to expect travel agents to know about overseas holidays for family of 2 adults & 3 children with entertainment for kids

[Ladyhils]

Why is it so difficult for travel agents to find reasonably priced overseas holidays which have children's clubs/activities and which does not involve the booking of 2 separate rooms or the need to sit in the travel agent whilst they call several hotels to see if the room/suite/apartment actually will hold 5 people? Is it so unusual to have a family consisting of 2 adults and 3 children (aged 4, 7 & 12)?

Any tips on good travel agents or holidays for a family of 5 would be great. :)

I am having the exact same problem! If anyone knows anything, please help us!

have a look at the first choice holiday villages

A lot of hotels have childrens clubs that any residents children can go on. It is often much cheaper to book independently.

Whereabouts do you want to go?

Lanzarote is always reasonably priced, very family friendly, (and guaranteed good weather) and flights and accomodation are very easy to book online.

I find most internet sites give you the option of choosing your requirements more easily than travel agents.

We have tried the internet but we have found that very few sites give you the option for a family room, or at least a family room for 5, which is why we decided to go to the travel agent - and then we found out that they don't really know the hotels on their books as well as they say they do. Last time we went on holiday we ended up telephoning the hotel ourselves to ensure our son (too old to be classed as a baby by then) would not push us over the people per room allocation.

I agree this is really really annoying! Do you have any smaller, I dependent travel agencies where you live? I have found they are much more knowledgable and helpful and it is nice giving them the business rather than the big travel agents who I always find dissapointing

I havent booked through an agent for years. It is just so easy now to do your own research on resorts/hotels by reading genuine customer reviews, (tripadvisor etc).. and tailor make your holiday into what you want from it.

How about self catering within a complex?

We are looking at Turkey for this year or next year, following advice from a colleague at work but anywhere hot where the kids can have fun and where my husband and I can relax for at least 1-2 hours some days. My husband is from the caribbean and we had hoped to spend 2 weeks there & visit friends & family, but have given up on a holiday there as it seems most hotels/holidays cater for families of 4 and we can't afford the expensive accomodation/holidays which cater for families of 5 that want kids clubs for kids aged 4/5 to 12/13. Also my oldest has special needs so really would need to spend time with children in the club in the lower age range, e.g 7/8-11/12.

I reseach our holidays on the net and work out best price ect before i head for the travel agents. Then just show them a print out of the costs and get them to price match.
Use sites like trip advisor to check out the hotels and area you think maybe of interest to you.

Where do you want to go? and what sort of holiday ie AI or self catering

I work for a large travel agency, but agree that agents should know their products inside out, but don't tar us all with the same brush as most of us are really happy to make recommendations lol

I also agree that the First Choice Holiday Villages are great for large families.

Hope you find something suitable at a good price.

Try "On the Beach" -no frills site, good prices and it tends to offer 2 bed apartments within hotels and complexes.

First choice has a holiday village in turkey.
Plenty for children to do and kids clubs for all ages.
I have been to the one in egypt and my boys had a whale of a time. They can be quite busy and a bit brit abroad but we always find somewhere a bit more quite to relax.
Not to everyones taste but if good facilities for children are one of your main wants then you cant go far wrong.

Try to find an independent travel agent to look for you.

I used to run an online travel agency with my DH specialising in the Caribbean. We generally only sold specific hotels. We visited many of them and knew the hotel management well. We knew which hotels had rooms that accommodate a family of 5 (safely) even when it wasn't advertised and wasn't offered through the main tour operators.

We had loads of independent competitors who had similar knowledge because as you say most have rooms built for 4 max.

I have used "on the beach", "holiday nights", and "alpharooms" many times.. and usually book with Monarch, who are reliable and a good price.

Bubblewrapped how many kids do you have, expedia,trip adviser etc are all good websites but when you have more than 2 kids (we have 4) they just come up with over room occupancy and then if you request 2 rooms even when you ring them up they cannot guarantee that you will have adjoining rooms or even on the same floor. It is very annoying trying to book a holiday with a larger family. We have got to the point of giving up and driving off with a rough idea of where we want to go and a tent!!!