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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Is all inclusive food actually good or just cheap and easy?

191 replies

roses2 · 02/08/2025 08:12

I'm currently at a 5* all inclusive for a few days in the Mediterranean. It had amazing reviews. But the food is so bland and not good quality and no comparison at all to local restaurants.

This is the second all inclusive I've stayed in and the first was similar. I've decided all inclusive isn't for me.

Why do people rave so much about the great food? Is it just because the food is there and you're not looking at the price tag?

OP posts:
LottieMary · 02/08/2025 08:14

I go to (as cheap as can be) cheap ai.
I have two under 5, love not having to prep anything or worry ajo it paying tons when they reject half what’s on their plate then ask for snacks ten minutes later

it’s ok. I’m not that into food. I suspect many can do nice food but it’ll never be awesome cooking at that kind of scale

FrenchandSaunders · 02/08/2025 08:16

I’d have thought 5* would have been fairly decent OP, you must have paid a lot for that in school hols.

I’m not a fan of AI but you usually get what you pay for.

TheNightingalesStarling · 02/08/2025 08:16

I've always found holiday resort food to be very generic, whether that's AI or eating out.

The advantage of AI being able to try different things to find what you like!

Notsuchafattynow · 02/08/2025 08:18

When AI first came out the food and drink quality used to be so much better. After 14 years of it we've stopped doing it as we prefer eating out at proper restaurants and find it's actually cheaper these days.

FancyBiscuitsLevel · 02/08/2025 08:18

Some people love the bland food. They don’t like things with local flavour or quality. Just look at how some people eat in the uk and which meals appear on most chain restaurant menus.

we found “sporty” focussed AI hotels had the best food. On another thread about AI I mentioned that often full or half board hotels that have buffet style restaurants have much better quality food as they aren’t feeding you all day. But we will have a couple of drinks with dinner and perhaps one or two others in the day, many one icecream each during the day, so price wise it often balances out, if you have heavy drinkers or snackers in your group, then AI is better value than full board/half board.

Original poster
roses2 · 02/08/2025 08:18

FrenchandSaunders · 02/08/2025 08:16

I’d have thought 5* would have been fairly decent OP, you must have paid a lot for that in school hols.

I’m not a fan of AI but you usually get what you pay for.

I had a booking.com voucher which was due to expire. I booked the most expensive kid friendly 5* hotel I could find! So yes it's an expensive hotel but I didn't pay.

To be fair everything else about the hotel is amazing, just the food is terrible. I had higher expectations given the cost.

OP posts:
PhilippaGeorgiou · 02/08/2025 08:18

Since becoming disabled I often use AI for convenience. And it does vary. For example last year I stayed at a large one and the food was truly amazing quality. Year before I stayed at a smaller one that had always been good in previous years and it was awful. If I want awesome I go out on occasions - you can't expect mass catering to be 5 star, but I do think that the quality varies enormously.

TheRealGoose · 02/08/2025 08:22

I think it depends on where you go, irrelevant of star rating, if it is a buffet then it will always be the same, we do five star ai but it is always a la carte with small individual restaurants that you need to make reservations at. If it is a resort with an all you can eat buffet which is a free for all, it will always just be mass catering. And the ai is often done not just for food but for the booze too. So picking your resort with the kind of catering you wish is key if the food is really important to you.

TheTwattening · 02/08/2025 08:23

You've done it wrong - you want to look for the places where the food hasn't received rave reviews in the first instance, but crucially you need to read why other customers didn't rate the food:

"There weren't chips and nuggets served / no fry up at breakfast"
"I didn't like all the local fruit/yogurt/dishes"
"The hotel catered too hard to the French/Italian/etc customers"

We've stayed at three AI places in the last 2 years and it's not let us down.

AutisticAndMore · 02/08/2025 08:25

I went to one(buffet) in Tenerife years ago where I thought that the food was genuinely good. Not gourmet but still very good.. Especially the bread, seafood and meat. The pasta dishes were also good. The selection changed regularly and included roast quails during our stay.

PersephonePomegranate · 02/08/2025 08:26

Most mass produced catering is shit anywhere.

SumUp · 02/08/2025 08:28

I don’t use AI much now my family are grown up, but make sure you read reviews of the hotels and book one where reviewers praise the food.

It is also partly down to what kind of food you choose. The last hotel I went to was in Morocco and the Moroccan dishes were all really good, but the European style dishes were acceptable rather than exciting.

LlynTegid · 02/08/2025 08:29

PersephonePomegranate · 02/08/2025 08:26

Most mass produced catering is shit anywhere.

Agreed, in 12 years of being a school governor it was the one constant topic.

Whilst AI is not for me, I can imagine not having to think about where to eat each evening, and a set budget, appeals to many.

BIWI · 02/08/2025 08:30

It depends entirely on the hotel. We have been to one particular hotel in the Caribbean, on an AI basis, and the food was always very good - sometimes amazing.

BCBird · 02/08/2025 08:31

Try and P and O crui. Food good. We opted for restaurant- haven't got kids. There self service option too- not sure what that is like.

Panterusblackish · 02/08/2025 08:32

TheTwattening · 02/08/2025 08:23

You've done it wrong - you want to look for the places where the food hasn't received rave reviews in the first instance, but crucially you need to read why other customers didn't rate the food:

"There weren't chips and nuggets served / no fry up at breakfast"
"I didn't like all the local fruit/yogurt/dishes"
"The hotel catered too hard to the French/Italian/etc customers"

We've stayed at three AI places in the last 2 years and it's not let us down.

Agree with this.

Also places that do AI as an option not solely AI.

It's not generally my cup of tea, but if you are doing it you have to do a shit ton of research.

Also the star system in widely misunderstood. A 5 star hotel isn't necessarily an indicator of quality its an indicator of services available. Having a restaurant, or laundry services for example.

Plus you get what you pay for, and a med hotel in summer includes a massive uplift. For a true comparison, always look at the first week in December and see who can still charge premium prices.

Nina1013 · 02/08/2025 08:32

As others have said, it depends on the kind of all inclusive. We have been to mediocre and also really good. The really good is usually the ones where you have a choice of a la carte restaurants rather than everything being buffet style.

AyeRight78 · 02/08/2025 08:33

We’ve done a few in Turkey now. We accept that we’d get better food eating out but usually treat ourselves to a few nights in the a la cartes for that reason. In my day to day life having to the think about what’s for dinner and filling up the fridge takes up a lot of time. Not to mention cooking. I love not thinking about that for a week. And letting the kids eat what they want. That alone is why we love AIs. If we were a family really into food and fine dining, we wouldn’t choose an AI.

Pippa12 · 02/08/2025 08:35

I love AI with children, it’s so easy. A true break from being worrying about what, when and where to eat which makes it worth it for me.

Despite paying for decent hotels I haven’t ever found ‘restaurant’ standards. It’s ok, hot and plentiful. I imagine my AI days will be well gone when my children are older!

Ducksurprise · 02/08/2025 08:35

TheTwattening · 02/08/2025 08:23

You've done it wrong - you want to look for the places where the food hasn't received rave reviews in the first instance, but crucially you need to read why other customers didn't rate the food:

"There weren't chips and nuggets served / no fry up at breakfast"
"I didn't like all the local fruit/yogurt/dishes"
"The hotel catered too hard to the French/Italian/etc customers"

We've stayed at three AI places in the last 2 years and it's not let us down.

Completely agree.

RaspberryRipple2 · 02/08/2025 08:38

Not my experience at all, but I’d always pick a hotel based on the number and choice of a la carte restaurants and research the food options available. Would never book a cheap/buffet only one as it’s not my thing.

I’ve never been to an AI resort where the a la carte food has generally compared negatively with normal restaurants or where the breakfast buffet hasn’t been top quality (several times better than any breakfast buffet I’ve had in the UK for example). I’m not really sure what you’re comparing it to though!

BleuBeans · 02/08/2025 08:41

TheTwattening · 02/08/2025 08:23

You've done it wrong - you want to look for the places where the food hasn't received rave reviews in the first instance, but crucially you need to read why other customers didn't rate the food:

"There weren't chips and nuggets served / no fry up at breakfast"
"I didn't like all the local fruit/yogurt/dishes"
"The hotel catered too hard to the French/Italian/etc customers"

We've stayed at three AI places in the last 2 years and it's not let us down.

This is so true! I’m one for eating out in local restaurants so tend to go self catering a lot. However I stayed in a small resort that due to the location was full board last year. So many complained about the food in the weeks before I went. I was a little worried about staying there for 5 nights as food is a big part of my holidays. I got there and had nothing to worry about - it was full of local cuisines

modgepodge · 02/08/2025 08:45

The quality of food available is one of the things i look at when booking an AI. I read a lot of reviews before choosing and often go for places that have a la carte options on site too (sometimes you get 1 or 2 nights of these included in the package). At the ones I’ve stayed in the buffets have often included show cooking stations where they’ll make you a fresh omelette or pasta dish as you watch for example.

Many years ago we also stayed at a very cheap AI where I got food poisoning. My husband didn’t. He stuck to the chicken nuggets and chips type things, I’d been sampling all the lovely salads and fruits…

notevencharging · 02/08/2025 08:46

Depends where you go.
We used to do AI in Europe when the kids were younger and most of the time it was fine but not exactly exciting.
Went to Mexico as adults and the buffet food was excellent. There were other restaurants to choose from a menu but the buffet was sometimes superior.

TiredCatLady · 02/08/2025 08:53

@TheTwattening thats an excellent tip.

I’ve done AI twice as an adult, second time because it was bundled with the holiday and by day 3 we’d given up and were eating out in the evening. Generally the breakfasts were great - a big breakfast suits how I holiday as I then go out and about exploring all day or doing a sport. But this means I’m not using the Ai through the day and I don’t snack much. I also enjoy exploring and eating in different places/trying different food so it’s as much about holiday style as the food itself.
I’d only ever do it again somewhere like e.g. the Maldives or the higher end Caribbean with a dozen different a la carte restaurant options etc. Not that I can afford that any time soon!