friendly Club Med style AI places.

That is something to check - will it be the more formal type of full board package which will be more like a formal sit down restaurant meal than a buffet.

Like others though it would never occur to me to do AI in France - there are so many good eating options and it is so easy to eat out in France it seems rather odd to eat in the same hotel night after night, unless it is a specialised or remote holiday- ie a gastronomic hotel or a walking holiday in the mountains.

Ask them for the details so you can see if there is something close by that you can afford for your little family? You can also look into the hotel then as well. Do your aunt and uncle just have themselves to pay for?

So £3k divided by 7 nights is about £430 a night. I recently stayed in a hotel in Venice which was over £400 a night and no food included so it’s not that expensive if you want to go to France and if it’s a nice hotel. There are places to suit all budgets…

There are, but this place doesn’t suit the OPs budget. Really when arranging a group holiday everyone’s budget should be taken into account.