Package holidays aren’t chavvy!

[Polarbearflavour]

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?

Gwenhwyfar
That sort of impression.
Obviously not all are like that, more so these days, but I do think there's a certain image that phrases can create.

E.g. someone says they went travelling on their gap year - instant impression is off posing for selfies with orphans in South East Asia and instagramming how humbled they felt. Obviously not all gap year travels are like that, but it's a common association.
I think something similar happens when people hear 'package holidays'. They conjure up an image of one type of package deal.

My worst holiday ever was a teletext all inclusive one to Malta. I was a student then with lower standards and even then I didn’t actually eat or spend any time in the hotel and just used it as a base to explore. If you have a 5 star it should be nice though and you can do trips to Gozo and Sicily which are lovely. Largely depends on what you paid really. We did a week for less than £150 per person including flights so it was always going to be a bit shit.

We’re camping in Scotland in August, does it make us upper class, middle class, chavs.

Well Scotland in August is frightfully upper middle I believe but the camping element? Maybe you're just an UM masochist? Says she who went camping once, never again!

Seems that there are a few people on this thread who are just as behind the times as the OPs friend and considerably broaden their view of what constitutes a 'package holiday', which is just a way of booking the flight, accommodation and transfer in one go, instead of separately.

Since the invention of the internet and low cost airlines, a holiday can look exactly the same whether booked as a package or doing it all online yourself. You can just as easily book your own flights and mega AI hotel independently, as you can book a naice villa as a package. And it is not always the case that independently is cheaper.

The last package holiday we took was to a boutique B&B on Gozo, an island on which not a single AI hotel exists as far as I am aware. The big advantage for me was that Jet2 arranged the slightly complicated transfer from the airport to the ferry port, onto the ferry and from the ferry port to the hotel - we were diving and had lots of luggage, so just getting on public transport would have been a bit of a pain.

And it was cheaper than booking it all separately - I think the flight and hotel alone was more than the package before adding the cost of two taxis and ferry tickets.

Plus Jet2 were responsible not us, if something went wrong with the transfer and we ended up stuck on the wrong island and missed the flight.

It doesn’t even make sense . It’s just being able to buy it all together in one place.
I think your friend has had a knock to the head,bless her heart

I really rate Jet2 holidays

PinkGin24 being goady about your wealth and going on the attack. No you're right you sound very sophisticated.

Well I'm very much looking forward to my chavvy 2 week holiday in Crete in a gorgeous hotel and an abundance of food and wine

We don’t usually because of complicated travel arrangements being needed to fit in with work requirements but have certainly booked packages via Emirates and Ethiad. The only ‘package’ thing was buying the flights and getting the hotel at a good price. We’ve also used Neilsons several times where the journey was very “package” but the resort was lovely.

I agree the first thing that come soon to mind is crowded Monarch planes, long coach journeys stopping at a thousand places, screeching children bored from ghastly travel arrangements, wafer thin walls and cramped hotel room and a dingy pool with a water slide. I don’t think that’s the reality for all packages.

She does know that you can book a package holiday including flight, car rental and private villa does she? Package just means booked together, it can be anything and everything nowadays.

It's not all Benidorm and Magaluf and people sprinting at 5am to grab a sun chair near the pool

5 years ago I booked a holiday separately - flights plus AI hotel as it was almost a third cheaper that way. Then I decided it was better to get ATOL protection even if the cost was higher... imagine if we’d been stuck. I have since priced up holidays and the cost difference is generally marginal.

I really don’t consider my next and last holiday to a 5* grand luxe hotel to be chavvy. Dd enjoyed riding on the bell boy trolley!

No one with any real class uses the word "chavvy"

I've never done a package holiday. Partly because we prefer to be independent and not staying with a load of Brits, and partly (if I'm honest) because in my mind they do have a chavvy connotation.

My last 6 holidays have been through Kuoni.
All packages.
Flight + Hotel + Private Transfers, sometimes an airport lounge too.
All the hotels have been boutique/honeymoon/exclusive.
If thats chavvy then pass me a velour tracksuit and ill dig out my gold hoops from 1999!
Fires up kuoni website

Oh and also, i never ever choose a 'typical Brits abroad' destination
That might also help lol

We've done both - package and independent. I've also backpacked.

Surely it's nothing to do with class /chaviness and more to do with location, price, ease of booking etc.

What a strange and narrow minded view your friend has.

Well I'm very much looking forward to my chavvy 2 week holiday in Crete in a gorgeous hotel and an abundance of food and wine

We were looking at crete yesterday it looks lovely.

There is nothing wrong with package holidays & Malta is a beautiful place. Can't work out why someone called it unsafe??!!

What is a typical brits abroad destinstion?

Many people don't have the luxury of a holiday anywhere. A week in Malta will be great, enjoy yourself 😊

A package holiday in itself isn't chavvy but some of the locations and hotels can be.

Generally book everything independently but last year did a Summer Alps holiday where everything was included apart from flights. It was so relaxing to wait for the rep to turn up to book our activities and not to have to navigate with the hire car to the location.

Have just booked a package ski holiday for next Feb half term. Includes flights (BA) transfers, an apartment and bed and breakfast. Flights alone were only a couple of hundred cheaper so its a real bargain. Plus if the exchange rate goes through the floor, we can cancel if they put price of holiday up by more than 9%.

Jet2 packages are fantastic. So good to have your luggage included and prices very reasonable- no different or cheaper than booking separately .

It's changed days. I used to not book packages as thought it would be cheaper to book myself. But now everyone has the same idea so flights on their own are usually very pricey.

I've never done a package holiday. Partly because we prefer to be independent and not staying with a load of Brits, and partly (if I'm honest) because in my mind they do have a chavvy connotation.

😂 This SO epitomises a certain type of desperate snobbery. Is your real name Hyacinth Bucket (pronounced "Bouquet")?

Ooo a chavvy ski holiday

Are you going skiing with "a load of Brits", rookiemere? How very dare you? Do you realise that if you had booked exactly the same flights and exactly the same hotel independently, you would have no ATOL protection but you wouldn't be "chavvy"?! You can't put a price on that!