To think that if a competition is hosted by Mumsnet the prize should be accessible to people with children?

[secretscwirrels]

I just clicked on a competition link. It looks wonderful, a Mark Warner holiday in a 5* hotel in Greece.
Just before I clicked to submit it I looked at the Ts and Cs.
You have to take the prize this summer. If your children are older than 11 you have to pay more and
Excluded departure dates; 25th May, 27th July ? 30th August
So you can't travel in school holidays.
Not much use to a large percentage of MN then

sorry, is that exluded between 27th july til the 30th of august?

also, what date in july do schools finish? in NI we finish at the end of june so wouldn't be a problem but i didn't think england, scotland and wales were in right til teh end of july. i thought the middle.

Yes copy and paste failed it's 25th May (half term) and 27th July to 30th August.

lots of Mn'ers have children below school age, or above, and some have none at all. Why should every single comp be suitable for all members?
I'm not in the UK, so I'm ineligable for most of them, but I'm not whining about it.

The competition suddely looks a look more appealing to me - no school aged kids. Thanks for the heads up OP!

well, most holiday giveaways like that exclude half-term, because prices go up SO much then.

Well don't enter it then, there are some people who will be able to go on the holiday and some people who won't, just because it isn't suitable for you it doesn't mean it won't be suitable to thousands of other MNetters.

Would you complain that there were bath toys as a prize if you had teenaged children, or a scooter as a prize if you have a baby?

But Mark Warner holidays are primarily for families with children, aren't they? Why would you go to a Mark Warner hotel otherwise?

Agree that it sounds a bit cheeseparing. If you are going to give away a holiday, and you are a holiday company catering for families with children, do it properly.

There are lots of holidays with prizes I don't like or that wouldn't fit into my lifestyle. Guess what? I just don't enter those.

It's a prize, you don't have to enter if you don't like it, get over it.

I don't see the problem - there are plenty of MNers on here who don't have children, or who have older children not bound by school holidays, or children at private school who have longer holidays than state ones, or who have children who don't even go to school. They cannot make competitions accessible to everyone.

What does cheeseparing mean?

It does say very clearly at all points that those conditions apply, to be fair - and there are lots of MNers who don't have school age DC, or live in an area which breaks up earlier, or who otherwise qualify.

That said, you can all gerroff, cos my school age DC have a really strange half term and I want that prize

Sorry, Gerrof, that was as in "go away", not aimed at you...

Scottish MNers would be fine, our schools finish up at the end of June.

I'm a mum. I have children. How is it not aimed at me?

oooh, I've got a pre-schooler, I'm going to apply!

oh, perhaps I'm not as it's for a family of four and there's only three of us. Shall I complain cos it's not open to those families with one child ?

cheeseparing = pennypinching for no good reason.

If you are running a family holiday company you want your marketing to appeal to families - lots of families with lots of different structures and ages and combinations of children. Their competition fails on that front I think. Competitions of course don't have to be available to everyone but if you are running one that is a bit irritating to the majority of your customer base, you are not making the most of your marketing budget. It would make me avoid Mark Warner holidays because I'd think if they can't actually lay on an ordinary holiday for a family with school age children in holiday time as a competition prize, they are going to be penny pinching and annoying if I actually chose to pay up for one of their holidays (charge extra for everything, have loads of annoying rules about what you can and can't do etc).

Just my reflection - how it strikes me. I think they'd be better off running a different kind of promotion or shelling out for the full holiday.

I've got pre schooler's so I can enter!

MrsO - maybe you can borrow a spare child ?

oh i'm going to complain too then mrsoakenshield as i'm an LP with just 2 dcs so i cant have it either!

If I win, I'm going without DS, at 14 he can look after himself for a week.

not really

This is not a charity - this is marketing. Marketing is supposed to hit the target audience.

The bath toy analogy is not the same. It would be as if Abercrombie and Fitch ran a competition and the prize was bath toys. Or a trip to Abercrombie and Fitch but only before 9am and only with your mum in attendance. Not really building on the brand values

Going to go against the grain and say YANBU. It is true that lots of people here don't have school age children. But there are lots of threads here about how expensive holidays are in school holidays. And loads of debates about whether you should take your kids out of school for a term time holiday.

So it would be a really nice and generous if companies offering prize included the school holidays.

As it is more expensive the prize could be either a free holiday in term time or the equivalent money towards a holiday in the school holidays.