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?

@Creambun2 I haven't seen anyone boasting. The OP asked what people spent on their holidays. There is always going to be a huge variation when asking this to strangers on the internet.

We earn around UK average and usually spend about £3k a year.

We have to travel during school holidays and our do kids miss the odd day of school if it will save cash. We manage to save £££ by booking our own flights as soon as they come out, we always self cater and last year enjoyed one week in the med, a long weekend skiing and a week in a holiday park in UK.

I worked in a luxury hotel in the med when younger. You are mostly paying £££ for the service. You can enjoy an equally great holiday without that level of customer service.

However, if we were minted, why the hell wouldn't you? I'd love to not have to care!

We earn around £160k, shop at Lidl, kids at state school our last family holiday was £9-10k (10 days skiing in the Canadian Rockies for 4), our summer holiday is costing £5-6k (sailing) We often go away for a half term break as well (3-4 days in Newyork/Berlin/Barcelona or similar) £2k ish. So maybe £20k this year, I reckon that's 20% of our taxed income, but as I say it's a priority for us.

We tend to spend around £200-£500 a night depending on how long we're there. If we're there for two weeks then obviously the price per night has to be cheaper.

We once stayed in the Shard at £550 a night. Was only there one night and it was amazing. Will always remember it and would do it again if we had no other big holidays booked for the same year.

Above a certain amount I struggle to see how you can extract any extra value from a hotel room.

What does 400 pound a night get you that 200 pound a night doesn't?

I know someone in her early 20s who stays at crazily expensive hotels. Although her and her boyfriend have modest jobs, they live in a house bought by her family so she has hardly any expenses. This means all their disposable income goes on really posh travel to Dubai, Thailand, etc. She's also slightly instagram famous, so gets big discounts on hotels and upgrades because she has so many followers.

I'd be horribly jealous, but she's a lovely person and I'd do exactly the same in her position.

There are some very rich people in this country because wealth is not distributed fairly - not by a long shot. Millions of people can't afford any kind of a holiday, others have money to burn. I think £400 for one night is an obscene amount of money to waste - that would pay rent for a month or two for a homeless person.

The most I've ever spent on a holiday is £900. I went to India for 6 months once and I only spent £500 in total the entire time I was there, plus £300 for the flight.

Sorry to answear OP £400 for a hotel room for 4 (like a suite) with breakfast and use of a nice pool- yes I would.

What does 400 pound a night get you that 200 pound a night doesn't?

A much bigger room, nicer furnishings, extras like bathrobes, slippers, coffee making machine, nice toiletries, etc etc.

We are off to NYC for a week later this year (2 of us) and the hotel is nearly £3000. So with flights and spending I expect it will cost about £6000-£7000

Ok I'll admit DP and I spend a lot on holidays, we have about six a year. For our main holiday a few years ago we did 15-nights in Southern California, it cost about £20k and it was so bloody brilliant we did it again the following year. We also go skiing a lot, which is the kind of holiday where you might as well throw money out of the plane. This year we're hoping to start a family and planning to move to a bigger home (with a bigger mortgage) so the fun will end. I know you will all think I'm insane but I don't regret any of it!

Just booking our summer holiday. Went abroad 2 years ago, about £2.5k all in for 6 of us for an apartment and flights and trains and hire car. UK last year so under £1k and it should have been good but was total washout.

This year, Mediterranean, £1100 Airbnb villa, probably another 1500 to get there and back, plus £750 for a car as 7-seaters cost a fortune to hire. And only hiring one for 4 days costs the same as a week.

We are consciously splashing out a bit this year thanks to new jobs.

I've stayed in some lovely hotels but usually with some deal - Verona when the opera isn't on, or German cities in August when no trade fairs are on. Generally even pre-kids DP and I would prefer a small 3-star with good breakfast to a more luxurious expensive hotel. And then go out for expensive dinners. Now it's a bottle and lots of deli type food in a villa, which helps keep costs down.

"A much bigger room, nicer furnishings, extras like bathrobes, slippers, coffee making machine, nice toiletries"

Wouldn't be worth £200 extra for me. That's like £30 for each of those items, right? Just how nice are those slippers? Do you actually take them home afterwards?

(Pic of £33 slippers... I recently bought something similar for £10!)

What does 400 pound a night get you that 200 pound a night doesn't?

A much bigger room, nicer furnishings, extras like bathrobes, slippers, coffee making machine, nice toiletries, etc etc.

You've stayed somewhere that's 200 pounds a night that doesn't provide nice toiletries or a coffee making machine!

The best hotel i've ever stayed in was about 140 a night and included most of that list, can't say about bigger room as that's all relative.

I spend shit loads on holidays. But I go for quantity and quality of experince rather than posh hotels. I’m more of 3 or 4 star person (or Airbnb) but go out to nice restaurants and do expensive activities.

Probably spent over £7k on myself for holidays last year.

It is possible to have holidays abroad in school holidays on a sensible budget. It depends what your priorities are but if you are able to plan ahead, do your own research and avoid travel agents and package holidays it is possible.

As pp has said a lot of the hotel rooms that are £400 pounds a night can be cheaper if booked in a different way, down to £275ish if you are lucky.Some of these hotels have a lot of people on business or are in very popular international destinations.
What people have to spend on holidays is going to vary hugely, along with how much they want to spend. We have always spent a large chunk of our disposable income on holidays, sometimes that meant a eurocamp tent, sometimes a five star Miami beachfront hotel. Either way we have had a great time and we value holidays far more than clothes for example were we always buy cheap stuff.

Plenty of my middle aged colleagues go on these holidays but not every year, maybe every couple of years. They are in well paid jobs , both working, kids left home and no mortgage to pay. A lot of people have a ' live for the moment' type attitude particularly in my line of work ( Palliative care). I'm more cautious and would wince at spending that amount on a holiday even if it was a one off !

I spend £2000 per person on our family holidays at the cheapest; in term time it's always more. People have different incomes, it's not hard to understand.

The most we have ever spent was £3000 for two of us for a week in Switzerland in 2004. It included First Class SwissRail passes and was half board. We probably spent another £500 while we were there. I was for my 60th and really was my dream holiday.
This tear we are spending about £1400 for two of us for 5 days in the Rhine Valley including upgraded Eurostar tickets.

There must be someone somewhere that sees the value in a turn down service and is willing to pay for it as it's often listed in hotel particulars but i've yet to meet one!

We usually go to high end villas the East Algarve. For four, with flights it usually works out at about £400 pp p/w. Add on food and misc. we end up spending around £2K for the week. Package type holidays are a so expensive.

We spend 200-800 pounds on holidays 3 people for 1-2 weeks. But we stay with family, or cheap bbs.

Last year we went on a river cruise which cost £3,500 for a week. It was the first time we had ever had such an expensive holiday but I had been left some money by my mother and dd had got married the year before so we decided to treat ourselves.

We stayed at a very expensive hotel the year before for a night which was a present from dd and sil for all we had done for the wedding but dh and I decided we were really premier inn people!

Wow, it's amazing to read about the variety on here. And the difference in what people value/care about. Not judgement there, just that since we had children I'd just written off holidays other than camping/staying with friends/family as being too expensive - I'd rather have the money in the bank or put it towards the mortgage than go on holiday, especially while the children are young (and demanding!).

Holidays for us are probably not what other people would class as holidays; a night in a hotel before a friend's wedding, visiting friends or family for the weekend, house-sitting or camping. Basically free or mega cheap - as long as we get out of our normal environment and just do something a bit different. I'm saving up my holiday abroad for when the kids are old enough to entertain themselves and I can laze by the pool!