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?

Just had a look at the official ABTA report for last year.

87% of Brits went on holiday in 2017. On average, people had 2.1 holidays in the UK and 1.7 abroad.

@BlinkyBlink, @ChardonnaysPrettySister is that so? Benefits and multiple holidays per year in Gambia etc somehow do not add up in my head, but perhaps I am naive... (my parents have worked and paid taxes their entire life and have never been able to afford anything other than one holiday per hear in a cheap campsite, tops... tiny house etc so no luxuries in other areas either.)

I don’t know, Peregrane it seems odd to me, but of course we all have different priorities.

This thread made me try to have a “conversation” last night with the OH.

I’ve estimated that we’re spending less than 3% of our joint net income on holidays this year. (We contribute equally, he does have a higher net pcm, but by hundreds, not thousands). For people who have given the statistic in terms of months-salary, it is c. 1.5 WEEKS wages. This makes me sad. If you told 21year old me this statistic, she’d be furious and disappointed and would be like “what the hell is the point of going to uni then?!”.

The conversation was not successful. Some more maths later, his pointing out that we have occassional weekends away we should include, deducting my regular expenditure from my net pcm to reach “disposable” and it’s more like 15% of “spare” cash. Which was sufficient. We will not be starting a “holiday fund” saving account.

Good job I like Wales. And I burn easily anyway. And I was terrible at languages at school. And flying does scare me. And it’s fun to cook in a different kitchen for a week. And The Gambia probably has big spiders.

A few families in my ds's class are (openly) on benefits and one of them goes on holiday every school holiday. Always abroad, mostly Europe although I did hear her discuss with another mum about whether to sacrifice the 5 holidays one year and go to Disney instead. Anyway I'm not jealous at all, they are up to their eyes in loans and feel that that is the norm.

Bear in mind if you are on benefits you don't pay mortgage/rent/CT which is a massive proportion of what working families spend on. If you are happy enough to take loans and feed your dc low cost food then it is more than plausible that people on benefits go on holiday/s.

Although we visit our families each year (Belgium and Canada) and enjoy seeing parents, sisters and extended family, I don’t count this as holiday as the time there is taken up with seeing everyone rather than being a tourist on holiday.

Awkward Are holidays not a priority to your DH?

If you have the disposable income could you go without him and go alone instead?

For your stats, we spend about 15-20% of joint income on holidays and UK breaks, nearly 2 months worth, but we have a tiny mortgage and no DCs.

We spend about 1.5k at the most for a family of 4.

Feeling pretty jealous at all those amazing sounding holidays! I scrimp all year to be able to afford a UK holiday. I recognise this is my doing though as I only work 2 days a week (13 hour shifts). When both kids are in full time education I’ll up my hours and we’ll finally be able to go on a holiday abroad 🙌🏼 Good on you guys that are living it up :)

easypeasy of course you pay rent if you're on benefits. You get housing benefit but it's whatever your LHA is and some people have to pay extra.

StarUtopia

Definition of budgeting: allow or provide a particular amount of money in a budget (as per the dictionary)

The U.K. has a budget of billions and still budgets...

We’re a very high income household and budget too - for things like the weekly shop, petrol as well as the gardener, the green keeper, housekeeper or expensive hols.

Bitch you might have to top it up depending on where you live, but it is still a massive saving.

@BarbaraofSevillle my browsing history will confirm I've considered just that a friend went on a group tour as a single and loved it.

A couple of years ago I really wanted to visit a friend Thailand while between jobs, and I felt awful leaving DP behind, so asked if he wanted to come. He did, but... y'know when you can tell they're not entirely happy? Thailand would not be in his top 10 destinations to visit. So, expecting him to say "no, no, no", but be cheered up by the offer, I said "I know this isn't something you'd choose to do yourself, so I'll pay for your flights and accommodation"... he accepted.

Extra unfortunately, that set the tone for 6 months later when some more friends of mine asked if we wanted to go to Portugal for a weekend. Turned out that my friends = I pay.

I've learned my lesson, don't worry, I'll not do that again,

I do squirrel away bits and pieces (TopCashBack!), have about £500 and could probably save £50/month, BUT - I feel really bad about treating myself, while telling the (S)DCs that we can't afford a better summer holiday. (Not so worried about leaving the OH behind these days - I don't even get a keyring from his annual European lads road trip).

Does anyone else take themselves off on a trip without the DCs and DH? Our (S)DC's DM (does that make sense? Would OHExW make more sense?) does indeed do this occasionally and they'l stay with us/DGPs during, BUT she does take them other times on what are probably equally-lovely trips, so I kind of feel like that's fair.

Oh, and Barbara, your stats are just what 21 yr old me expected would be the norm for me in 2018!

easypeasy it's not a massive saving though because benefits are less than minimum wage. Income support/JSA is £70 a week so it's not as if people on benefits have loads of extra money cos they get rent paid for. £70pw isn't going to pay for loads of holidays.

I’m going to Faro in June for a week for £270 all in. So £540 for both of us, obviously we will need spending money too. Granted it’s more of a town than a resort but I can’t imagine spending thousands

I’m sure reality will bite if/when we ever decide to have kids. We try to have 2 holidays a year and a city break or two and we have a pretty modest income, by real life standards (combined 40k)

single parent, one child. I'm by no means a high earner but I do earn above national average. We have a holiday abroad every two years or so and spend about £1500 including spending money. We visit Cornwall every year, We have two or three weekends away, plus regular trips to grandparents.
I afford it by not running a car. I have a railcard which means we can get around quite cheaply.
Last year we went to Rhodes for a week, I saved for a year for it.
This year its a week in Wales, three nights Airbnb (£55 a night) three nights YHA (£60 a night) on to Liverpool to see family. Back home 3 days and off to Brighton for three night (YHA £65 a night). Home for a week, then off to Cornwall, ( no accommodation costs as staying with friends, I contribute food, wine and a meal out), finish off with a few days in Somerset with other friends. All by rail.
We have a great time

@Ted27 all by rail I’d tip my hat to you, if I had one

I confess, we flew to Rhodes

Wow, I couldn’t get to Mumsnet for a few days and my thread got busy!

It’s reallt interesting what everyone does for holidays - and I guess how much you prioritise them in terms of income! Personally I love holidays and I think I need to be better at saving up so we can keep doing them - particularly now we have to go in school hols!

This year is going to be tricky as we’ve spent a lot of money on some building work and we are also expecting our 3rd DC so not much time OR money to go anywhere. To be honest though, I love researching and planning holidays so much I will probably start thinking about next year - and planning my friends’ and parents’ trips too! A vicarious holiday is better than nothing!!

We both have high salaries and spend quite a lot on holidays, and sometimes do stay in hotels in the region of £400/night, especially in expensive capital cites, it depends what's on offer really.

We do not have/want kids, and I guess to me spending £400 a night for a few days is nothing compared to the financial commitment of having kids for example. So from my point of view, it's interesting to see the comments from the posters that are stunned at the amounts that others spend on holidays, when they themselves went for the luxury, lifetime commitment that kids are

Good point well made travelerharder.