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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Package holidays aren’t chavvy!

210 replies

Polarbearflavour · 02/02/2019 18:27

DH and I booked a half board holiday via Teletext Holidays online. It includes flights and a five star hotel in Malta for a week and is pretty cheap.

A friend of mine made a face and said package holidays are “common” and for chavs. Apparently she only flies BA club class (not charter airlines or low cost airlines) and books hotels separately!

What on Earth is wrong with a package holiday deal?

OP posts:
ContessaIsOnADietDammit · 02/02/2019 20:29

Mama thank you - I had a feeling that might be the case! DH has a turbulent relationship with alcohol and we're both currently off it (well asfar as I know he is; I mostly am except for birthday drinks with friends). Sounds like an AI holiday where everyone is determined to get their money's worth might well not suit us Grin

Dahlietta · 02/02/2019 20:32

If she books her flights and hotels separately, she's a bloody idiot.

Depends where you're going really, doesn't it? The sort of places you go to on a 'package holiday' are not necessarily the same sort of places you go to if you book flights and hotels separately.

Original poster
Polarbearflavour · 02/02/2019 20:33

She’s an old friend from university. We met up for a coffee but she isn’t a close friend. She is quite...snobby!

DH and I are very well travelled between us. We had a package holiday to Ibiza last year (with Tui) and stayed in a lovely, quiet, adults-only resort. We often do city breaks for our holidays and normally I wouldn’t be a fan of lazing on a beach/by a pool but we really enjoyed relaxing in Ibiza.

Even my mother was a bit Hmm about our holiday choice! My parents always stay in boutique hotels and think cruising on anything other than a Cunard vessel is common. 😂

OP posts:
Jaimx86 · 02/02/2019 20:33

If she books her flights and hotels separately, she's a bloody idiot.

I think I’ve got a good price for my 3 week trip around the Cyclades. Not an idiot.

voddiekeepsmesane · 02/02/2019 20:35

Meh...I can't be too put out here. If I had the money I would also be a travel snob, unfortunately I do not have said money Grin

ScreamingValenta · 02/02/2019 20:36

YANBU. Absolute poppycock! People who call things 'common' or 'chavvy' do so to hide their own insecurities.

StarbucksSmarterSister · 02/02/2019 20:37

I usually book independently (mostly Greece and Sicily) but I will take packages on occasion. I book Sunvil because they don't go to busy, Anglocentric resorts (that's not what I want) but I've used Thomson and Olympic, but again to go to less touristy resorts. I always go SC or small family run hotels.

It depends where you go as to whether or not it's "chavvy" (and of course, some people like that.) I have found the Reps to be uniformly useless though, unless they think you want to buy an day trip.

Enjoy your holiday and cares what your "friend" thinks?

StarbucksSmarterSister · 02/02/2019 20:37

"who cares" what your friend thinks.

Racecardriver · 02/02/2019 20:38

Well I mean a true travelling conosuer will either rent an apartment or stay at the chicest/hippest hotels and will eat at a different and exciting restaurant each meal but for your average person just wanting somewhere cheap to stay while on holiday there’s nothing wrong with it surely.

Or maybe it’s a generational thing. People my age really turn their noses up at package holidays preferring to book decrepit mansions to camp in or to turn up in third world countries and ask random westerners which hostel they are staying at and hoping to get a room that way.

NutElla5x · 02/02/2019 20:38

I can only dream of having a package holiday at the moment,and I'd rather be a chav than an ill mannered snob like your friend.

Vargas · 02/02/2019 20:40

I have a lovely AI package holiday booked - call me a chav if you like, I can't wait! In our family we call it Fly and Flop.

We also do bespoke holidays - we like both. Does that make us half chav / half posh ?? Grin

Racecardriver · 02/02/2019 20:43

@dropzoneone but renting an apartment is usually so much cheaper/more luxurious/more authentic. I’m not sure that purchasing over priced hotel stays from limited options is necessarily a wise travel habit

PloddingOnwards · 02/02/2019 20:43

My first thought was a sun holidays caravan sight and my reaction was "best childhood memories ever"
So no YANBU go go go ! She's probably jealous.

IamPickleRick · 02/02/2019 20:45

Sometimes chavvy, but mostly always expensive. That’s the reason we don’t book them (and that we overfill occupancy so it never works out) but they are very easy and relaxing if you book a nice one.

anniehm · 02/02/2019 20:45

Depends on the resort not the method of booking! Actually package holidays have a lot of security built in which this year could be prudent. I admit I usually book independently but that's because we don't do brochure type holidays - don't like beaches!

caroloro · 02/02/2019 20:49

Your "friend" is a snob. Nothing chavvy about package holidays.

Bluelady · 02/02/2019 20:49

I doubt an apartment would be more luxurious than a 5* hotel somehow. Is it The Phoenicia, OP? Or Xara Palace? Both are gorgeous.

greenpop21 · 02/02/2019 20:49

Some are. some aren't.

IamPickleRick · 02/02/2019 20:50

This reminds me of Holiday Showdown.... god I loved that.

FlippinNora1 · 02/02/2019 20:59

The older I get the more I realise people who put down other people for their choices - holidays, weddings, cars, houses whatever it might be, are just deeply insecure themselves.

A good friends reaction to you booking your holiday would be something along the lines of lucky you, even if it wasn’t their thing.

Your so called friend is a try hard Biscuit who pays through the nose for things in the vain hope it will buy here some sort of status in life. Drop her like a hot potato and enjoy your lovely holiday x

Tinkobell · 02/02/2019 20:59

We nearly always go for a package deal because of the additional consumer rights which a package deal gives us. For example, I think if flights are seriously delayed (think major delays like drones, Icelandic volcanoes etc) then the tour operator has a duty of care to get you home. Your friend might well look down her nose a little, but when she's stuck at the airport and your not, package deals pay!
Year after year for skiing we try to see if we can beat the tour prices, but once you factor in transfer costs and the premium for a scheduled flight (big deal!) we never manage to better them on a like-for-like basis; that's staying at great 4 star hotels. She's just a silly snob!

Chewbecca · 02/02/2019 21:05

I think the problem is with the image of a plane load, then a coach load of Brits all going to the same resort and getting herded around by reps.

mywigwamneedsnewflaps · 02/02/2019 21:08

Package holidays are not chavvy ! they cover a very wide and varied range of locations , types and prices , all it means is that you bought the transport and accommodation from the same source possibly also meals , entertainment and transfers

Really your friend is very uneducated as to what is available on offer

Perhaps you can enlighten her that BA organise package holidays too Wink

Have a great trip

LoniceraJaponica · 02/02/2019 21:10

“It's often far more practical and cheaper, i.e. I love Sicily and the cost of flights, hotels and a long (3 hours plus) transfer to some resorts is expensive and not viable”

We booked a Tui package to Cefalu in Sicily because it was cheaper than DIY. We loved it.

I think some people think that all package holidays = all inclusive in Magaluf/Benidorm/Kavos

“but mostly always expensive.”

Not necessarily. See above.

Cookit · 02/02/2019 21:11

Teletext? Like the thing on the TV when you press the button? Is that still a thing?
And Ceefax? Wasn’t that the BBC version?