I had NO IDEA that package holidays were such a nightmare to book!

[GarageFlower123]

I feel extremely lucky - I have £5K to spend on a holiday for my family...I've had it with camping and self catering, and fancy going somewhere nice and warm where someone will cook for me, and I will give them some money in exchange.

I've narrowed it down to the Canaries for easter, but all I can find are hotels with "family rooms"....effectively one room with a bed and a sofa bed. I've got a 12 and a 9 year old....who don't sleep well together anyway...but this would be hell! Why on earth would I part with my cash to go and live in worse conditions than I have at home? Does anyone else have this problem? Have you found any way around it?

I've thought about apartments, but I don't want to go self catering. Because, like I said....I want a holiday. So bl**dy frustrating.

With Jet2 you can filter by room and they have a two bed apartment option.

Try Pierre et Vacances Village Club Fuerteventura. It's an all inclusive resort but with villas. Looks like they do up to three bedrooms.

Self catering accommodation, close to restaurants so you can eat out most of the time..

Go into a travel agent. Unless you are set on a certain hotel, I don't find it any more expensive booking in the shop as they have offers you can't get online (presumably the opposite applies too.)

We are a family of 5 so go for 2 bed places. I think most families of 4 go for the setup you describe because it's a lot cheaper than 2 rooms, and for a sun holiday you don't really go to spend time in the hotel room. We have also stayed in aparthotels, staying in apartments but using the hotel dining room. Or gone self catering but not actually catered beyond a fridge full of drinks and lollies.

We book flights and accommodation separately - Airbnb, smaller local hotels etc. .

Although obvs with the covid situation would need decent travel insurance and to check cancellation policies.

I tried to book a two bedroom apartment, but in an AI hotel not self catering and it was very difficult, the few that has that sort of accommodation were very expensive and out of my budget. It was virtually impossible to search for, they seem to cater for parents with young children who can sleep in the same room or on a sofa bed in a lounge area at best, some not really a separate room.

I gave up in the end and booked a twin room, we'll both have to wear ear plugs.

Unless they share a bed room you might be better off getting a Vila. 3 bed apartments in the canaries at Easter will cost loads.

We have always done self catering 2 bed apartments:
Lanzarote Puerto del Carmen : Cinqo Plaza and a couple of others nearby.
Then we eat out. Win win.

Package holidays are historically aimed at the masses, and, historically, the "masses" typically want a hotel bedroom with camp bed etc for children, and only had options for 2/3 bedrooms for self catering apartments.

For a few years, some of the big tour firms have realised this and have been giving the option of being able to book multiple hotel rooms on the same booking. As said above by another poster, Jet2 seem to be good for this as we booked two bedrooms for a party of 4 to go to Maderia with them a few years ago.

Your best bet really is to do it yourself and book flights/hotels separately and directly, so you can choose exactly what you want. It's because the package tour industry have been so slow to embrace different options that the direct/independent booking market grew so quickly.

We stayed at the Occidental Jandia Mar in Fuerteventura and had two interconnecting rooms.

Trouble with eating out when S/C is the cost. Meals in holiday resorts seem to be incredibly expensive these days compared to what they used to cost. It used to be significantly cheaper to eat out on holiday than it was in the UK, but these days, the prices are more comparable, if not more expensive abroad.

Then there's the inconvenience as many modern holiday apartment complexes are out of town, so you need a car or taxi to get to the main areas where there are lots of restaurants.

Hotels or aparthotels tend to be much cheaper and more convenient.

also another vote for fuerteventura - we had two bedroom interconnecting rooms booked before we had to cancel due to our children not having had two vaccines.
So you might want to look into the two vaccine thing for your 12 year old. Its not just two vaccine - usually its the 2nd vaccine being done 1-2 weeks before departure.

Cordial Mogan Valle in Gran Canaria has 2 bed apartments, with a sofa bed in lounge, if kids won’t share a room. You can book as a package directly with company or jet2 etc. Restaurant is ok at hotel, but loads really nearby too. Could book b&b or half board and still eat out sometimes. The sister hotel, Mogan Playa, next door is swankier and has some associated apartments that can use hotel facilities, but I’d imagine they’re booked up for Easter.
Mogan is absolutely gorgeous!

I was looking at this hotel last night. They have a room upgrade option which provides interconnected rooms, a double bed, 2 beds and 2 child beds
TUI MAGIC LIFE Fuerteventura

At the moment, full package holidays gives better protection wrt covid changes according to Simon Calder (travel journalist)

Book a villa with an end of stay clean included.

And eat out every day obviously!

GF Isabel in Tenerife has bungalows / villas that have more than one bedroom but you can still book half board or all-inclusive in the resort. There must be more like that in the area.

We stayed at the Pierre et vacance place in fuerteventura a few years back and it was ideal. It's all separate villas but with all inclusive available as well. We absolutely loved it. We're a family of 5 with 2 teenagers and finding somewhere that gives the teens a decent bed (they are both adult-sized now!) is really hard.

H10 in Maspalomas has bungalows as part of AI.

Book an apartment or villa and eat out. Don’t stay on a resort but near the places you want to visit. Either hire a car or use the local bus and eat where the locals eat - much better food and cheaper. Last think your want on holiday is a menu of the same food as you eat at home

Even when we went to Disneyland Paris most of the Disney hotels just have a big room with two queen beds. I mean they are building these hotels from scratch for families.🤷‍♀️

Whilst my kids have been young we have gone AI because it had made meal times easier and flexible but we have ended up returning to the same couple of resorts just to get two bedrooms.

Agree mostly use Jet2 because you can filter but it does not work perfectly.

Surely you need either 2 hotel room adjoining or an apartment ?

Our friends have booked 10 days in San Antonio Bay in Ibiza in July via Jet2. Decent flight times, 23kg checked in case each, two rooms, HB so you can gorge at breakfast until meal at night for £3600....transfers everything included. With your 5k budget this leaves £1400 for alcohol, food out, etc.....

With your specific needs I would go to an independent agent, they should be able to source a holiday to meet your needs. One thing as well about Lanzarote, night flights are banned, so you nearly always get a good flight time.

Either that or look at James Villas...of course with a Villa holiday you cook yourself, but at least that gives you some flexibility.

.....or you could just buy each family member a pair of Balenciaga trainers and be the coolest family in your street...... :-)