To think nobody spends THIS MUCH on holidays with kids?

[GrahameSylvia]

Scouting around for September holiday ideas for us and our 18 month old and came across this in today’s Times.

25 cool family resorts in Europe, the cheapest is about £4k for a week, the priciest £32k but on average about £7k. Admittedly they are mostly all inclusive but REALLY?!?!? Is this the kind of silly money people spend on holidays are once they have kids?

www.thetimes.co.uk/article/25-cool-family-resorts-in-europe-g9knl5n7l

On a side note, if anyone has a great hotel or self catering recommendation for somewhere sunny in Europe that will work well with a young toddler do share, finding places that don’t cost the kind of money we can - but are not willing on principle - to pay is a nightmare.

I have never done all inclusive because half the fun of a holiday for me is eating in lots of different restaurants so can't comment on that but I think package deals tend to be a bit of a rip off. We fly ryanair and rarely pay much more than 100 return each and we get an apartment on booking booking.com usually for 1000 or less, (family of 5) in the last few years we have done Paris, Rome, Lisbon and the South of France. We looked at Lake Garda this year but didn't go for family reasons but the prices were about the same.

In 1997, when I started holidaying overseas, £100 could buy me $170, or €150. Everything overseas felt so cheap! It was great!

Today, £100 buys me $120 or €119. Sure prices have risen etc, but the biggest reason I can’t afford the same kind of holiday overseas I used to, is that the pound is much weaker than it used to be. Hotel prices are similar, but they cost me a lot more of my pounds. Fascinating article here www.ft.com/content/2650bfd0-4a87-4deb-bf23-33bc80ee8e51

Anyway. OP yes that is what a posh resort all inclusive now costs, but you can get lovely hols for much cheaper if you do your own research and rent a self-catered apartment. Get flights on opodo.com, an apartment on booking.com or airbnb, and stay a 10min walk from the beach / waterpark instead of on the beachfront or in a resort.

Yes I think most people spend 4k or upwards. We did New York and Florida this year with universal tickets for 4 of us and cost is just over 8k all in. I thought that was a good deal to be honest.

There's 5 of us and for anyway of a decent standard it's around £5000 minimum for a week abroad.

When we used to go AI, I used to try and allow £1k each for 5 of us, but we sometimes it was more in the summer hols, for somewhere nice. Most we paid was about £15k but that was long haul for 3 weeks.

yes. They do.

honestly I can’t believe how much some families spend on holidays I couldn’t do it personally, I think £700 for a week in a haven caravan is ‘pricey’ but I suspect that’s due to how I was raised.

That being said, hubby fully intends on us taking the kids to Disney world/universal when they’re a bit older and has priced that up at around £15k for two weeks. He thinks that’s ‘not too bad’ - I’m dying

It's only 'silly money' if you can't afford it.

The travel, lifestyle, fashion etc pages of the Times are intended to be ‘aspirational’. They are not the place to look for bargains!

If you can be flexible on dates and locations then it is worth signing up to Travelzoo’s weekly mail. They often have cheap last-minute deals.

What is ridiculous that you can buy exactly the same hotel packages in other, poorer, countries for half the price. The price level is tailored to the ability to pay, not how much it actually costs.

The Times doesn't cover "normal" family holidays - you have to write into the questions section for that information. The travel section is basically where the journalists would like to go if someone else is paying so they write about the expensive places a) in the hope that one will then invite them and their kids to come and stay to write a review all expenses paid and b) so that when they ask their editor to let them stay in one on the Times' dollar they can point out that that is the type of property they cover.

Most Times readers probably joined the Boden brigade in Pembrokeshire and the South West last week when the private schools had broken up and the state schools hadn't so the cost of the holiday cottage was slightly cheaper.

You could do a cruise for £2000ish all inclusive.

I can't believe how much people pay for summer holidays! I spent the whole summer holidays in the US a couple of summers back for less than that! Admittedly we did spend most of it in Florida where it is the very low peak season but still. More money than sense some people!

The sad truth is that those resorts are not catering for "most families". If you think of economically, hosting one family who pay 6K per trip is much more cost effective than 6 families paying 1K each. Just from the logistics of space, turnover, security, wear&tear etc.

We're in Europe and the family category of luxury hotels charge absolutely eye-watering prices. However they are always booked up a full year in advance, especially during high season like skiing, because there really are enough people who can afford it. We tried looking for a holiday last winter for this year and rooms were £1000-1400 per night for a glorified Magic Life Club with better food and some kids entertainment. So 7K sounds about right for a week, and not even one of the fancier rooms. I remember looking for honeymoon hotels in the price range and you can literally stay in a rooftop suite in Italy with your own private jacuzzi.

The segment they're catering for are high earning families who have more money than time. There is often a lot of guilt involved too because those are kids being raised by nannies or being put into full-time nursery since age 1. So in the one or two weeks of vacation that the father is able to take off from work in a year, the price genuinely plays no role at all. It's just about spending time together and making some memories.

To be honest, if you regularly spend time doing unspectacular things as a family then that's just as worthwhile as paying for luxury holiday once a year. Also, they never show how full those resorts typically are. It's like living inside a kindergarten for a week and you essentially pay 7K to come home with a virus.

Look into Menorca, self catering. Fabulous island really geared to families, especially young children. Short flight time but great weather. Id recommend the Cala n' Forcat area (especially Talayot apartments). We go with Tui and always love it.

Well no more than it would cost us at home in London if we were to just stay home with the kids for 2 weeks so I don’t factor that in.

Yes, sadly, if you are a larger family and want 4/5 star that's how much it costs now. We are family of 5 and spend an average of 6/7K any time we leave the UK. That's what flights, accommodation and food costs for 5 people in hotels or apartments. Caravans/tents are obviously a bit cheaper (but not centerparcs!)

Even if we go to Cornwall/Devon/Wales its 3/4 K these days (didn't used to be that much)

For family holidays on a budget try eurocamp, it's like haven with nice weather. I usually look where is cheap to fly from our closest airport, then look for camps in the region & rent a car from the airport to get to the camp, supermarket & explore the area. While you can go in term time you can get something for about £1000, but it shoots up once your kids start school. If you go before your DC turns 2 you can save money having them on your knee for the flight, but I wouldn't want to go more then a few hours away like that.

(Obviously dependent on one of you being able to drive and confident driving abroad)

I read this this morning, made me feel better about my holiday spending. £30k for a week! Bonkers.

We're a family of 6, and a week all inclusive in October half term is between £4.5k and £6k for a fairly basic option. The sky is the limit if you want luxury.

We can afford it, but won't. £6k seems like a mad amount to spend on a week in the sun. I would rather have more short breaks in the U.K. (which we do, either in Air B&B or in our touring caravan.

We go on a lot of holidays and have done since our kids were babies, they are almost teenagers now and we have never spent anything like these prices.
If your looking outside of school holidays you can get a great deal with eurocamp and Ryan air. Try Ryanair to Bezier and stay at yelloh serignan plage. Eurocamp have a week for around £400 in the nicest caravan/lodges (I would always go for paying more for a nicer caravan). Flights are not expensive in September, I looked and found some for £54 return from London. Car hire is annoyingly expensive at the moment so around £280 for a week. So one weeks holiday for around £850.
The campsite is great for small children, brilliant splash pools, an inside pool, loads of play areas including an inside one set up as a house and direct access to the beach. It’s got a very peaceful chilled out vibe. Bezier is a nice old town to wander around
But there are so many great options with a child this age, we loved Sicily, cascais (near Lisbon) and lake Garda with young children. We generally book cheap flights and self cater as it’s more flexible with small children to have your own kitchen/fridge and more than one bedroom so the kids can go to bed when they want

We don't go to those sorts of resorts, no.

But we are a family of four, and have to go in school holidays, and would not expect change from £4k to stay in a reasonable villa/apartment abroad, by the time flights and transfers etc are all included.

Even in the UK accomodation is so expensive anything more than camping is going to come in at 2k a week with travel to get there.

We are high income and living in an affluent area. We are not big spenders on holidays but most people we know would spend at least £5k per week long family holiday and would have 2 or possibly 3 per year (we are talking lawyers & accountants rather than bankers)

Just looked at the article and most of those are high end resorts - the Ikos ones for example would be more like 8/9K for us. There are definitely cheaper place to stay I think but flight costs soon mount up based on numbers of people travelling.

We literally can't leave the tarmac without spending at a bare minimum of 1K now for 5 people - even if booking the most antisocial flight times on Ryan Air or Easy jet - once you factor in luggage costs, airport tax etc.

As it should be probably until they make air travel more environmentally friendly I suppose.

My nightmare would be a package holiday or AI in a big resort full of people. So, yes, we do spend that kind of money, but we only go every two years, and always book direct with the hotel. I can only travel scheduled BA business class as well, as I am afraid of the whole airport/flying thing. We have two teenagers, so need two proper rooms, so yes, it really does add up.

Depends. Going away with friends in a few weeks; less than £300 each included luggage, flights and transfers. Self catering but we’re happy with light breakfast and drinking at the apartment. But equally going with husband in March and trip is costing us £8000. Insane - but we’ve saved for 2 years for this. So it’s easily done!

Holidays (abroad) are a luxury, not an essential.

I keep reading that people need a holiday abroad as they haven’t had one for x years”. You really don’t. If you can afford it great, but they really aren’t essential even if you haven’t been away for a long time. They’re nice if you can afford it, yes.

When I went abroad with a friend before having children 10 years ago we couldn’t get a holiday for less than 1k each. They were advertised, sure, but when it came to book they didn’t exist (at the time we were looking). So 1k each sounds reasonable to me, especially as things will have gone up significantly since then. Rail journeys in the uk can cost £100+ alone!