To be a bit miffed at the occupancy supplements on my first choice holiday

[ArtfulAardvark]

I queried why we were paying £59 x 4 under occupancy penalty on our room as I know they only sleep 4. The childrens holidays were only £25 cheaper than the adults but the children did qualify for discounts.

They told me occupancy is based on adults only and that they do not count children as occupants.

So I say the accommodation is based on 4 adults therefore we should pay £59 x 2 supplements for the "missing" adults

No they say everyone needs to pay a supplement as you all need to make up the price for the missing adults. How many under 12s do you know that could afford a £59 supplement?

I appreciate its business and they could have let the accommodation to 4 adults but fgs dont pretend to "give" me something then take it back. Maybe its to fool people into thinking they are getting a better deal than they are "ohh look im getting a £324 discount" - the supplements come to £236 so in real terms the discount is just £88

I need coffee!!

MMJ-Do you mean that although there are children in your party you just say there are say, 4 adults as opposed to 2 and 2 (for example).

Can you do that MMJ? I think I will have to consider that in future years - although if the holidays go up much more we will be staying in this country I think.

we were also charged £480 but farking direct holidays as we were forced to cancel our june holiday - we were giving them 5 months notice so all they will have done it sell it on

don't use sodding companies, do if youself and pocket the difference

Have to agree with dizzy - go on a site like medhotels and book your own accomodation then you can choose 1 bed/2 bed/sc/half board/AI etc.. with no occ supplements then book your flights and a taxi transfer. Usually works out cheaper and you get exactly what you want.

That is why we use villas not hotels, and either book ourselves or go through a small reputable company instead.

You pay for the villa regardless of how many people are in it, so you know exactly what you are paying for.

Im starting to think looking for an alternative to the package holiday may be a better route to go, specially once the children are older.

we use this site if it helps anyone, and have done on lots of occassions with the family - we're a big extended family who travel enmass a lot

owners direct

Under occupancy supplements are one reason we do not go abroad now. That together with classing sofa beds as proper beds.

We paid a massive under-occupancy fee in Menorca last year - 2 adults and 2 kids in a 2 bedroom apartment, which they seemed to think should have been adequate accommodation for 6 adults! So why only 4 chairs at the table, then? And not only was there no storage AT ALL for the poor sods who would have copped for the sofa bed (if you could call it that, the 2nd bedroom only had one single wardrobe and no drawers at all. Nor any air-conditioning.
It's a complete rip-off, and makes me cross. I hear travel companies might be suffering if people cut back luxuries due to the credit crunch. Shame! Serves them right.

Clam - we were sick of being ripped off too -I think there should be a bedroom for every two and sofa beds in the living area banned. We've had some crap accommodation and paid a fortune too.

I totally agree with all of you, especially Clam, as we have had exactly the same experience as her ...... a so-called 2-bed apartment which (allegedly) slept 6, with just 4 chairs and no extra storage. Even the storage in the actual bedrooms was crap and inadequate.

Yet you get hit with all sorts of punitive charges and supplements.

I think it's disgusting that sofa beds are classed as beds at all in these places. They're never even proper sofa beds but cheap bits of old foam. Unless you are travelling in a party of singletons and are young enough to be able to crash anywhere (and don't care because you've been partying most of the night) I don't see how anyone could sleep on those things ...... they're bad enough to sit on.

I've recently checked the cost of last year's holiday ...... for exactly the same dates (which were in Sept - we have a pre-schooler) and the same accommodation, this year's price is £500 more FFS !!! ....... and we are talking the cheapest, most basic self catering apartment you can get in that particular resort. I suppose they (the travel company) will blame the pound v the Euro, but with everything else going up I should be very surprised if they get any takers at that price. If you can hold your nerve until the last minute, I suspect there may be some bargains to be had.

If you can hang on for a late deal, these supplements are often waived.

It's always worth asking, as MMJ suggested, if it would be cheaper to book the children as adults - but it doesn't always work out cheaper anyway

I totally agree with those who say book hotels and flights seperately. We look for where you can fly on the on penny flights with Ryan air and then look at the hotels near there. For four of us, the one penny flights (with all taxes, extras etc) cost about £200 return to Austria. We went last year and are going again in May. We then can spend out on a nice hotel. We love Kinderhotels and they always have proper family type rooms with either seperate child's sleeping area on proper beds or suite type rooms. I think package deals are often poor value.

We had same with thomas Cook a few years ago It worked out differently in store and on internet too , neither of which could they explain. We booked same hotel direct , paid by room , and used their flights.