To ask if you’d enjoy this holiday ?

[CryJustALittleBit]

All inclusive hotel in Spain.

Fancy dress competitions for kids and kids club for general ents etc discos

Some of the male hotel guests putting on drag acts as evening entertainment

Two pools - one indoor / one outdoor

Sharing a dinner table with another guest couple at the hotel

Space invader machines /Pac Man etc

Pool table

VERY predominantly British guests

Hotel is right next to a beach

Plenty of cafes and bowling alleys near by for entertainment

Nice ‘bar’ area where you can also get drinks like milk shakes etc

Courier service so you have the option to go on day trips etc

Hotel guests in general are a bit ‘Phoenix Nights’ iyswim

So, what’s the verdict ?? Y Viva Espana?

Sounds tortuous.... walking round all day until you're shattered is not a holiday imo

I have never been on a holiday like that, and it wouldn’t be something I would want to do - my idea of hell to be honest, especially the shared pool and having to eat with randoms. In fact I’ve only ever been AI on skiing holidays (and mostly not even then). For hot holidays we prefer to book a villa with a private pool and grounds in a rural area, and get a hire car. I grew up having independent holidays and we’ve taken our children on them since the eldest was 3 months old. We usually have 1 skiing holiday, 1 villa holiday, and 2-3 UK weekends away every year.

But I have friends who love the type of holiday you described, and that’s perfectly alright with me. We all like different things.

We now voluntarily dont have a car ( we can afford one) and walk everywhere, so I expect we have different ideas of fun! 😃I am not very interested in relaxing by the pool. I get bored.

I don't mind shared tables though.

Not for me as I don’t do AI and would not enjoy the entertainment
I am by no means a holiday snob though and often go very cheap - just prefer to book an apartment over a hotel and do our own thing

I've just been looking for holidays exactly like this 😂. There's 7 of us so I'm trying to get something that isn't crazy expensive and will be fun for teenagers and a 4yo

Not for me but I am sure that some people would love it.

Some sounds nice - pools, beach. But everything else is not my scene at all.

I like a quiet villa with a view and a private pool!

I hate drag.
And other people.

The idea of a private pool if you have young children fills me with fear....I'd rather be at a hotel with lifeguards.

Oh god, the drag would annoy me so much!

I do realise that this was the OP's holiday from years ago. Back in the day, there wasn't that much choice. These days, I try to avoid all those things.

Also, I don't cook on holiday, perish the thought. We try various restaurants and street food.

You would find that tortuous. Many would find enduring an evening of hotel entertainment tortuous. It’s no big deal. The op asked for opinions and got them. She doesn’t seem to be the one getting upset by the comments though.

I've been to a very fancy AI resort that had lots of rich families but very little evening entertainment. The result of this was some parents who allowed their children to run around the bar area shouting, bumping into bar staff carrying drinks, and getting on people's nerves. Because they were understandably bored. At a family AI give me a kids disco, and then some daft show to entertain everyone.

No it was a genuine question. For those on villa holidays, what do the kids do in the evening? Like our last holidays, our kids played pool, air hockey, watched the entertainment... Surely sitting round your villa in the evening is like sitting at home but in a slightly nicer location?

Ditto. I get some real bargains for apartments or small family run hotels where it’s either self catering or b&b and we can do our own thing without a timetable.

I’ve done AI for weekend breaks especially out of season but couldn’t for my main holidays.

Sounds like the On The Beach advert with the awful family. I'd rather go to prison for a week.

I think every holiday might involve some compromise, esp with kids involved. We always stay at small hotels in smaller towns. My kids have never been fans of that kind of entertainment. They might have actually enjoyed air hockey etc but that would have come at the expense of staying somewhere bigger with more noise, people, buffet meals, queues, drinking etc that we didn’t want.

They are at university now and still choose the kinds of holidays they used to go on as kids, so clearly don’t feel they have missed out too much.

We did similar holidays around this time but to Menorca (or Minorca as we called it then) when our children were young. They were not AI and actually worked out pretty expensive with all the extras, even after dinner coffee was extra. . In those days it was considered quite upmarket as a lot of our contemporaries were holidaying in caravans or camping in the UK.

The things that would annoy me most about this are the predominantly British guests (I'd like to meet more of a mix of people), always sitting with the same people (for the same reason), and the children's entertainment (if I had children of the relevant age group). When I was a child myself I really disliked/was almost a bit scared of party entertainers, enforced party games and all forms of forced jollity, and I think at least one of my own DC would have felt the same. If it was OK to opt out of the entertainment and go for walks on your own in the local area (not organised trips with a courier), then if the price was reasonable I might consider it just as a base to use while getting out and about.

Sounds like my idea of HELL.

I don't think it has anything to do with being snobby. Different people want different things from their time away. And it depends on finances, circumstances and the like.
What suits one, doesn't suit another. I like to book everything separately, flights, apartment, hire car. I don't mind cooking some nights, some people wouldn't want to do that either. Each to their own. With AI, I've heard so many horror stories about the food, entertainment, rooms, etc that I really wouldn't risk it for myself.
I know a couple who just want to sunbathe for a full two weeks round a pool, drink all day and not explore the area. That's not for me either! I can't think of anything more boring if you've made the effort to fly to another country! But that suits their requirements!
Like I say, we're not all the same, snobbery doesn't come into it for me!

To me it is if it involves hiking in the remote mountainous terrain of the Scottish highlands and immersing myself in some fantastic geological scenery, combined with a complete absence of screechy kids, yapping dogs, gormless southerners walking five abreast across the path at half my natural walking speed, or smartphone gobshites on the train.

Lots of nice things. I would enjoy sharing a dinner table, but I know lots wouldn't. I hate drag, so I wouldn't go that night.

Absolutely not for me.

I know I am late to the party but I'm in Australia & just woken up. This sounds exactly like the holiday my English family took me on with them when I went over to visit in 1989 when I was 20. The menu was in english, spanish & german. Discos & donkey rides & beach across the road. It was Fuengirola on the Costa del Sol.

No I'd rather stay home, sounds like a club Mac holiday. Kids never liked kids club, I hate drag and find most hotel entertainment is cringey.

If you have kids it sounds great . Lots to do and a nearby beach for quieter times . Sign me up !