AIBU to think there seriously needs to be something done about holiday prices?

[TokenGinger]

I don't have kids so I've never noticed how much prices actually go up! I start a new job in September so I'm looking for a short 3 night break in August before I start for DP and me.

I'm disgusted!!! Last year, my mum, cousin and I went to Salou for 4 nights, half board, flights included for a total of £361 (for all 3 of us) in September! To book this same holiday in August is £1021.

There seriously needs to be something done about it! That's only for two of us! For three nights! How can parents afford to pay for summer holidays for their kids alongside the cost of every day life?!

Hardly on the top of the government's agenda, but I really think this needs to be cracked down on!

I've just accepted that that's the way it is. If I want to go away during summer, I have to pay a higher price for it. Subsequently, we're going away for the first week of September and it's half the cost of going the week before (which we are away for as well).

I was surprised that holidays throughout July are just as expensive although I understand that a lot of schools break up earlier than us.

May half term is cheaper than summer but it's not as sunny though.

I wonder if the July prices are because Scotland schools break up much earlier?

My parents are both teachers. Obviously there was only a limited window in which we could take holidays.

Some years we could afford to take holidays, abroad or in the UK, some years we couldn't.

That's just the way it is. I'd love to only wear designer labels but I can't afford to. Maybe I should campaign to my local MP?

Holiday prices go up in June too and no UK based children are off school. People are seeking warmer weather, in many cases.

Yep, I think that's the case Egosumquisum

I thought that "the rule" was that holidays were more expensive during school holidays, which would mean that while local schools don't break up until today, holidays at the beginning of July should be less expensive - obviously, this isn't the case!

But you are only bound by kids school holidays for 15-20 years, then once they are grown up you can smugly travel off peak

Bet you're not complaining then.

Hot news! It's cheaper to get a meal in a restaurant at lunchtime on a Tuesday than it is to get dinner on Valentine's Day!

More hot news! Off peak train travel! It's a thing, you know!

Yet more hot news! Hotel rooms in New York and London are quite expensive on New Years' Eve! And a bit cheaper for Saturday nights in February!

Even hotter news! Tickets for Manchester United Premiership games are quite expensive, but it's much cheaper to see FC United of Manchester playing in National League North!

Hottest of Hot News! Can't get One Direction tickets? Why not see my mate Dave playing Ralph McTell covers at the working men's club, order your pies at the bar?

But you are only bound by kids school holidays for 15-20 years

If you're an idiot like me less careful about planning, you take a job in education just as your children start university, so you continue to be constrained to the school holidays when there's just the two of you...

I am looking forward to not being a slave to school terms. It isn't just paying extra which I completely accept, it is the blasted heat and crowds. I can't wait to be able to do the Med in June or September. For the last few years we've been to Italy and it is hot and heaving in August. I don't agree with taking hols in term time so I don't do it (did it once with permission but not comfortable with it generally).

One thing I have found is that whilst all the kiddy places are expensive in school holiday times, there isn't necessarily the same correlation with city breaks. We have had long weekend breaks in Barcelona and did New York during October half term and the prices don't move with the terms. Obviously it is easier to make this work with older kids but if you can be flexible on destinations and with some imagination.....

We have had long weekend breaks in Barcelona and did New York during October half term and the prices don't move with the terms.

Hush! Don't tell people!

Maybe it's not seen as a family holiday - a long weekend break in New York

I've done New York for three nights twice, once with primary age children, once slightly older. Fantastic. Similarly (three or four days) Lisbon, Paris, Berlin, other places. You need children who travel easily and will eat anywhere, as otherwise you spend a lot of time dealing with finding places to eat rather than diving into the first place you walk past. But you can get some astoundingly cheap deals.

I look after holiday rental accommodation in the algarve - we have a few price breaks, nov-March, April May and October, June and September and July and August, it's fairly blunt, I don't look at school holidays and I don't increase prices for Easter or half terms, they are priced in the month in which they fall. We have tourists from all over Europe, and further afield, so school holidays vary anyway

If we have unsold weeks I will probably reduce them about a month before, and some owners may offer discounts for hard to shift weeks - but what really annoys me is when I get an enquiry asking for a discount because 'the flights are so expensive this year' - so we individual apartment and villa owners are expected to subsidise a multi million pound company like easyjet or monarch? Would you ask the flight company for a discount because the accommodation was expensive?

The fines have meant the prices in term time have fallen - we priced up a holiday in June (debating taking DC1 out!) compared to the same holiday the year before (week in Turkey), except the year before DC2 was under 2 so didn't need a seat. Even though this was now a holiday including 4 seats on the flight, not 3, it was £200 cheaper this year! Didn't run the numbers to see the difference without DC2 to get a better judge.

Term time prices have been slashed, many tour operators will start reducing their supply at those times over the next few years to reflect the drop in demand, but for the next year or so, good deals can be found in term time.

(September is usually far cheaper than June/before the schools break up in July in England because Scotland break up earlier, but also parents are more likely to take their DCs out of the summer term whereas the first few weeks of the new school year/term are seen as much more valuable to be there).

We tend to go away over Easter. Although we are child free we both work in education and therefore are stuck with school holidays. The up side though is that we tend to go for non family locations and the prices don't go up that much.

OP is getting a bit of a hard time here - I totally understand what she's saying although the bit about 'getting something done about it' was surely just said in frustration. Of course nobody can 'do' anything about it!
We never had summer holiday holidays when DS was growing up as I worked in a seasonal business and holidays weren't allowed so we always went away October half term - if you book that early enough it's lovely and cheap!

OP, you are "disgusted" and thing "something seriously needs to be done".

Initially I thought I'd clicked the wrong thread and you were talking about genocide or female genital mutilation.

#firstworldproblems

this comes up every school holiday. it's supply and demand and how the world works. YABU and ridiculous.