Or is behaviour at all inclusive hotels hilarious?

[inaminute23]

So in the last 2 months, I've been to Dubai, Cyprus and Jamaica, and now I'm in Greece, and 3/4 of those have been all inclusive hotels.

I've got to admit, and I'm as guilty as any, but it's so weird just observing behaviour at all inclusive hotels!

Getting up and starting to drink cheap and sugary cocktails straight away!

Piling 3 plates full at the buffets.

Getting up for 6.30am to nab a subbed before they all run out.

There are probably so many more but I'm just sat at breakfast, after going to get a second full breakfast (though I've had a gastric bypass so it is all relative) and it's made me chuckle.

I'd love to read any other weird behaviours typical of all inclusive holidays!

This is LIGHT HEARTED for those who soon enough will tell me I'm judgemental haha.

@Testina

Genuine question. I travel a lot for work and never encountered an AI hotel - I thought they were just just tourist package things you have to book for a week or two.

Are you at an Ikos hotel OP?

I've only been on one AI. I didn't do breakfast, sometimes had one cocktail at lunchtime or 4pm. People paid the staff to reserve the sun beds. Certainly met a Queen bee who went there twice a year for a month.

The resort did try to prevent people leaving and taking trips independently and only use their organised trips. As a single person some of the trips were not available - they were for two people minimum only.

I went 5 star but didn't think it was that luxury. Avoided the 'entertainment' at all costs.

I've done two AI holidays. The first was as you describe and me and DH still reminisce about some of the more awful aspects of it. But then last year we went to an adults only AI hotel which was a bit more (a lot more) upmarket, and oh what a difference! It was absolutely the most relaxing holiday I've ever had, and, sorry to disappoint the stereotypers above, I am very well travelled (interrailing, backpacking the world for a year, followed by a job which involves travelling for around 3 months of the year).

I'll be staying in an AI resort style hotel for work in November - can't wait!

The cheapest AI I have been to is a 4. It had good reviews so I thought would be good as dd was only small. Due to my poor health, I need to stay in a similar time zone so tend to go to the same places. Eating was a bit of a canteen and the sun beds got booked up but I didn’t see any hands in food etc. We then went to a 5 and it was better. Still had a sun bed issue. I prefer the new 5* GL we’ve been to a couple of times and switched to that in preference as soon as it was built. No issue with sun beds as there are plenty to go round.

We’ve just returned from an AI in Greece and I entered the buffet area and it just looked like a giant ant colony. It was so packed and full of people scuttling around quickly.

I struggle when people push in to what is an obvious queue for food. It’s hugely frustrating 😖

Idk why some of that is in bod. Odd.

It makes me smile when I see people with a really random mix of sweet and savoury all on one plate. Like a rabbit in the headlights they've gone round and just taken small spoonfuls of everything. I cannot imagine them wanting strawberry yogurt and beef stroganoff together normally!

I went on the most bizarre holiday to Cuba last year when the traffic light system was in place. I've been to Cuba 4 times in the past and it's always lovely. The Brit tourists were absolutely smashed and fighting each other and the Russians. One woman was at a family beach party stark naked pissed fanny out and I had to help her to bed. I can only think the pandemic caused people to go absolutely nuts. I went to a little Greek family run self catering hotel this year and it was BLISS!

Did my first AI trip this year. It was a four-star in Mauritius and we upgraded to an adults-only part of the hotel. That bit was worth it and had an a la carte restaurant that was fine, but the experience overall was disappointing.

I can’t remember any of the buffet food being worth loading up on and there wasn’t enough of it, either in volume or variety, so people would be reaching over you to get stuff. Very, very little food that had much to do with the local area, and one night guests (including us) were hovering about like vultures waiting for the next batch of a supermarket-budget-range-style pizza to be put out as it was the best thing by miles. The afternoon snacks turned out to be very meagre and I didn’t bother after seeing a mum pick up a cookie jar and let her toddler reach in and rummage about!

Meanwhile, just outside the hotel were snack stalls and restaurants selling really nice food. (Before anyone asks, there were a few days when these were closed due to bad weather and the hotel’s main restaurant was the only option.)

It wasn’t awful, but it was exceedingly mediocre and I wouldn’t risk another.

DD and I went to an AI with Tui and everyone was well behaved. There were several European countries represented. We didn’t see anyone get drunk or take too much food. There were loads of sun loungers and, in any case, we had a large private balcony. We paid more than we had originally planned to but it was well worth it and we will definitely go back next year.

Genuine question. I travel a lot for work and never encountered an AI hotel - I thought they were just just tourist package things you have to book for a week or two.

Snap! Me too

My sister drive's me mad if we go to an all inclusive resort with the alcohol. She has alcohol issues but when she offers to bring us all a drink back and I say I just want water but then she brings me a vodka and lemonade. I don't want it I was done with the alcohol for the night. I wanted a drink of water before going back to our room.

It's not always wanted by everyone. But they get it anyway. A lot goes to waste. They wouldn't if they were paying for each drink and each meal.

People loading up plates of food and leaving it. Bastards.

The waste in general from All inc - washing sheets etc. Disgusting.

Id never thought about it until recently, we went this year and people are rude!

We went to an AI this year for the first time. Not a terribly expensive one. It seemed that a lot of Mediterranean hotels had gone AI and I'm not sure I'd do it again.

Going to the restaurant was like going to a canteen. A very large choice of poorly cooked food. Most people stacking plates high and then leaving most of it. Parents allowing their kids to pile up and waste food too. My own kids were appalled at the behaviour. I really didn't like it and it made mealtimes just a functional process rather than an enjoyable time together.

The frustrating thing is they did have what they called an al a carte restaurant that you could go to once per stay. It was actually a set menu and was beautiful food, but by definition it was portion controlled. It was frustrating that they could make great food but didnt do so in the 'canteen'. No one went in there. We were one of just 3 tables when we went in.

Drinks wise, I'm not an alcohol drinker but did try a few cocktails which were so diluted that we allowed our teenager to have some. Her first alcohol and it didnt even make her slightly merry. The soft drinks which you could help yourself to were dreadful.

In the end we ate out a lot, bought drinks at the mini market etc.

I'd like an AI where there was a limit. I'd have liked the choice of breakfast , lunch, dinner with a big enough plate that I'd only fill once with good quality food. And I would like the choice of x units of better quality alcohol and soft drink. This could be managed with a chip/bar code on wrist band.

As for sunbeds, getting up before the sun to get a sunbed is not a holiday for me. And I'll never understand why people reserve the beds by the fixed parasols when they will then push their beds into the sun - whilst those who dont want to be in the sun have to frazzle unless they get up before sunrise.

The whole atmosphere seems to be about taking (and wasting) as much as you absolutely can.

I'm thinking AI is not for us but we like a big pool (for actual swimming) and the big hotels seem to mostly offer AI now. I'd be interested to know why.

Not the behaviour around food or sun beds, but the funniest thing I saw was at a hotel in Spain, the pool had a glass wall that was in the dining room. Chatting to another Brit family and laughing at some of the antics in the pool. Some lads about 11,diving to the bottom, then as they swam up they mooned. This family found it hilarious, until the next time one looked over his shoulder, and pouted, putting his finger to his lips coquettishly. “Bloody hell, that’s our Daniel. The little sod!” And they flew upstairs to tell him off.

We did quite a few AIs when the children were small because of the kids clubs mainly and the being able to grab food quickly. Best was in Turkey. We went to the Holiday Village in 2019 in Ibiza and that ruined it for me. Scrum for sun beds at 0700, aircraft hangar with squashed chips under foot for breakfast lunch and dinner, and we got to pay 7k for the privilege. Decided not to bother any more although I would like to go to Sani, is that where you are @inaminute23 ?

That's just basic manners you can we usually spend most our holiday in swimwear and put a throwover dress on. Son puts a t-shirt on as his swimshorts are basically just shorts.

What do you know about ops finances. Not everyone needs help with their electric bills ffs.

Paid all that money, flown all that way, unresponsive kids still staring at screens all the way through meals- no interaction with anything- why not stay at home in bed?

Always chose a modest small hotel- often family run and food likely to be more authentic rather than "cheap international".

I hasn’t thought about it before this post, but ‘cheap international’ is a real genre of food, isn’t it? And the most disappointing ime. Badly cooked pasta in a boring sauce. Garlic bread. Pizza on a biscuit-like base. Sad stir fry. Soggy waffles. Maybe a watery curry lacking in depth of flavour.

This was the sort of stuff I encountered at my AI buffet. At breakfast they had big containers of spaghetti boiling away in its own sauce.

Oh and the weirdest food was a little ai in Majorca, there were sprouts several times on the menu. And the leftovers were there for breakfast. There was a party of rowers staying and they loved them!

@Testina @inaminute23 @Strugglingtodomybest May I please ask what jobs, or type of jobs, you do?

We do AI with pre-teens, it works out to about £30 pppd over s/c, perfect for them without asking for snacks / water/ ice creams all day. We rarely have dinner in the hotel and we hire a car and get out. It's just a base.

I saw a kid pick up a spoon of vegetable fried rice from the communal dish, but then pick out all of the veg and put it back in the dish before putting the rice on his plate 😖