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?

Could you stay in Bungalows and use your normal bedding and crockery etc from home (or get the really cheap plastic kids stuff from ikea if you can get to one), and buy the absolute minimum camping stoves etc? There's so many lovely camp sites in Spain with simple accommodation so you don't need a tent.

£1600 is our budget self catering 2 weeks to marmaris this year
we dont like all inclusive £800 still to pay.
boys are nearly teenagers (it depends on what your comfortable spending )
£150 for a week in haven paid
looking to book salou for 5 £1600 for a weej

Fancyabrew We have spent 10k on a two week holiday before for 2 adults. Typically it's more like 8k most years.

I’m baffled you manage to factor in first class travel with this budget for two weeks.

We went to the South of France last year with s stop oner in Paris, flights,sleeper train, car hire and accommodation, valet airport parking and travel insurance was £1150 for the 5 of us.

I just don’t believe this.
Was it for one night?!

EmNetta

I'm amazed at the number of people paying huge amounts for holidays without seeming to upgrade to business or first-class for their familiar comforts. ( I'm now elderly and disabled, so don't do holidays any more).

Because I’d hazard a guess that most on mumsnet aren’t “elderly and disabled”. So the additional £8k min to fly a family first class to Europe is simply not good value in the context of an £8k overall holiday.

First class is eye wateringly expensive

We did 'camping' in a ready decked out safari tent in Scotland last year. It was really good but more costly than pitching your own tent. We can't wait till the kids are bigger and we can go proper camping. Because of DS1 eating issues we tend to do a static caravan, CP or Eurocamp and drive and take all our own food.

First class is one of those things i don't really get. Even if we were millionaires i don't think i would bother. I just don't see how bad sitting still for a few hours in a chair is - and we are tall and ungainly so rarely fit. It just seems like such a waste of money.

I find it’s generally cheaper if you book it all separately and go off the tourist routes.
We went to a European country a couple years ago in half term, popular with Germans as they can drive there easily but it’s 3hrs away from the nearest airport so not so popular for brits. It cost us £660 for a family of 4 for 10 days stay in an old vineyard, inc flights and car hire.

But we are very self sufficient in the activities we do.

MrsKoala
I’ve done it once.
It really is truly fabulous. I mean it needs to be for the additional they charge. It’s not just a lie flat. It actually makes the entire flight and utter pleasure rather than something to get through. It was a 12 hour flight and heavenly.

Just the once and no chance of a repeat in the foreseeable future!

I've flown first class before - i used to for work. But i don't rate it. Yes it was nice but not ££££s nice. I don't really need a gold sink in the loo! Altho i will say my standards of having a nicotine are pretty low and the idea of sitting in economy for hours sans kids is my idea of bliss. DH tries to bitch about it but i'm giving him no sympathy!!

• having a nice time, not having a nicotine - my space bar is broken as ds2 dropped a glass of coke on it and i'm coming up with some interesting autocorrects.

For long haul flights we upgrade to business using points so no/little cash cost to us.

Wow.
We spend around £500-600 including spending money for a week in a caravan in the UK via sun holidays. Me, OH and 2 DDs. Have done for the last few years and had lovely times.
We would have to get into serious debt to spend some of the sums on here!
Youngest DD starts school in sept so we won’t be able to do the cheap holidays anymore so god knows what we will do next year.

£5000 maximum on all breaks and holidays throughout the year, including spending money, travel and accommodation. We probably get all our day trips throughout the year for that too. We stick to England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland, beautiful countries.

Youngest DD starts school in sept so we won’t be able to do the cheap holidays anymore so god knows what we will do next year

You can still get Sun holidays in school hols if you're quick off the mark. Have done about a dozen, all in school hols!

I’m a single parent but usually allow £4-8k per years it’s just myself and my daughter. However this year having spends a few thousand on School trips plus now with puppy have decided to stay in the UK this year, prices seem very much the same during the holidays. I’ve a week in Wales and a week in Devon booked so far, the Devon one we are staying in a luxury beach hut with a hot tub, that cost as much as a in Italy. But I’m very much looking forward to it.

We spent about 12k in holidays last years; 5 different trips, one in the Uk 3 nights, 3 in Europe about 5 nights each and big one in Greece 2 weeks and 2 Islands; we searched carefully and do self contained and eat out sometimes but not all the time. Husband and I prefer to be independent and don't enjoy all inclusive much but have done it sometimes for the children. We are 4

I think 12-15k on a income of 100k is a lot but obvs it depends on mortgage & age of children.

Surely it also depends on things like adult ages, savings, whether people have inherited?

We earn well but less than 100k, probably about 70-80k joint (varies as DH self employed and pays variable dividends as cash, with some going into pension).

However, we both bought property when young so have been mortgage free from when we married 21yrs ago. We had some childcare but not extortionate (I am PT) so have always had reasonable disposable income, a lot of which we invested.

Most summer hols when kids were younger were in a touring caravan, home and abroad, mixed in with half term trips to hotels, cottages, Centre Parcs but no long haul.

Our first long haul, to Canada, was 4 Yrs ago and we did a road trip to W USA last year.

So.....we are now in our 50s and over the last two years our savings have been boosted by an inheritance, some endowments and 2 compulsory share sales.

Thus we were able to splash out on last years USA holiday, booking 2 rooms in many hotels and doing activities like helicopter flight over G canyon. It cost around 15k for 4.

Going forward, as we are moving out of school hols, we will be able to have similar holidays more regularly. It will probably be every 2-3 yrs whilst DC want to come with us, maybe 1-2yrs when just 2 of us going. But we will use caravan in between, which is a reasonably cheap holiday once it is bought.

I would never pay £400/night for a hotel, but we did get an upgrade in Vegas last summer, so DH and I could be on same floor as DC, and we ended up in a very posh suite. It was nice, with a wrap around balcony giving great view of strip and fountains, but I still wouldnt choose to pay extra to stay in it!

We got lucky with business class before. Normally, we wouldn’t justify the £££ it costs to upgrade but we got lucky in the past when we were able to upgrade for £200 extra per person. I doubt it’s something you could shop around for as I never managed to find such deals when I tried.

Danik were going to London for 5 days and plan to spend under 500!!! Far far cheaper for us to holiday in the UK!!

A business class flight to, say, Florida might cost £2.5k pp vs £800pp for economy, the bigger spenders on this thread are typically still spending around £10k in total for a family holiday so are nowhere near getting upgraded flights in that budget.

Personally, if I had a lot more ££, I would upgrade for long haul flights, it makes a big difference to the enjoyment vs endurance of the journey. I wouldn't within Europe though, the seats (well, BA's anyway) are not worth it.

Most flights dont have first class but just business class. It's not worth it on a short flight. I go business when I get a good points deal. It's not something I'd ever pay for.

@Blinkyblink I use air miles for the tickets where you only then have to pay tax which is often about the same cost as economy or wait for deals on flights as I can be flexible with dates so they only tend to cost around £1-2k more than economy in total.