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?

Bunsygirl, I think that’s a bit unfair - many many people don’t have the earning capacity to have lovely holidays. I work hard too in two jobs but do I work harder than someone who is a night janitor or a carer? Nope. Many people work long and late hours just to keep their head above water.

Although we are v lucky and have some amazing holidays, we’ve had some lovely times camping for less money than we would have spent at home.

Oh Disney is so fucking expensive.

I don't mind spending a bit on a special break but paying for Disney actually physically hurt.

Teacher22 People who game the grammar school like you are sickening - you are the perfect example why the grammar school system is bullshit. of course I bet you spout out "grammar schools help poor but clever kids, we need more of them" when they do nothing of the sort.

Yes Bunsy "go out and get them" is spectacularly crass.

I get that life just ain't fair and that's just how it is, but I'm not pretending that there is any equality here.

Oh no a grammar school rant!

Nooooooo save us!

It's weird...
I think whatever they write in magazines I think is just bollocks :)
We spend about 7k on travel /year. But we do travel a lot, mostly with my DS, sometimes as a family. Last year we went on a 2 week road trip from Hungary (visit my parents), to Slovenia, and Italy. Then to France for 4 days, Belgium for a week, Hungary for a 5 weeks (okay, accomodation was free there, but everything else we have to pay for naturally), week long road trip home to London from Hungary through Austria, Germany, Belgium. And an extra week in Belgium with my parents (we paid for everything there). Plus a week trip to NYC for me. And apart from the NYC trip all of them in school hols time.
If I'd ever paid 3k+ for one holiday we couldn't go to so many places. Sure, it would be nice, and affordable. But why would I go on one trip all year and nothing else? What could it offer for that money??? I'm planning next year's winter holiday as we want to go to Bermuda/Seychelles or similar. It means that probably no other travel will fir in for 2019... And I'm still wondering if it's worth it or not... I don't think I could enjoy myself knowing that we paid 400/night.

Also these prices are really just for show. My flight was cancelled due to weather in London when I was in NYC and I needed to stay for more than 24 hrs. The second cheapest hotel room was the Central Park Plaza! :) Their official rates are around 6-700/night, but called them up and got the room for 101USD for the night. And it was in the middle of Manhattan! :D Best Western next to JFK would have been 120usd....

(As I was writing this I looked it up, we spent 60 days abroad. That means every day abroad was around 100 pounds for the 2 of us with DS. Given that sometimes all 3 of us traveled (inc. DH), and sometimes we didn't pay for acc. I'd say that a 50gbp/day average is not that bad :) I don't think anything could convince me to go on a 400.day rate holiday....)

Our income is low compared to most on here (DH £26k plus bonuses and me £12k as only work one day a week self employed since having DS) however we have a modest semi with only a small mortgage and own both our nice cars outright so we are able to have a nice standard of living without going into debt. We go on holiday around 3 times a year usually at least one of those to the Florida Keys and spend around £4K for the 3 of us on those holidays that includes flights (DS has had his own seat since 6 months old!) and spending money as luckily we stay with my parents. Other holidays usually cost us around £1500 a week whether in the U.K.(Cornwall!) Or abroad, so we spend around £7k a year on holidays which in comparison to salaries is high but we live for our holidays in fact that's the main reason I work!

I love threads like this, reading about what other people do, where they go and why etc. I'm partial to daydreaming about the high life

Most we've spent was 7k to Disney California.

Tbh, I haven't read those posts as judging. It must be dreadful to see people spending more on holidays than your annual income. This thread has really illustrated the vast disparity in circumstances. If you're a carer you work just as hard as a city banker but the difference in reward is mind blowing.

I was surprised at the amount of people on this thread that go skiing! I couldn't imagine anything worse.

Well it's a good job we don't all like the same things otherwise the slopes would be packed

Yeah I’m not down with the skiing. Every person I know who went when we were younger broke something. Every school trip some one came back injured. Put me off for life!

My DH is a very high earner. He’s also very stressed. Whether the money is worth the stress is probably a separate issue for another thread!

He lives for the holidays that his income allows us to have....I guess they’re a mobile form of stress relief.

We budget £25k each year for holidays. This covers 2 adults/2 teenagers. Usually we have 4 holidays a year, 2 in Europe and 2 long haul (Far East/Caribbean). We always fly economy to get the most out of our money and I always shop around for the best deals.

Summer holiday to Australia will be c£10.6k but that's everything, flights, car hire, hotels, trips, food for 4 of us flying direct. Usually spend about £100 a night on accommodation, most we are spending is £200 a night in Australia but one is a treehouse with spa bath etc and you can feed possums on the balcony, other is a place with tree kangaroos, platypus, possums, pademelon etc and you can cuddle some of them. Wouldn't ever spend £400 a night but we do prioritise holidays and all love them. DS is ASD and loves animals so we often do animal themed holidays. This is the most expensive one yet.

We spend about £8k a year on holidays, which is less than 10% of our combined salaries.
This year we're having:

A long weekend in Lisbon for me and Dh
Week in France in May half term with extended family (accommodation paid so just travel and spending money)
10 days in Montenegro with our two boys
Long weekend in Marrakech (just me with my sisters)
DH also has a stag do weekend.

I think we get good value from our money but appreciate we are very fortunate to be able to spend what we do.
I'd spend more if I had it as well, I live for holidays!

Looking at the weekend papers' travel supplements for SC houses, people seem to spend £5000 for a school summer holiday week in a nice house in Cornwall for a group of 6. We have just been away to catch up with friends (two groups) and have paid £100 per room per night in the UK.

Surely it’s all relative to how much you earn? I know a few extremely rich people (I used to work in a PR role within a top hotel) and these people drop 10/20k on hotel rooms per night sometimes - presidential suites of course. When my husband was in banking we would spend 300/400 a night depending where we were, but we are high earners and his job meant he only switched off on holiday so it was important to us to spoil ourselves. We have children now and have prioritised private schooling for both of them so the holidays have taken a back seat.

I just do city breaks, I can’t afford anything else. I always hated all inclusive holidays as a child anyway so don’t feel as though we’re missing out on anything... my DM loved nothing more than lounging by the pool all week and shipping me off to kids clubs but it’s just not my cup of tea. I don’t do relaxing and I’d get terribly bored lounging around in the sun for hours.

I spend £400-800 for a few days away visiting museums, galleries and learning as we go.

I can't fathom spending some of the amounts here on holidays. I find holidays really stressful - everything from booking to packing to travelling to finding your way round I only go because DH likes a bit of sun and I accept that it's a different type of quality time.

That said, our family income is well ahead of average - comfortably into six figures - and I shudder at more than £2K on our annual break. I'd much rather pay off some of the mortgage / save it.

Does that make me weird/ cheap?

Just been doing some googling. The top 1% of UK earners earnt an average of £267,000 pre tax in 2010.

The UK working population was 32 million in 2016, so roughly 320,000 UK nationals earn £267,000 or more. These kind of holiday prices are affordable to them and probably to the next tranche of people earning a bit below that... so there is a market

I'm not sharing what we've spent....

I don't think it's always relative to what you earn. I could afford 400 pounds a night on a hotel room on a 6 digit salary but would rarely spend that as I think it's rubbish value for money. The things a 400 pound room provides over a 150 pound room are not things that i think it's worth paying 250 pounds for.

I’d def agree it’s often not relevant what you earn

Worked in travel for years and the people that spent the most on travel weren’t those that lived in the smartest areas/houses

Blankie No - not at all. We are all different and prioritise different things.

My mental health would suffer dreadfully if I didn't have nice holidays to look forward to, so it is a huge priority for me. I am sure most of us understand that other people have different needs and priorities, regardless of income level.

However, I did wonder, on reading your post, if you might enjoy a holiday more if it was just you and a friend? It sounded as though you are doing all the thinking/planning/booking/packing/general emotional load for the whole family? I would find that bloody stressful!!!

Family of 5 here, 10 nights s/c in summer school hols in Greece through Thomson or TC £2,700-£3,200. Have to book at least a year in advance to get these prices though! And do heaps of research to get a really good place without horrific prices.

No @blankiefan I don't think that's weird at all! The more money I earn and save, the less inclined I feel to spend. I would definitely do what you do and save more.

But my income is nowhere near anyone's on this thread. I'm self-employed and can probably pull in £28k on a good year. I'm lucky to occasionally get trips away through work which do allow for some sightseeing so I don't spend anything on holidays. I never went abroad as a kid because we could never afford it so I don't see it as necessity, it's definitely a luxury and not something I'd work myself to the bone just to be able to do.

I do feel quite uncomfortable seeing how many people spend 10k per year or more on holidays. That's my entire savings.