To think all inclusive holidays are very good value?

[Septembersun101]

Have just returned from a week all inclusive in Greece.

I used to be a bit snobby about all inclusive and assumed it would be a bit crap but honestly having done it a few times now I think it’s such good value.

Admittedly it’s not as authentic as some other types of holiday. But we’ve just paid 3k for a 5 star AI.

The room was lovely with a patio overlooking the pool. There was a huge waterpark with our ds loved and no queues so we all went on as many times as we liked. There were 8 al a carte restaurants in much mixed it up and got us away from the buffet madness. Where we were able to have relaxing 3 course meals with drinks. There were 5 places you could eat for lunch buffet style.

A private beach for hotel guests only.

If you just want some fun in the sun with your children and not to have to cook for a week I think it can be outstanding value for money.

Again it isn't a prison.

I do all these things and it is still value.

Always a bit surprised by people who think AI must be about lying around pools. Soooo many AIs are next to a beach, and this OP is about a resort that had its own! We're sea rather than pool people so I just make sure to book one no more than a couple of minutes from a beach.

We used to go to Turkey (Bodrum) for a week every year. I once worked out we paid more or less the same for our self catering (with breakfast) place vs an all inclusive BUT we ate what we want when we wanted. Sometimes just got bread and cheese and fruit in the day and drank our duty free in the room. Went out every night exploring. Went on day trips and boat trips.
I’ve been on two AI things. Spain and Caribbean. Just a bit canteeny. But fascinating to watch people getting their money’s worth!
Definitely one for any families with teenagers though! They can eat.

We ONLY ever do AI. Never understand how people dislike them and feel restricted.

You have a choice of various restaurants and cuisines so you don’t need to repeat anything if you don’t want to.
Almost always an adult only pool.
A waterpark for kids and it’s usually not overrun
TONS of activities for kids of all ages
There is proper entertainment each night- not just cheap bar drinking
There is always snacks, drinks, ice creams on tap throughout the day.
Always a gym and spa
A doctor/medical staff on site or people that can get you seen by the right people quickly
fantastic kids club
And so on

the big con is usually the price.

I wont do a self catering - that’s not a holiday to me.

Financially speaking they are rarely better value in my experience, been on a number of half board stays at hotels with AI option and even with the exorbitant pricing of drinks and food at the resorts nudging guests towards AI, it has always worked out cheaper to stay half board and pay as you go.

Experience wise is a different matter, I know it is freeing to not have to give any thought to costs and if you drink a lot it can be ok financially.

As with anything it all depends on what kind of holiday you like!

Nothing wrong with either type but I would say there’s a reason places want you to go AI and I imagine they make a decent profit on it.

I'd literally be there for bed and breakfast only so very poor value for me. I don't want to pay for meals I won't eat and drinks I won't drink!

Where did you get this for 3k! I'd book it in a heartbeat, we just did 2 weeks at a 4 star and it was nice but only 2 a la carte restaurants, no private beach and our swim up cost 8k for the fortnight

Yeah - lying on a beach is as boring for me as a pool and I'm far too fair skinned anyway.

I really am not suited to AI!

Lying on beaches is boring, I agree. I like getting in the big blue thing!

Also fair skinned, so we don't go in summer. I genuinely don't know how people cope in August with how hot the Med is getting. Different strokes for different folks I suppose, but it's not for me.

I don’t mind it for a couple of days but it just feels so samey after a while.
I don’t really like being around loads of people and definitely don’t like only having a couple of hotel rooms to go back to for more than a long weekend.
We have had suites and villas with private pools in AI resorts. They are a better but they tend to come with a level of service that I don’t particularly want.
Also they can cost more than we paid for our first house for our family of 6. So you do then feel like you need to stay on resort and get value for money.
A villa with a private pool, a cleaner and eating out/ordering in or we’ve had a private chef before now is perfect IMO.
We’re not paying for activities, facilities or entertainment we don’t want, everyone has plenty of space and we don’t feel like we have to stay around the villa to get our money’s worth.

It doesn't seem like value to me as £3k for a week for 3 people is more than I would ever spend. We book ourselves. For the same money 5 of us spent 11 days in Greece in August, some in Athens, some on islands. For the same money we took trains around Europe for 3 weeks, visiting 5 countries. AI doesn't appeal to me as I like to do my own thing, explore etc, but if I had to do it, I wouldn't want to pay £3k.

I would like to know where on earth you got a 5 star AI hotel, during the school holidays, in Greece…for 3k!!! That seems very cheap.

One was Elpida Village in Crete. That was great for the kids.

What makes a holiday is different for everyone.

I'm not bothered about pools or water parks or organised activities.

I like to go and see things - museums, art, wildlife, waterfalls. I feel refreshed by seeing and doing different things.

I like self catering for the space. We will usually eat a big meal out for lunch and then have a light salad type dinner. It doesn't bother me to assemble a salad for dinner, but then for me a holiday isn't about doing nothing, it's about doing different things.

If they were actually good value for customers so many hotels wouldn't offer them. Good value for the hospitality sector though!

Agree totally on the room thing. For my Bodrum comparison before we had a large comfortable suite with full kitchen and dining and balcony. I want to be able to make a cup of decent tea and sit and read my book when I am up early. The AI options tend to be room only.
Getting harder to find non AI in some resorts in Turkey now though as their prices have shot up through inflation so eating out prices have doubled in last few years. I paid £150 for meze/ meat platter, two beers and four cocktails for three of us in a beach restaurant. Almost UK prices.

Part of holidays for us is exploring and eating local food at non tourist areas or going to different supermarkets and putting meals together iin different places so no we couldn't tie ourselves down to that

I like the exploring and eating parts of the holiday. I start to feel cooped up on the resort.

But I do see the attraction if you just want to relax and it seems like excellent value to me.

This is an interesting thread. I've looked into it last night and concluded that AI isn't for us but maybe we'd consider a chambre d'hote /gite village setup next year where we'd get our own gite/BBQ, have access to a shared pool, breakfast provided and can pay a supplement to have our evening meal covered.

I think given we go to France a lot, this would be the best of both worlds and we can go exploring and not have washing up. Probably about £4200 for 2 weeks doing it that way with 10 evening meals provided for 4 people, rather than £3000 for 2 weeks self catered with a lot more stress involved.

I also HATE Airbnb. You miss a day of the holiday each year cleaning up where you're staying so you don't get a bad review and I'd rather relax on my last 24 hours of a holiday.

There are lots of hotels and other accommodation providers offering every type of accommodation though. You might just as easily say if self catering or B and B weren't such good value for the hospitality sector it wouldn't get offered.

Certainly they'll have to be making a profit overall, but that's true of everything within the sector. What it comes down to is that customers have different profiles, meaning what's good value for some isn't so for others.

So it’s not just all about fighting for sun beds?

I can see the advantages if you’re in a big group with kids.

We've always found AI to be good value, though we've had to fine tune it over the years.

Wherever we stay always has to be a base for exploring. I love swimming, and when we go off season, I usually have the whole pool to myself, which is bliss.

We prefer ones that are not stuck in the middle of a resort, but that give us lots of scope to get out and about. We often half and half holidays so we can beach and swim for five days then AI for a few. But we've even done things like book a couple of nights away in other nearby countries before returning to the AI because it's relatively so much cheaper.

There is no inherent virtue in "preferring to explore local restaurants". It's just a preference.

Air B and B are fucking awful. There's not enough customer protection, I know someone who got screwed over because the host cancelled on them.

Google reviews for Calabash aren't great (even discounting silly complaints), and the manager's responses are 'interesting'.

Not enough host protection either.

I've had holes punched in my walls and the place totally trashed. The "guests" left 1* retaliatory reviews when asked to pay for the damage which were allowed to stand.

Airbnb, despite the much vaunted "Aircover" also refused to cover the damage. My own insurance paid the £000s to reinstate.