All inclusive - so bad for the host country

[nothingoldcanstay]

Did you not see that series on TV high lighting just how bad for the economy AI is? Aside from that it seems a bit odd to go to a different country and then eat hotel food. Most wine and beer is cheaper abroad so shouldn't we all try at least to help the country you holiday in rather than just one corporation?

DCgirl I wouldn't do proper camping my DH style. His idea is walk with a big backpack on your back for a week, and camp in the wilderness, taking dumps in the bush, and don't wash for a week. I've done it once when I was at school with a school camp for 2 nights. That scared me for life.

But I can warm to the idea of a chalet, with a toilet block.

Ok, looking at their website, accommodation looks hideous and v. expensive. 25m2 (tiny!) caravan thing with 2 bedrooms, runs to £1100 in August for a week at L'Atlantique.

For the same week you can stay in 2-bed Comfort in Erperheide Center Parcs (Belgium) for ?1139 or ?1079 in Het Meerdal (Holland). This is 62m2, so over twice the size.

No doubt Eurocamp is cheaper than UK centerparcs (until you factor in petrol and ferry crossing, possibly), but EU centerparcs is cheaper than either.

My DH and I went on an AI holiday three years ago. We definitely spent less than we usually do on holiday. We ate out twice during that time just for the opportunity to sample different menus but the food in our hotel was excellent with lots of choice. We tended to go to local bars in the evenings but did sometimes stay at the hotel. We did not see any instances of drunken behaviour at the hotel and if there had been any I feel sure the manager would have been quick to deal with it as he was around all the time and made sure everything was running properly, guests were happy and, at meal times ensured food was replenished as soon as needed. I know not all hotels would be run so well. We had trouble with our air conditioning one day and went to Reception to report it. The handy man was seeing to it by the time we got back to our room 10 minutes later! We had a great holiday and would definitely go back again. We did spend money in local shops and on trips so supported the local economy in that way and most of the staff were local. I wish we had gone on this holiday when our son was at the "adolescent = always hungry" stage as we would have saved ourselves a lot of money!

i don`t like them.

A lot of my favorite bars/restaurants have closed down or moved to a busier resort in menorca. we stay in cala blanca and the zung hu chinese has moved to calen blanes ( buiser)

if we want a chinese ( the food is super) we have to drive for 30-40 mins, they said this was because of ai hotels.

Discovered AI two years ago and will never go back.
Love it love it love it

I have done fly/drive with car hire, and driving all the way. It just depends how far you are going and how long for as to whether it's worth driving all the way. And I've done tent, caravan and chalet! I like deluxe caravans the best.

Would never has considered AI pre DC but a 4*+ AI can be bloody marvellous. Food is fantastic and local where we have been. Kids get to try stuff that they would never order from a menu (mussels, squid, shark). You can eat immediately, they can have as much or as little as they like. It's so easy and quite frankly I don't want to traipse around restaurants with 2 small children or do washing up on holidays. I won't do it forever but at least with AI I come home feeling like I've had a holiday.

Before DC I wouldn't have chosen AI as wandering around looking for a different restaurant every night and enjoying a 2 hour meal was part of the experience. But when you have young DC who eat small portions and won't enjoy traipsing around for hours or enjoy a 2 hour meal (and who like to have lots of drinks during the day) AI is perfect. In countries with the Euro a basic meal is £100 + and to pay that every night and DCs leaving half their meal is a deal breaker for me. 4-5 star AI has been lovely so far, haven't seen a drunk person yet anywhere we've stayed and there has always been a lovely and varied selection of local dishes included, and all fresh.

I've done AI in Ibiza for the past three years, have 3 dds and has worked out really well for us, if only for the "free" ice-creams and pastries that my children seemingly inhale.

The hotel will make up a packed picnic lunch if you want, we usually get one and hop on a bus for a couple of trips.

I've had some super AI holidays. No drunks, different nationalities holidaying together. Great food etc. AI hotels provide employment for locals and they have to source local food so therefore do put money into the economy.

We usually eat out a few times when we get sick of the international buffet and always do cultural trips so I'm not sure the snobbery shown on here is justified .

Wondering how many of those saying AIs are awful because they put other local businesses out of trade happily go to Tesco, Starbucks etc when in the UK.

Haha! yes, exactly!

We just priced Eurocamp in Spain for next year. It would cost £2800 for DH, DD and I without flights, car hire, food. We used to go to the site as kids and I was so excited but I'm horrified at the cost.

£2800. Geez. Do you know that's more than the budget for me, DH and DD going to Hong Kong for a week and a half later this year? That's with flights and hotel. And we aren't even flying at the cheapest time of the year. Food is marvellously cheap and we'll be eating out every meal.

The eating out comment is for MissBeehivingUnderTheMistletoe. I don't think I can stomach washing up every night either.

KenDodd that's insane

DH and I just booked a 7 night 5 Nile cruise (full board) followed by 5 nights in a 5 Red Sea resort (AI) for £599 each, flights included!

We would probably not have opted for AI given money/the choice - it just happened to be an add-on after the Cruise, which we've always wanted to do in an amateur Egyptologist sort of way. I'll be interested to see what it's like after some of these comments. I understand from all the reviews/what I've read about it that the AI resort is staffed entirely by locals in an area which has almost nothing else going for it, so if anything else I'd've thought it was keeping the local economy going. But I didn't watch the prog and haven't been yet, so am talking out of pure ignorance at the mo!

Much against my better judgement we went to Club Med in the South of France lasy year and it was really very very good indeed.

AI can be good for a local economy if it employs local people and people from that country also go there on holiday as our Club Med place did. It is bad when all the guests and the staff are shipped in from other countries.

That said, the weakness of the Pound Sterling and Dollar is a major reason why people are choosing AI. It is also a major reason why cruise ships have become so popular in the Med and Carribean. The crew are often from Far east economies where pay rates are incredibly low compared to pay rates in the location where the ship is sailing. They dont pay local tax rates either.

kendodd that is crazy pricing.
We've paid £2800 for a 4* AI in Lake Garda for August, inc flights and transfers.

I wouldnt be paying that for a frickin tent, no food and no flights!

Oh and thats for 4 of us

"Wondering how many of those saying AIs are awful because they put other local businesses out of trade happily go to Tesco, Starbucks etc when in the UK"

I do - for loo rolls, washing up liquid, cheese, wine and groceries, because it is my nearest supermarket/their deliveries are better than the competition. I always buy my meat from a local farm that breeds their own animals and sells the meat in the shop. I buy my veg and local free range eggs from another local farm shop where some of the veg is home grown, I buy my bread from a local bakery or make my own (using flour bought from Tesco ). I also support my local market and the local country market, plus the local curry house.

I suppose that I could stop supporting other economies by not drinking wine or using olive oil or using spices in my cooking, but then my diet would become very dull.

I buy from local shops for local people

Mosschops Whereabouts are you going? We stayed in Garda itself last August and loved it.

You do have to think that if a AI is so cheap (which it often is) why is it so cheap. If you buy cheap clothes made in India/China/Vietnam that they are going to made by very poorly paid people working in grim conditions. If you buy cheap eggs then their are from chickens in cages. The list goes on.

AI is fine but I think you have to realise that if you go to a third or second world country you are shafting them to some degree. The benefits of employment are often cancelled out by the huge amount of undercutting and control the tour operators have. If we have hose pipe bans in England how can these hotels with endless towels and sheets to wash, food to prepare etc be helping a country that doesn't have good water supplies.

Having said that I can't see the problem so much with a cruise. I'm sure the workers aren't paid well but at least people visit and spend with the locals.

I am not sure AI is always cheap, TBH - what it is, though, is predictable. DH and I can't face paying a huge bill at the end of the holiday - and, TBH, AI or not, with small DC the vast majority of our spend is within the hotel as they have to be dragged away from pool/sea/beach. It works far better for us to know that it is all paid for upfront, even though we have no illusions that is is much cheaper. Being AI does not deter us from going out - but if we were going to somewhere where we would want to be out and about a lot we wouldn't opt for AI.

Dream holiday of the moment would be the Maldives - where the whole debate is entirely academic as the hotel is the island - so not a lot of dining choices outside of the hotel - can someone explain the moral high ground to be achieved by not going AI in that instance ?

We have been AI many times, and it is like verything you get what you pay for.
In some of the locations with out the hotels there would be no industry, as they are so remote. And as such all inclusive is the only choice.
Sind the birth od Dc's it has been our choice the past two years to go AI. If just for the ice cream / drinks as in Europe when you are paying two quid for each at a time fair adds up over a two week period.
At the majority of the AI's we have been we have left the "compound" and visitied either local vilages or bar's and restaurants. But with DC's this is so difficult as typically they only really want to spend more time with friends and the AI ( Butlins) allow us all to have an enjoyable holiday.
I also can say that I have never seen people over indulging with food or drinks, although I have heard tales told.

I have been on a few (worst decision was honeymoon!) and my problem is the food - its always awful and I am yet to go on an AI without getting food poisoning. That said if I had a few more kids it would be the only way to go because eating out in europe now costs the same as the UK.
I do find though generally that AI's are normally outside of the main resorts as they cant get the land or space to build them closer in. If you are staying there it can be a way out from town.