To wonder who can afford this? What do you spend on your holidays?

[Bridgeofpies]

I was flicking through a travel magazine and having the usual envy of the people enjoying sun drenched beaches, bustling exotic markets and artistic sunsets etc. So I had a look through at all the places to stay.

Almost all the hotels and accommodation (or a large proportion) were from £400 per night for a double room! Some were up to £700. It got me wondering - who actually stays in these hotels? They look amazing and I can imagine doing it for a one- off special occasion like a big anniversary or birthday but are there people who spend this on their “normal” holidays?

We are definitely well-off by most standards but wouldn’t consider this for a holiday! (Especially with 2 kids, it would be insanely expensive). Our last big blow out holiday was around £3500 but that was 2 weeks, all-inclusive, with flights and for all 4 of us!

So, just got me wondering, is it just billionaires and business travellers on expenses who stay in these places?

I spend a disproportionate % of my income on travel because it is a priority for me. I stay in really lovely places, but it isn't necessary to pay £400 a night for a room.

There are loads of sites (Trivago, Expedia etc) which give great value hotels or packages.

I would consider £3500 for four people for two weeks to be really quite a cheap holiday (unless it was in term time) so you did well there.

I think the thing is to shop around and really do your research.

I do earn probably double the average income but clearly that's nowhere near being a billionaire but I will probably spend £10k on our next family holiday, including spending money. I buy my clothes from Sainsburys, my house is ramshackle and I rarely go out. Holidays are what I enjoy spending my money on.

Could those prices be the rack rate, that almost no-one pays?

Eg if you walk into a hotel and ask for a room that night, they will often want a lot more than if you book months in advance on Expedia.

I once stayed in a London hotel that my work paid £120 a night for, but the sign behind reception said that a room was £299 a night.

£500 a night is £3500 a week, plus say another grand or two for flights for a family of 4 - plenty of 'typical family holidays in the Med' cost around £5-10k if you stay in Mumsnet favourites like the Ikos Olivia.

We probably spend around £6-8k a year on holidays, which is our biggest expenditure by far, more than our mortgage, food or domestic travel but fortunately for us as a child free couple, this usually buys us 3 or 4 separate weeks scuba diving in Europe.

I think the most we've ever spent on a holiday was £10,000, but that was a one-off "holiday of a lifetime" in New York/Cape Cod/Boston after our dds had just finished their GCSEs and A-level exams.

Normally, we'd spend about £3500 I expect.

We spent over £3k for one week all inclusive in Majorca last year for a family of 4. It’s ridiculously expensive, but we want a separate bedroom for the kids and once you have to go during school holidays that’s just what you have to pay it seems. This year we’ve decided not to do a beach holiday as tbh last year wasn’t that relaxing as DD2 is only 2, and £3k is a lot of money to spend only to come back even more stressed than you were before!

I guess it depends on disposable income and also what people are willing to spend.

It's all relative.

Plenty of people are on a budget that would consider £3500 a completely ridiculous and unaffordable amount to spend for 2 weeks away.

We spend about £8000 a year on holidays. But it’s a family of 4 and 2 holidays a year. I think if we were to only go one one then we can afford those places. Like another poster have pointed out, many MN favourite places in the med cost £5k or more. Hey just look at the prices at centre parcs. I got a shock when I saw the prices for cottages at bosniver farm during August.

Hmmm, interesting!

My eldest DC has just started school so I’m getting used to the prices of school holiday trips!

Would be interesting to know what everyone’s income is vs holiday spend.

Our income is around £140k BUT we live on the outskirts of London and have a crazy big mortgage so £10k on a holiday would be doable but a lot...

I absolutely love holidays and would rather spend money there to be honest. I don’t buy clothes or shoes (unless really needed). I guess we do spend a lot on food and activities but it would be nice to go somewhere warm too!

I think you might be right barbara about it being rack rate!

My friends just been quoted £22k for a fortnight all inclusive for 4 of them in Portugal. She says if she can get them down to £17k then that’s more reasonable! (I’m going to Butlins this year! Lol!)

I think the most we have spent is about £2.5k for everything on holiday in Greece many years ago before we became parents. These days it would be 1k including any meals out on a uk holiday.

Now that we had an 8 yo, we like villa holidays in Europe and spend around £2k for a week for the three of us. Or we spend £2.5k on flights and day trips while staying with family in Canada every couple of years. I also spent around £2k for myself to go to a family wedding the other side of the world not so long ago.

All in all, we like comfort and privacy, rather than luxury and pampering. When DD gets older and I have a decent income again, we will probably go back to more adventurous travel and scuba diving holidays

Some destinations just turn out to be hideously expensive. I’m on holiday at this very moment, to a historic city I’ve wanted to visit for a long time, and I was appalled at the price of accommodation. £400 per night was standard, and I’m in the grotty place with great location for £220 quid and no breakfast.

Yeah I think anything above £400 a night is crazy, I mean how nice can it be?!

But then we are not massive spenders.

This year we are spending probably £200 on three short camping trips then another £500 on travel to France, staying with friends.

Our household income before tax is about £65K but our outgoings are significant thanks to childcare and big mortgage.

As a pp said its all relative we would never be able to spend £3500 on a holiday , our holidays are usually a week in a caravan in the UK but that would be out of reach for some people ; different incomes and budgets etc.

We are a family of 5 - 2 adults, 2 teen boys, 1 pre teen. Cost of holidays abroad have absolutely rocketed, ours have nearly doubled.

Every year I think I won't book at these prices but the joy of having something to look forward to makes me book it - I could not stand a summer of crap weather.

sucky that’s crazy! It must be some awesome holiday!!!

pug I agree - how nice can it be! Looking st this magazine though you could be forgiven for thinking it’s the norm! Maybe they just all happened to be chic expensive destinations like where travelling is!

Wow I'm in the " would love to be able to spend 3-4k every year camp our most expe sive holiday was 1k and certainly not every year ..

Magazines don't show normal life though do they? They're aspirational

Holidays are our major expenditure and have always been. They are a priority for us. We’re mortgage free and only other big costs are DT’s Uni fees and bills.

In some locations £400 a night isn’t unusual but in others parts of the world you can pay £100 for similar quality.

Our income is not dissimilar to yours OP, but we spend a much larger amount on holidays. Reasons probably are that we have only 1 DC at home, a small mortgage and we prioritise holidays over house/cars. We will probably spend around £15k on holidays this year.

Yeah I think anything above £400 a night is crazy, I mean how nice can it be?!

For various complicated reasons the bill was paid by another hotel, but twenty years ago I spent a couple of nights in a suite overlooking Central Park where the rack rate was $700/night, so probably closer to $1000/night now. It was very, very nice. Since I'm currently quite happy to pay a couple of hundred quid for a hotel room in a big city, presumably if I had five times the money I'd be happy to pay five times more for hotels.

In other news: some people buy cars that cost more than my fifteen year old one. There is a market for Waitrose even though Lidl exists.

To be honest it certainly isn't billionaires and business travellers. I know a lot of people who will spend this on a holiday. Or will spend a lot of money on flights to places where luxury hotels cost a lot less.
Professional people with high disposable income etc but certainly not millionaires let alone billionaires. ( although house prices round here mean that they are probably millionaires on paper..).

Our income is very high. Relatively our hols are modest. August and Easter at our home in France. A week's skiing for dh and ds and either sun or city breks for me and dd. Getting cheaper because no longer need school hos and dh nd i likely to treat ourselves because we can go alone but likely to be short breaks.

We are usually around £120-£150 a night in a nice, clean, midrange, city centre hotel.