AIBU to be a bit peed off about the new all inclusive drinking rule in Spain?

[Pinkycloud]

Don’t want to come across a raging alcoholic but we’ve booked an all inclusive holiday (costing about £7.5k) for me DH and 4 DC and am peed off to see you can now only have 3 alcoholic drinks with lunch and three with dinner. I know six seems a lot but it’s more about being told when you can have them and how many you can have at a given time. We’ve been to this place before (Majorca) and used to enjoy lazy afternoons sipping a beer or three by the pool. Doesn’t seem like ‘all inclusive’ anymore and we’re paying thousands for the bloody thing!

Urgh, do they chuck you off the table? Hate that.

Not in the AI hotels I've visited.
They aren't all the same. I've been to some amazing ones which have fabulous restaurants and lots of choice.

My favourite ever was in Jamaica. I've never been anywhere quite like it since. It was pure luxury but adult only so wouldn't work for us at the moment.

We picked it because British people complained on trip advisor that everyone (guests) was Spanish and not all the staff spoke English

Sounds like my sort of place as well

Of course the Costa areas are Mainland Spain. It's like saying you don't like the vibe in Blackpool, so it isn't on mainland Britain.

So true 😂😂😂

I've actually got a holiday to Blackpool booked for half term. I can't tell you how excited DS is!

Ikos resorts in Greece are the same. I've been to one, it was pure bliss but can't justify the cost nowadays.

Aren't the Costas part of mainland Spain

For tourism purposes, they are not

Of course they are mainland Spain
Am I missing something? There are islands off the coast that belong to the Costas but it doesn’t mean that all Costas are islands.

There are different types of tourism to Spain, the costas full of mass foreign tourists looking for a cheap holiday under the sun with AI

I have been to a couple of the Costas and I wouldn’t call them cheap. They are cheaper than the U.K. Slightly because of the Euro And some places are purely mass tourism but definitely not everywhere. Costa Bravo might sound as if it should be all mass tourism and Union Jack shorts but Barcelona is certainly not in that category.

But and the rest of Spain. Madrid, Galicia, Castile, Basque country receive a different type of tourism more focussed on searching about history, museums and good food and hotels only offer accommodation and breakfast at the most.

I live in Australia now but I haven't been in the costas since I was young with the exception of Menorca, Lanzarote and Gomera. If I want to go to the beach in Spain I stay clear of mass foreign tourist areas

Menorca, Lanzerote are islands that might belong to the mainland costa bits but definitely are more mass tourism than say Marbella

Dd was in Lanzarote pre Pandemic and it was definitely more Fish Bowls and happy hour than quiet beaches and nice restaurants Breakfast in her hotel was vegetarian full English. And she found a place that did kebabs that let her have a cheese and salad one instead of the meat

Brookstar,
The ' I don't understand why anyone would like Blackpool' people will hound you now on here. 😉
I hope you have a nice holiday !!
The costas are part of mainland Spain and the islands are not.
Anyone wanting something different should visit Valencia ! That is a nice city to explore.
It's often overlooked.

Whilst YANBU because you booked it before the rule was implemented, six drinks in a day is surely enough?

This thread is about British tourism to Spain and all inclusive holidays. Of course the costas is mainland Spain but for tourism purposes is like talking chalk and cheese in a British forum when I'm a Spaniard. The costas are full of mass foreign tourism and this is a reality. Most Spaniards either have their own house or rent an apartment for holidaying there in summer and many wait until September to do so when the majority of foreigners have gone back to their own countries.

Binge drinking is something that has been talked forever in different autonomous regions of Catalunya, Balearic and Andalucia, and one of the reasons Spaniards stay clear of holidaying in Majorca and the Costas. It has too many social issues attached that are rarely reported in the UK. I don't know if the new rules are going to have any effect, it will depend how they are implemented. But many other places like Barcelona, Alicante and Malaga are looking closely.

Menorca, Lanzerote are islands that might belong to the mainland costa bits but definitely are more mass tourism than say Marbella

Huh? Starting with the fact that there are few resorts in Menorca and Lanzarote and they are quite expensive because both islands have environmental restrictions how much developers can do, to think these small islands are more a mass tourism than Marbella is a surely a joke.

I'd be pissed off. It's not for anyone else to judge what's 'enough' or the 'right amount' of alcohol unless someone is being rowdy or otherwise annoying through drink.

For me, I don't like drinking in the daytime so the allowance of 3 at lunch would be a waste. And I prefer to drink before dinner rather than with dinner. I could easily have 4 or 5 in the hours after pool and before dinner, if its single measures, without it impacting on anyone else in any way and I would think its shit that I couldn't do that. 6 drinks a day is maybe ok but I wouldn't particularly want to be told how and when I could drink them

I can imagine that actually living in areas with a high number of tourists that can't control their drinking habits must be awful , but most people who go to an AI place don't (generally) move around outside the hotel if their sole aim is to drink all day and not do much else.
It will be those that are self catering and able to move around the bars to eat and drink that would be more of a problem surely ? Places geared up for tourists ( mostly younger people ) with long lines of nightclubs etc to go to ? It's not just Spain with areas like this and people know where to avoid if this isn't what they want.
They know they can't control drinking habits in a normal bar or restaurant , but this rule just solely for the AI hotels does seem a bit odd when the people are contained in one place ?
I can't see it's logic , unless it's just a way of getting shot of AI places altogether , eventually?
Maybe I'm missing something here though

Oh I know!!! I've also got a holiday to Crete booked and city break to Berlin so maybe that will even things out 😉

I agree with Valencia being a beautiful place to visit. Alight I'm fired people on this thread won't be partaking the in local drink ' aqua de Valencia'!

*although I'm sure

Is what I meant to type!

I've been on quite a few AI holidays when my kids were little. Im not a big drinker so chose AI mainly so the kids ice creams/drinks throughout the day didn't bankrupt me. I do love a cocktail around the pool though.

The stereotypical loutish drunk brits are not something I've encountered on AI holidays at all; they're mostly families with young children, or elderly couples. I don't think this rule will make any difference, apart from annoying those who have paid an AI premium.

I've only ever encountered one obnoxious, loud mouthed, swollen, sunburnt Brit - but he was like that first thing in the morning so I assume that was just his personality rather than drink-induced. Most of us are quite civilised.

It's the young ones who frequent the strips who get leathered and cause problems - they generally go SC so won't be affected by this.

I can imagine that actually living in areas with a high number of tourists that can't control their drinking habits must be awful , but most people who go to an AI place don't (generally) move around outside the hotel if their sole aim is to drink all day and not do much else

One of the social problems that's never talked about in the UK press unless there is a tragedy, is the amount of parents that will leave young kids in their rooms while they go having cocktails at night in the resort. Parents that will NEVER leave a 3/4 y.o. at home alone in the UK while they go to the pub, do so on holidays and resort staff are sick and tired or finding young kids crying on corridors looking for their parents. It's not just young single people getting pissed and vomiting all over the place. It's balconing, it's kids beeing left on their own in hotel rooms, it's big issues attached to the binge drinking that goes with untapped drink as much as you want. Something needs to get done.

Alondra, I wasn't aware of this.

I didn't see anything like this where we went at Easter and the children were with their parents , as far as I could tell anyway.
Maybe the AI hotels should change back to being just B and B or half board and you pay for drinks ; it would affect their profits and go backwards in time , but if it solves these type of problems then it might have to be considered maybe? It wouldn't solve the ones who go self catering or younger people going just for the sun and drinking and ending up being a nuisance ( or worse ) but I can see why it's such a dilemma if this is rife in hotels that are AI in Spain.

Just come back from a AI holiday in Mallorca (not Magaluf) and as you say even though it was unlimited alcoholic drinks I can't say I saw any stereotypical loutish drunk brits (or any other nationalities).

I do wonder though if some of the ones (young or young at heart) who frequent the strips have been taking advantage of AI by drinking in the hotel all day, then heading into bars/clubs later in the evening but then not buying so many drinks as they would have done.

Honestly never seen any behaviour like this on holiday. I wouldn't say I've booked particularly classy hotels either - just your average AI family hotels.

Do people think that those who do shite like this will stop drinking after their 'allowance'? Seems unlikely.

Most people are not aware of this, trust me, its a huge issue that was debated in the Baelaric Parliament. While the majority will do the right thing there is also a big minority that don't. 20% of small kids being left alone in their rooms without any kind of supervision is too many kids.

I think all AI hotels should go back to what they were originally. Accommodation, 3 meals and a bottle of wine a day/couple of beers and untapped soft drinks. It will never solve the problem for people on apartments or Airbnb but having to pay for drinks instead of drinking on tap as much as they want, should be a start.

Maybe the new rules are being tried out so that the many hotels who offer the all inclusive options for tourists will slowly fade it out and it'll be just mega expensive places (that might offer childcare or a baby sitting service of some kind ) that will continue? With food shortages and other issues worldwide too I can honestly see these types of holiday options available being a thing of the past.
Plus my first thought was of a couple years ago (both Doctors ) who left three children asleep whilst they were eating their evening meal and look how that turned out, so I would have hoped that might have put people off doing this type of thing too :( but sadly not it seems.

A number of the hotels that currently offer AI aren't though in locations where there is lots of options to eat/drink nearby other than at the hotel. The last couple of AI hotels we've stayed at I definitely wouldn't have chosen if they weren't AI, as if I am paying for meals/drinks separately I want lots of options.

The doctors though you mention I don't think were staying at an AI hotel/resort anyway?

The hotels will loose money if they stop drinks on tap or they will spend more on a bottle of decent wine per family.

If hotels limit drinks it's means you can't book an isolated hotel... because if your going to pay you might as well pay off site at new places. Also the hotel will loose money because people are drinking down the road rather than the hotel they have booked tricky!

That sounds like plenty to me! I'm guessing it's to stop the drunken riotous behaviour.

No, they were self catering I believe , but I was just making the point that people from all backgrounds do things that are wrong and it's not just related to ones that stay in AI hotels or those types of holidays where there may be problems that Alonso was referring to and why these rules are being brought in certain types of resorts.
Childcare options cost , but I remember a Eurocamp I stayed in once in 95 in France had baby sitters available that were employed by the camps and they could sit with the children for a few hours. I bet this isn't an option anymore.
( you did have to pay extra but the employees were fully checked out and all women)