To think that families of 5 are ripped off when booking holidays

[Budgiegirlbob]

I've been trying to book a summer holiday with my sister , she has a family of 4, I have a family of 5.

We originally tried to book an AI holiday to Turkey, she had a quote of £4000 for 2 weeks, all 4 of them in one room. I got a quote, but as we needed 2 rooms to accommodate 5 of us, our quote was £7000. An extra £3000 for one extra child! Of course I expected it to be more than my sister, but not getting on for double. It included under occupancy charges as there would only be one adult in each room.

So we scrapped that idea, and got a quote for a cruise in a large ship, which specifically markets itself to families. Dsis quote was £3000 for four sharing a cabin. No cabins for 5 though, even on a family ship, so the cost for us was £5000. Aaargh !

I know we are lucky to be able to go on holiday at all, but AIBU to be cross that the cost for one extra child is so high just because we don't fit into the nice little holiday ideal of 2 adults, 2 kids?

as a family of 6, soon to be 7!
it is still possible to organise reasonably priced holidays if you have sensible and realistic expectations.
In Europe there are lots of 2/3 bedroom apartments and villas available.
Yes they are self catering but the majority have a maid service and the differences in price to AI mean you can eat out in local restaurants every day.
These are often like complexes with swimming pools and playgrounds so other children around. The only thing is no kids clubs.

We had 2 weeks in school hols in crete school hols last year less than 200â?¬ 6 bed apartment.

This year 3 bed villa in Portugal school holidays may/June 2 weeks 425â?¬.

It just requires lots of time and serious internet detective skills

There are lots of that are more expensive the larger the family. One of the things putting me off a 4 th child is that you can't have the normal sized car. We very often did self catering and then you get the space. Again it is more expensive because you can't fit into a cottage for 4, and cottages for 5 or 6 cost more, generally having 3 bedrooms instead of 2.

we're a family of five, and we do a eurocamp thingy every year in a mobile home.
we're going to the french jura this year at the end of May holiday, in a spanking top of the range chalet for about £700 including crossings.

cant bloody wait. Scenery, pools, free kids clubs so we get a break every day.

i agree that most holidays for a large family are just way too expensive, so we stick to where we can drive to.
Also its worth looking at gites.

i think 5 prople or even 4 people in one hotel room would be bloody hideous anyway

I wouldn't call it a holiday with 4 or 5 in a hotel room! I would rather stay at home. Unless the child is a baby or toddler I want a room for just me and DH.

Why don't you look at aparthotels? There are loads, especially in menorca/Majorca, even all inclusive. They do two bed apartments so you and your sister could get one each (they have sofa beds in living room so could fit 5 no problem). Look at Viva hotels and book flights separately.

travelwithkids.about.com/gi/o.htm?zi=1/XJ&zTi=1&sdn=travelwithkids&cdn=travel&tm=16&f=10&su=p1097.10.147.ip_&tt=13&bt=6&bts=6&zu=http%3Awww.sleeps5.com/

This might help... There are places t have rooms for 5 . Also maybe contact the hotels direct often they don't give the larger rooms to the holiday companies to sell or it is the holiday comps themselves that don't sell the larger rooms as they work on averages.

Thanks for all the suggestions - the aparthotel sounds a good idea. Don't really want to self cater - I do enough of that at home !

Centre parcs in France sounds good too - will keep searching .

I think Norwegian Cruise Lines have cabins for 5 people. Though another way of saving money there is to book an outside/balcony cabin for the 2 adults and then the inside one opposite for the 3 DC. They won't charge under occupancy supplements as it's normal for the DC to be in a separate cabin.

Book on alpharooms. You will get it for under 2k for 2 weeks

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We just stay in one room of course you have to pay lots if your ridiculous and wont share.

Book a villa ??

First Choice do have quite a few hotels that sleep five in a room but you do have to book them early.

If it's for this summer that you're looking for then there really aren't many of these left.

Prices for summer 15 come out next month

I have a family of 5 too. I choose to have them. Yeah, in hotels it usually means double the number of rooms so double the cost. I am not surprised, annoyed or outraged. We tend to go serif catering and book cottages which means we get s nice holiday for very reasonable prices. while you can squeeze the youngest into a cot you can still get away with 2 bed places. We've moved on to 3 bed now. a couple of years ago we had a lovely little place in France for £250 for the week. Just petrol and the ferry on top of that and ferry is per car so no extra charges for having 3 children.

I much prefer a small living space and all inclusive, and I am soon to have 5 so will be doing that a couple of times a year and as its cheap can go twice. Lots of my friends do it have you seen how cheap it is if you book it direct with the hotel in foriegn countries? Your hardly in the room anyway only to sleep.

Villas in Florida are fantastic - they're huge, own pool, pool table, darts, several TVs - kids love 'em. Very good value too.

I do think some places miss a trick with families of 5. We have had to give hotels a miss because they wouldn't let us squeeze a third child in even though they wouldn't have to provide an extra bed (we all share quite happily). The hotels don't need to provide anything extra but they would reap the benefits in food and drink.

We have self-catered for 20 years but it would have been nice to have been looked after once in a while without breaking the bank!

We are a family of 5 but my DH wouldn't share with the children even when we were a family of 4 so the only difference we have seen is in one extra flight.If you go for a family room or Junior suite they will often take 5 and it's often cheaper than booking 2 rooms

We've always snuck the littlest one in. He's 7 now. Our days are numbered.

My idea of hell is sharing one hotel room.

We book apartments/villas on Owners Direct.

Regarding the comment about family planning. I didn't choose to be a family of 5. Had twins

We didnt go abroad much becuase of the cost, but when we did we used to search for lodges in hotel grounds. Sometimes, most of the facilities are exzactly the same as if you were in a hotel room, except the sleeping part obviously.

You need an apartment on a complex. Thomson has quite a few - try mestral leibzig or Talayot in menorca for starters. You're a bit late for school holiday time this year though.

OP similar thing here, we have had to book two rooms in the past but we usually do self catering. Whenever I look for hotels it is normally for families of four. It is a shame that they don't include a couple of rooms for five as it wouldn't be double the space.

Oh and Athrawes the second lot were twins..... we didn't 'plan' for twins and the financial impact was significant.

Or Castle Verde, Corsica. We had a nice time there.
en.sud-corse.com/lodging_pageid175.html

i think 5 prople or even 4 people in one hotel room would be bloody hideous anyway

True dat. You need to look at chalets, gites, self catering apartments, family B&Bs and hotels etc to get good deals. If you take 2 doubles they will often put in a 3rd bed for kids rooms.