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?

Don’t you ever worry you’ll spend £10k on - holiday and then not enjoy it?

It doesn’t worry me at all. I plan my holidays really well and I’d only ever be on a holiday I’d enjoy in the first place. So for eg when I went whale watching in Alaska I was on that holiday deliberately. It wasn’t something I went on by accident in the hope I’d enjoy it once I got there.

But that said, if I ever did end up on a holiday I wasn’t enjoying I’d just pack up and go home. It would never live on in memory as the holiday I had to endure. It would only ever be the holiday I didn’t like and decided to cut short.

I have great holidays that wouldn’t be everyone’s cup of tea because they’re non-stop and cover something different every few days. And I live on the beach in the sun so I’m not looking for it on holiday. I wouldn’t even mind if it rained a lot - I like the novelty of it.

My best holidays however will always be the ones I took my severely autistic son on when he was well enough to travel and we went on steam train holidays all over the world. He’d find a steam train somewhere and off we’d go, up and down the same line sometimes all day for a week. Not even being woken up by a giraffe sticking its head through my bedroom window in Kenya and wakening me up will ever beat those holidays. Nothing will.

I just can't imagine ever having that kind of money and wanting to go somewhere so uncouth

After my marriage of many decades broke down I went to Disney Florida with my brother and his wife for two weeks. It was a very different holiday for me but I decided to go anyway. I loved it. We stayed off site but we were at the parks every day and they were all I saw of Florida. One day we were in line to have some pictures taken and Pluto came and danced with me. We were waltzing and I was laughing till I started doing that crying thats a mix of happy crying and sad crying. Pluto saw it and wiped my tears with one of his ears. It was like being kissed better as a child when you scrape your knee. If that’s uncouth I’m all for it.

This thread is making me smile I love how people assume that everyone can just afford thousands every year on several holidays just because holidays are "very important to me" holidsys are very importsnt to me too and I can prioritise them as much as I like but a week in haven is about as much as I can afford 😂

We usually have 3 holidays away a year plus 2 or 3 weekend breaks. Normally we split ours into a 2 week long haul in the Winter - stretched to as near 3 weeks as possible and a week in Europe in the Summer and a week Oct/Nov. We're in India now, we're here for 19 days and it will cost us (2 adults, no children) around £1400 for flights, accommodation, food, drink, sightseeing and transport but not incidentals. I don't think I would ever pay £400 for a hotel room although I know that standard of accomodation is some people's idea of heaven. We're high up in a hill station in an immaculate homestay, we're about to to taken out to for a day's tour by the owner, we have a bathroom you could hold a party in, meals more or less cooked to order, a comfy bed with crisp white sheets, attentive personal service, country-side where kids could run free for miles and a delightful garden where the birds sing constantly all for £15 per night. Our last home stay was in the forest in an eco lodge and the one before that was on a pristine, deserted beach fringed with coconut palms.

Even in Europe, I'd think twice before paying more than £60 a night for a hotel. I know some friends think we slum it by not paying more but in my eyes we never do, what we occasionally miss out on mod cons, we gain in getting to know people and smiles - we're reasonably savvy, choose carefully, and more or less avoid main tourist spots or at least stay outside off them and zip in and out when needed.

Having said all of that, there are only 2 of us to worry about and we're adults. With kids we nearly always camped (which I love) in Europe or the UK or rented cottages or rooms - Greece was a favourite.

I guess we could afford to pay more, but as a few others have said, if I pay what I do pay, we can afford more holidays, and doing it this way, I know that most of my cash stays in the local economy and I get to see what each county is really like.

*We're high up in a hill station in an immaculate homestay, we're about to to taken out to for a day's tour by the owner, we have a bathroom you could hold a party in, meals more or less cooked to order, a comfy bed with crisp white sheets, attentive personal service, country-side where kids could run free for miles and a delightful garden where the birds sing constantly all for £15 per night. Our last home stay was in the forest in an eco lodge and the one before that was on a pristine, deserted beach fringed with coconut palms

To be honest you really are just describing an ordinary holiday experience in India, Nepal and Sri Lanka.

I don't think I would ever pay £400 for a hotel room although I know that standard of accomodation is some people's idea of heaven

It could also just be that 400 pounds a night gets them what they are used to by way of their own bedrooms at home and that may be their rule of thumb - to not be less comfortable on holiday than they would be at home if it can be avoided.

and I get to see what each county is really like

I think if you have a mind to see each country as it really is, as well as meet lovely people, you will regardless of how you do a holiday.

x2boys When I say I prioritise holidays what I mean is I have x amount of disposable money and whilst I could spend it on doing up the house or adding to my pension I choose to do neither and spend it on holidays. Other people with the same disposable income wouldn't dream of spending that money on a holiday.

Wow wow wow...! So jealous of a lot of posters on here, it makes me so sad that I want to do these things and take my son to see amazing places, but financially it just can't happen and can't see it happening either.

Last holiday was 2011, Essex in a caravan for 4 days. Amazing being with my boy on the beach, means the world to me having those memories.

It could also just be that 400 pounds a night gets them what they are used to by way of their own bedrooms at home and that may be their rule of thumb - to not be less comfortable on holiday than they would be at home if it can be avoided

This pretty much explains why our holidays cost what they do. Doesn't mean that everyone can afford it, does or should have the same rule of thumb but this is ours.

So jealous of a lot of posters on here

Dont be jealous. These holidays are just a tiny snapshot of a persons life and I think many here probably have things going on that would make others think - ok, I don’t have those holidays but I’m glad I’m not them.

I used to live going in the caravan with my children when they were young. And now I love camping with my grandchildren. Like you I’ve got some really lovely memories of very happy times. 😊

We fly easyJet/Ryanair/jet2 and stay in AirB&B or OwnersDirect properties. Much cheaper than a package holiday.

You're right Fionne , it's just a small part of a whole picture. Aw that's lovely about your memories with your children and grandchildre they are precious aren't they.

And money isn't everything, I absolutely realise that and don't begrudge anyone the things they've worked for and can enjoy. I think it's just hard because I have an unhappy personal life too, and if that was better maybe money woes wouldn't bother me so much.

I'd happily spend 10k on an 'uncouth' holiday to Disneyworld - it's not just all people dressed up as characters. It really is an amazing place - as I say, we currently go every 2 years. First time we stayed in a villa and spent about 6k including spending money so it's not always 10k a time.

We don't just do Disney, we love Florida in general (the shopping is also amazing) but we have paid to stay in a Deluxe Disney villa this time and I CANNOT wait - I don't care if DD will only he 4 months old (we booked before).

Yes, that was exactly what I was saying. My experience is an ordinary one not slumming it or a luxury one, it's middle of the road. We're far too old to want to miss out on comfort but we forego the luxury element so we can get away more often. We haven't always been able to do this, in fact there was a time we didn't have a holiday away from home for 8 years. We're now unbelievably (to us), in a position to afford it, but we can only afford it because we don't want or need that £400 room and we don't spend much when we're at home.

I'm not saying people should spend their money on whatever holidays they want, I'm friends with someone who loves to fly Emirates business (or 1st if they can swing it) to far flung places, and stop at villas with private pools and a butler. I'm also friends with people who spend all of their holidays at festivals and others that stay at at home. They're all lovely people who just happen to have tastes different to mine.

Some of my happiest holiday memories are camping, once when the outer tent blew away when we were in St David's, did out ruin the holiday? No we just piled in the car, bought another tent and carried on :-)

We spend a lot on holidays because we live in NZ and visiting the UK and Europe means dropping £3000 on flights before you've booked a hotel! I'd spend £400+ a night on accommodation but not on luxury hotels - on nice self catering accommodation with 2 bedrooms and a terrace.

We both work full time (and are lucky enough to be paid well) and spending money on holidays is probably our top discretionary spend - which means a beach holiday at a rented house in NZ in summer, and 2-3 weeks in Europe each year flying good airlines but still economy! The big trip probably costs about £12k for 2 adult and soon to be 2dc - it's a big expense but something I love doing with my family. I'm usually very cynical about #makingmemories but we have had some lovely holidays (and some blow outs which now make for funny stories...)

People wanted to know why I was enraged

I guess I meant jealous. I will struggle to scrape together a grand for a holiday this year

But I am a bit at the sense that people think the amount that they spend on holidays is normal. It's not. The UK median income is only just over £27k pa for full time staff.

Obviously people can spend what they want, if you have it spend it. But I do get annoyed when people imply I (and people poorer than me) could afford nicer holidays if we simply worked harder. There's too much structural inequality in this country for that. Wealth is much more down to luck of birth than anything else. Same debate as property market stuff, these days 2 reasonably high earners in the south east can have vastly different fortunes - one can have a house deposit given to them & get on the property ladder, the other may not be so lucky and stuck renting unable to save for a deposit despite large wage cos of how much rent it

I asked a travel counsellor to help on a recent trip and the quote was way more expensive than booking flights and hotel direct! She was miffed when I queried it and implied I was a cheapskate - in this day and age, it's about good value for money, whatever your budget is. If you want to waste spend your money feeling like you've got special treatment, or can't be arsed to do any work yourself, entirely up to you.
Shop around and do your research. Tripadvisor is your friend.

I totally agree breadwidow

I know there are people much less fortunate than us who work just as hard or harder and who deserve a good holiday. I know I'm very lucky.

There wasn't much money for holidays when I was growing up so my love of travel (and obsessive holiday planning) no doubt stems from wanting to give my DC the family holiday experiences I didn't have.

*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. *

No, that's the average income of the top 1%. To be in the top 1% of tax payers in 2015 you "only" had to earn 160K. And there were 30.7 million tax payers.

As a household we are (just) in this bracket, though not individually, and would not spend £400 just on a double room. It would have to be for all 4 of us and include fairly special meals, activities etc.

And to the person who said why go to a hotel that is not as good as your house - what nonsense! Almost none of the places we stay match our rather lovely, large house (except when we have rented a house as a large group). The point of travelling for me is to visit amazing locations, meet interesting people, not sit in a luxurious hotel room. I've loved staying in huts, simple cottages, tents, small flats, friendly b and bs, farm buildings, cosy pub rooms - all far more basic than our house.

We spend a fairly substantial amount on holidays, but try to get good value and often most of the money goes on long haul flights to somewhere exciting. Outside expensive cities, I still aim for £100 for the 4 of us per night for accommodation (though it's getting harder now with teens). I'd rather spend £400 on dinner at eg the Fat Duck than a room.

But I do get annoyed when people imply I (and people poorer than me) could afford nicer holidays if we simply worked harder

Quite. That's an obnoxious attitude. I'd be the first to put our very comfortable lifestyle down main to luck. A bit of talent (which is basically luck anyway), a bit of good judgement, a bit or hard work, and an awful lot of good luck.

Agree with breadwidow. I work two jobs so that we can afford our holidays. But it only works because my husband earns £25k. if he earned less or minimum wage I’d be working two jobs just to get by. You can’t always go out there and get it. It’s out of reach for a lot of people

I wouldnt pay that . We are going in peak summer to a 4 bed, 2 bath cottage kitted out with everything, a minute from the beach in a lovely sailing town with loads to do. Cost is just under £900 AND they take dogs which is a must for us (taking 3)

I think it's hard not to spend lots of money these days. We were away in the UK in Feb half term, didn't stay in expensive hotels (one was a Premier Inn and that was the posher hotel, the other was a stand-alone 2 hotel) and probably spent around £1K by the time you'd factored in petrol and meals, and it wasn't a holiday, our son had a sports camp which we took him to for 3 days and then decided to spend another 3 days in the area. I did look into B&Bs too

DH and I have been married 20 years in September and are going away - 3 nights will cost around £1000 just for the hotel. Then we have flights and meals etc to add on. But it's a special occasion.

*I asked for a family room and the B&B said they had one available, and asked for age of ds for price. I said he was 15 and never heard back. Emailed again and was ignored again. Hence we ended up in the Premier Inn, sharing a decent sized room.

I would love to take my children to Disney , but when I priced it it was coming in at £16000 with spending money as we are a family of 6. Just realised our summer holiday is going to cost us £1400 more this year as our youngest is will be 2!! We are going to Majorca and where as 3 years ago we could get an amazing hotel for £700 each it is now £1400 each. The prices seem to hike every year at an alarming rate for the med

@problembottom Just fo let you know I don't think you're insane at all. I think if you earn good money and are without current dependents then spending money on beautiful experiences is a fantastic thing to do. No doubt you work hard for the money and it may be a cliche but you don't remember the work you did when you're old and grey - you remember the happy experiences. Good on ya! (Too much carping and jealousy about IMHO)

I've only been abroad twice as I loathe flying.

First trip was in 2012. Week on Lake Garda in September. 3* hotel, breakfast included, return flights from Manchester to Verona, with airport transfers, £500 per person. Spent around £300 on top to include eating out every night, wine, visiting places, train/boat trips to Venice, Verona, Bardolino. Booked about seven months ahead.

Second trip was 5 days/4 nights in Brussels, 5* hotel including breakfast plus flights from Heathrow, £210 per person, in September 2014. Booked only 6 weeks ahead.

When I see what some people spend on holidays it absolutely amazes me.