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?

You do have to book early, we booked last august for a two bed apartment that sleeps upto six. It was sold out by October (I am sad as I like to check prices). Centre parcs Belgium and Holland are nice.

I dont think holiday places can be blamed. They are built with costs in mind, and anything non standard never normally pays.

Book a villa
Book an apartment

We went away last year with friends. Our x2 children and there x2. Booked a 4 bed villa in Croatia. Had a private pool, jacuzzi, games room, bar, and steps down to private beach/ the sea. Also had a lady who cooked lunch and left dinner prepped and cleaned. £4000 for 2 weeks hire. So £2000 per family for x2 weeks. Flights on top but not too bad

Just thinking that families of 4 are also ripped off when there's a 10 decibel snorer like DH - we always have 2 rooms for that reason

Another family of 5 here!

We stopped doing package holidays when he youngest turned 2 as we found it too expensive. We go self catering now. They are usually serviced and we eat out so it's no extra work. And I must admit I got a bit sick of the food and crap wine on all inclusive. Soon got very "samey"

I normally use "lowcostholidays". We've had some great holidays over the years. All quite cheap really!

I don't know why people book through tour operators.

book direclty with owners make your own holiday?!

"Just thinking that families of 4 are also ripped off when there's a 10 decibel snorer like DH - we always have 2 rooms for that reason"

Agree! I have been known to inflict him on the DC some nights, as a night of uninterrupted sleep is a rare luxury. One year though, rooms had adjoining balconies, the windows were open to the warm night air. And I could still hear him

Why does self catering automatically mean cooking and cleaning - we have an apartment we rent out for holidays, it is in the centre of a village, plenty of shops, restaurants and bars in walking distance - so no need to slave over a hot stove all holiday!

Hotels are a money making business. They need to make the best use of rooms. So can't blame them I'm afraid.

We are a family of 5, usually use self catering (have access to family owned property abroad)

This year we are going on a cruise, MIL is coming too. We were planning on DS or DD1 sharing with MIL as we had to pay adult price for DS anyway, we got a better offer by using 2 cabins for 3.

Sometimes you just need to play around with the options.

Go self catering in a villa or gite.

We do need a second room for overnight stops now - but whereas 4 of us used to fit in a Novotel room, now we often get 2 Ibis Budget rooms instead so much the same cost overall.

We need a bigger gite - 3 bed rather than 2 - but that doesn't always cost more anyway depending on where we go / level of 'luxury' (I like rustic anyway ).

At the end if the day we chose to have children. We don't expect subsidising - and the flexibility of s-c is great with young children.

You can cook if you want, you can eat out if you want, you get LOADS of space. This year we are spending much less than the amount you've been quoted for a lovely house with our own pool for a fortnight. You might need to make different choices but don't expect sympathy.

I googled out of interest and 15% of UK families have three or more children. I was surprised it was as low as that.

It is a pain, I agree and wish hotels would find creative solutions, sometimes speaking to them directly can help, we have managed to convince a UK hotel to allow us to have our family of five in a room for four.

If I wanted 2 rooms I wouldn't mind being charged for 2 rooms but I don't

I want one room that we can get into, mine are more than happy on the floor. Wouldn't do it for long but it is irritating when all you want is a night or two

And the phrase "family room" really annoys me. They mean a room that sleeps 4 or less...just need to break it to one of the children that they are no longer family

It's not the end of the world, we are on holiday this year, one week in ONE hotel room and two weeks in a villa and we normally go to a villa and just eat out (a lot)

And no it's not a big deal in the grand scheme of things but it is a pain when you are quite happy squeezing in. I take the point about occupancy and would be interested in seeing the reasons for that, when you can quite often get 2 adults, 2 children and a 2 year old in a cot but not a 3 year old

My heart bleeds

Misty that does seem low. Are they including married couples without children? Or maybe age gaps play a part, e.g. only counting children under 16 so if you have some older, they wouldn't count in the survey

Budgiegirlbob try investigating flights and separate accommodation? It might help. Keep an eye on child ages as you look through. Some airlines / hotels have differing child ages, from 11 - 16 usually. Try using HUKD as they have a resident holiday expert?

We went to Lykia World in Olu Deniz in Turkey when we were a family of 5. Family room with two bedrooms. Perfect, great pools and fabulous food.

My own solution may be a it drastic for you, though. Get divorced and suddenly become a family of four! Oldest DS has to pay adult price anyway so no under occupancy!

We are a family of 7 and you can do it you just have to look out for places with large 2 bed (sleeping 6-8) apartments or cheap villa type houses.

Have you tried Room for 5 website dedicated to hotels who cater for larger families.

Oh that is so sweet jack

Bless your little heart

As I said not a big deal and wouldn't it be boring if people couldn't whinge about those small irritations in life

I have 3 DC but the eldest doesn't come on holiday with us any more, we still book 2 rooms or cabins as I can't sleep with my DC who are teens in the room and we would all be on too of each other. When the 5 of us used to go on holiday we often booked package holidays, got 2 rooms, paid as if there were 4 adults but then got a free child price. I just thought of it as part of having a fairly big family.

You have to stop doing hotel based holidays, it's as simple as that. We did Eurocamp last year and Center Parcs in the Netherlands this year. It is a pain but there are ways of doing it cheaply.

www.thomson.co.uk/destinations/europe/spain/majorca/sa-coma/apartments/hipotel-aparthotel-coma-gran.html

One of many hotels that offer apartments to sleep upto six. Self catering, half board or All inclusive. it took me less than a minute to find this online.

The are loads of these, if you pick a hotel that doesn't have accommodation big enough to sleep your family in one unit then of course you will be charged more, sometimes nearly double of you have two rooms. How is this "ripping you off".

YABU and if you have time why not pop into a high street travel agent who could very quickly get you a list of holiday options.

Eurocamp, or similar, is your friend. Costs you the same whether there's three of you 6 of you.