Are all inclusive holidays worth it?

[Blueisthecolour1]

Just throwing it out there - I got excited and went online to book an all-inclusive holiday in Corfu next May half-term. Spent ages looking at various hotels - it's a once in a decade thing, for us so a really one-off opportunity. BUT:

Can't find many AI hotels that offer a family room with adequate space or number of rooms. Don't want to spend thousands of pounds to sleep in the same room as my two children for a week (ages 9 and 5.) I've got a better set up at home - i.e. at least one or two doors between me and them at bedtime!

Trip Advisor reviews - they really freak me out. Especially as every hotel has bad ones it would seem, which is to be expected I suppose however, a pattern of comments around the buffet-type food halls which in general, people seem to dislike after day 3 - one person describing them as cattle-sheds! Lots of complaints in general about food being under-cooked, and lots of queuing for the buffet. Clearly, you get great reviews as well but there does seem to be a theme to some of the concerns.

Lots of reviews complaining about other people - their mess, their noise, again, the queuing and overcrowding of certain favourite areas, like splash parks/play areas.

For the money, is it worth it? I know there's always a mix of opinion on these things but themes do seem to crop up with the all-inclusive topic and it's made me nervous about booking something. Some of them seem absolutely huge in terms of their layout as well - does it get a bit tedious having to make the same journey to get a bite to eat in the morning with young children, then perhaps queuing for ages to get to the buffet table? Then again at lunch, and again at dinner - some people seem to wait ages to get seated at mealtimes by which time the kids are grumpy, overtired, fed up.

I looked on Booking.com to see what properties are available for the location we're interested in and you can get a lovely 3 or four bedroom flat right by the beach for half the price - self-catering obviously. But no kid's clubs, no fun splash park, and all the easy wonders of an all-inclusive environment - IF that's what it is!!! I just don't know!

What are other's experiences opinions on this?

Whether it is worth it depends on what you want from a holiday I think.

For us, we tend to go for basic but clean hotels/apartments and spend our money on eating out and going to bars (as well as tripsout obviously!) - that is a key part of our holiday. I don't even book rooms with breakfast included as I don't want to be beholden to it. So we would not get any value from booking a hotel with food and drink included.

However I can see with young kids or if you want a total relaxation holiday they can work very well.

That said I have had some good hotel spa breaks in the UK where food is included in the deal.

Usually because the hotel is in the middle of nowhere.

I suspect you know far more about holiday camps than 5* AI resorts.

Nah.

https://www.cityam.com/covid-bounce-back-lifting-of-pandemic/

Practically speaking, a package means less hassle to refund and reorganise if you can't go because of your own illness or restrictions. Means you don't end up in a position where you can't get a refund off your accommodation cos your country or carrier won't take you.

There are obviously people with increased health and hygiene concerns because of the pandemic. But they're probably less likely to be travelling in the first place, given that going on a plane means you're choosing to encounter covid now.

I think the package thing became a lot more attractive because of covid. The disruption has died down now but the change in behaviour hasn't been reversed.

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Agree with this ... we've just returned from a package to Italy and our flight home was cancelled. Within 2 hours we were bussed to a nearby town outside of Naples to a Novotel fed and in bed by midnight. Bus at 9am next day after breakfast back to the airport.

Knackering but there were a couple of families who had booked all elements separately who had to try and sort all that out themselves. Must have been unbelievably stressful for them. Imagine trying to find somewhere to stay close to Naples

Loving the AI and package holiday snobbery

@tellmewhentheLangshiplandscoz We always book all the elements separately. There are still protections.

In the event of flight delays or cancellations your airline has to arrange a hotel for you if the wait for the replacement flight is long enough.

We often travel by train in Europe and if you book the onward tickets through Eurostar and if you miss your train due to delays they are responsbile you on the next train etc.. and a hotel is easy to find in Paris or Lille.

The only real holiday travel stress i have experienced recently was last year when our local connecting train to Avignon (where we were picking up a train to Paris to get the Eurostar) was cancelled and they next one was not for another 2.5 hours (the joys of French local train time tables). We just jumped on the next train to Lyon (the nearest city to Paris we could get to from where we were), styled it out with the train conductor and then some franctic googling revealed we could get a tram in Lyon to connect to the station with the train we were booked on to Paris stopped.

It was a bit stressful but fine in the end.

If you like a Butlins atmosphere, and fat half naked people at breakfast, screaming ill bred children, and half eaten plates of discarded food, and old ladies moaning about the quality of the milk...

I think they are good but wouldn’t want them to be the only holiday I ever went on.

So we’re going on one this year (Me and two dc, 14 and 9) but have only done it once before. My dc9 really loves the idea of just swimming all day and getting food when he wants (they have snack bars).

We’ll go out of the hotel a bit as well and see the local area but also do plenty of relaxing etc

I think you need to know what you want from the hotel you choose. This one is right on the beach, is a relatively quiet hotel, no fights for sun beds etc Should all be very chilled.

Last year we just did city breaks, and often we have a UK holiday rather than going abroad. Nice to have a mix!

Where on earth did you go?

The snobbery and ignorance on here is amazing.

I think it's hilarious, but then I'm a chav with a bit of money in my pocket.

I guess I must be too.

kids similar ages, stayed in hotel with kids activities, play areas etc but bnb and kitchenette. This was a brilliant set up. Breakfast stuff, fruit, cereal, bread hard to mess up. Also a snack bar for hot food cooked to order, ice cream etc but paid as we went and had a fridge for snacks in the room. Evening catering was horrible. I wouldn’t go without activities for the kids, but it was nice to go out for dinner / have our own food in the room as well.

Please tell us more about the AI resorts you’ve been to with sirens for food. 😂

I love AI with young kids. It doesn't matter if they knock a drink over, want ice cream every day etc it's all covered and I am not getting uptight on how much it's costing.

We went to one in Egypt with 7 or more restaurants and family rooms with a separate bedroom. I can't remember the name of it sorry was a few years ago.

This one’s great too 😂

It makes the performative middle class schtick on here particularly entertaining! I say this as someone who once had a fist fight at Pontins.

That doesn't remotely reflect my experience of having done AI holidays. Why would you feel obliged to stay on site if you don't want to?

They are trying too hard. I blame Thatcher.

I can't understand rhe "kids can have ice-cream and I don't get uptight as to how much its costing"..

These companies are making a pretty penny out of you...

They are not giving you food and drinks for free.. I totally understand it may be worth paying more for your holiday to avert dc having to ask you for a drink but that's what would prefer.

I honestly can't imagine the amount of drinks each dc wants every day and the one ice cream is cheaper doing it ai.

If some of the posters on here have actually been on AI holidays that are anything like what they describe (rather than simply projecting what they imagine AI holidays are like), then I would respectfully suggest that they might need to hone their research skills so that they choose better options in the future. And maybe save up a slightly bigger budget next time as well, as you won't get high quality if you aren't prepared to pay for it. If there is no flexibility on budget, then probably best to go for a cheaper option - hotels won't provide 5 star luxury and Michelin star quality food if you're not paying for it!!

All holiday companies, resorts and restaurants are making a pretty penny out of you!

We did find that AI cost us less than half board, but I think a big part of it is also the mental load and budgeting aspects of the holiday even for people who find there's not much difference overall in cost.

We have just had 4 days in Turkey doing AI and it was great, the food was very impressive, wine very drinkable. But I wouldn't want to do 2 weeks there.

I think some people like me like the freedom of knowing that it's paid for up front and not having to think about money in the hotel. It's more relaxing somehow than having to faff around with bills etc.

We probably don't necessarily get the best value for our money. We don't drink that much, tend to go out for most of the day most days, don't always eat in the hotel etc. But I like knowing that we can help ourselves to anything that we want when we're there without having to think about money, and that ease in itself is worth paying for in my mind.

I have a stressful job and being able to relax as much as possible is a high priority for me when I'm on holiday. Of course, if you're on a very tight budget, then picking the option that is the best value for money will probably the the priority instead, and that's fair enough.

It’s the being in the vicinity of other people all the time that puts us off.