Child free places

[TheMindfulMum]

I've been looking into our first family holiday for next summer with our two DC. Following a previous thread, we're now looking at Jet2 holidays.

I've spent tonight looking at the child free places section on Jet2. This can easily knock £1k off a 7-10 day holiday. Other than needing to travel in the summer holidays our only "filter" is that the hotel has a splash park. Once I turn that filter on the options reduce quite a lot. Not a bad thing as I need a bit of focus, but we're really only left with self catering options then. For our first family holiday I think I want the ease of AI, without the worry and expense of putting our hand into our pocket for every meal, drink and snack.

So my question is, do travel agents like Jet2 release more child free places at various point s in the year - like a flash sale or "more child free places added" type thing. Are we in a bubble at the moment post summer holidays where everyone is thinking ahead go next year. Or are the child free places I'm seeing today just going to dwindle in number so I best get a wriggle on and make a decision?

In my experience they absolutely release new free child spaces. When I was looking last year they tended to do them in batches. So they released ones for Majorca one month, Greece the next etc. which might have been down to putting an allocation of spaces from each airport. I also noticed that the better places went quickly, so if you were at the end of a “batch” the remaining holidays were less desirable. Bad reviews, middle of nowhere places. It’s also a cycle so places keep coming up throughout the year.

Also on Jet2 play around with holiday lengths. One year we went there were none for 7 nights but we got one for 8 nights. I honestly thought that free child places were a rip off but we’ve saved lots using them. I wish I’d discovered them sooner

@PaveBeads thanks for replying.

I had a hunch new places might be added as I'm sure I can hear adverts from the tele in my head - but never paid attention to them as I didn't need to.

It's handy to know about the saving as that was my other thought last night. At the moment the hotel that looks the best for us had. CFP on a SC basis but not HB. If we go to HB it pushes us towards the top of our budget but we've still got a meal and drinks and snacks to pay for each day that we're there. If we go for the SC option it's well within budget but in my head each day is going to be a hassle either fending or prepping food, or finding somewhere suitable to eat out each evening. I've got two young children. Do you have any experience?

At the moment families will have just returned from summer holidays and have probably booked for next year, so bookings will be good, but there probably won’t be too many child free holiday offers yet. If you can wait a while as we get near Christmas and bookings will be lower, you may see better offers and more child free places.

I'd call that "free child place".
I look for a "child free place" - i.e. adults only.

I wouldn't tick that box, i did and only got a small number of options, unticked i had to spend more time looking at photos but a lot of hotels had 'splash parks' but maybe don't list them as such hence not coming up under that filter.
Where are you looking? This year we stayed in Tabaiba Princess Maspalomas in Gran Canaria and Iberostar Club Cala Barca in Majorca, both had great kids pools.

Thanks for replying. Again, another thought I had... am I eliminating options by ticking that filter. The results are only as good as how the hotel has been listed right? Plus, a splash park is really subjective! Some literally have one slide and mushroom/water fountains, others have the full shebang - a great play area in shallow waters with loads for the kids to occupy themselves relatively safely. Then others are too big with full flumes isn't what they want or need as they're only 5 & 7. But I do need something to filter it down else I'm totally swamped with hotels that need photos interrogating 😂

The one I have spotted that seems to tick the perfect splash pad area is Alfagar Alto da Colina Aparthotel. It's not perfect as it's not AI and it's only got one restaurant but I think the thought of the kids being entertained for hours each day beats the number of restaurants needed. I'll take a look at your recommendations as well. Thank you so much.

@whoruntheworldgirls I've just looked at your recommendations! They look great!

The Majorca one is really reasonably priced too. Who did you book with? I can only see it with Thomas Cook and the airline being Ryanair.

Love the look of Gran Canaria too. Photos I'm guessing don't do the splash area justice?

Neither are available via Jet2 though it seems.

The Iberostar in Majorca was with Jet2, only came back last week, gorgeous location and lovely hotel.
Gran Canaria was with Tui, not close to the beach, 20 min walk but we aren't fussed by being on a beach, kids club was fantastic, my daughter went every day, sometimes twice a day!
The bigger slides at the GC hotel small kids need to go down with an adult, but the other section with the animals is a shallow kids pool and the slides open to all ages. Daughter was 5 when we went and she loved both pools, would spend all day there if she could! There is another pool with a fake beach around it but it's small stones not sand. Both hotels would recommend water shoes, GC for the beach pool, Majorca for if you go to the beach, sandy but rocky in places in the sea.

Majorca hotel is a very big complex spread out, if you don't want to walk too much you can book priority location rooms though they cost more, these are near the main building so close to the aqua park, main pools and restaurants, issue there is might be noisy from the evening show.
We were nearer the beach, we had faint noise from the show but it didn't stop us sleeping, the building had a deep pool and snack bar in front of it, a shallow pool on the level above (lots of steps at this hotel!) the walk to the restaurants was about 5 minutes, 7ish to the aqua park, my 6yr old never struggled walking around.
Most of the blocks away from the main pools have their own smaller pools.

Gran Canaria another big hotel, more floors across 2 buildings, the Tabaiba side is furthest away from the splash park but quieter as also away from where the show is, again we'd walk maybe 7 minutes from room to splash park.
Maspalomas side is closer to the splash park.

@whoruntheworldgirls
Hi again, so we've spent most evenings trawling the Jet2 website and the Majorca hotel you mentioned seems to tick a lot of boxes. M y only slight hesitation is the splash pad. The photos don't show much of it so I guess I just wanted reassurance that there's plenty for little ones to do in this area? We've gone with this hotel as it's close to the beach too, lots of choices when it comes to eating or drinking it appears. It's just your splash area doesn't look as exciting as some of the other hotels so just wanted some reassurance really that in a 5 year olds eyes it's out of this world?!

The huge pillow side was a massive hit with my 6yr old, next to it the large castle has 2 slides for older children and a smaller one at the far end for toddlers, it's a great pool but my daughter spent most of her time on the pillow.
Down at a bigger pool by the stage they regularly set up a huge inflatable slide too which is a lot of fun

She honestly had a brilliant time and loved the pools

@whoruntheworldgirls
Thank you 🙏🏼 I think that's sealed the deal. I know the kids would love a bigger slide but if they have nothing it compare it to then I know they'll love whenever we end up and whatever they have to play with. I was just a bit concerned if it was too small if they'd get a bit bored but your comment about the big pool should fill the adrenalin hole! Plus if they make a few holidays buddies which I've been told kids do (I never did this sort of holiday as a child myself so don't know how they roll in reality) then I'm sure they'll be very happy. Thank you for all your help and advice. I really do appreciate it.

Mine always makes friends either at the pool or kids club
There is a play area near this pool too if the want a pool break, while not huge the castle is bigger than it looks and slides fun. There are lots of lifeguards around, the pools open at 9 so no big rush to get ready early, the activity pool next to the castle has a time where they roll a matt out over the pool and you have to try and run to the end without falling in, again the kids loved that!!

@whoruntheworldgirls and dare I ask, is there an issue with sun bed hogging with towels? I only ask because you mention it opens at 9am but I've read so many reviews of loads of hotels where this seems to be a huge problem where people get up early to reserve beds so those arriving when the pool opens can't sit down 😕

The main pools are gated/roped off so you can't go get a bed before 9am. If you go later you won't get a 'premium' spot along the pool edge but we always found somewhere, just occasionally meant we only got 2 so our daughter had to sit with one of us for a bit, but people start leaving from lunch as they go back to rooms or change pools so beds do become free.
Pools by the rooms yes some people will go early to reserve beds but the lifeguards try and monitor this and if not back in 45 minutes your stuff may be removed. We rarely used these pools anyway, more so at the end of the day when she wanted to practice swimming or jump into her rubber ring

It's often cheaper to book the hotel directly and the flights directly. And forget about the free child places (they are always factored into the costs anyway so a bit of a con)

Again, really good to know, thank you so much. That's good that they rope the pool off until it actually opens.

I did do a quick quote on the hotels own website but the price wasn't far off the package holiday price being quoted on Jet2. By the time flights and transfers are added on top it would be a lot more. But I will do a double check before we book anything. Thanks for the tip

The Jet2 bus transfer took us 50 minutes, just something to be aware of, it is quite far away from the airport.

That's okay, without checking I'm pretty sure Jet2 quote is as nearly double that? I don't mind up to an hour on a coach. Did you travel in the summer holidays?

Yep we went on 25th August and had 12 nights.
The mini disco is a bit repetitive but the shows afterwards are great if the kids can stay up that long

@whoruntheworldgirls All booked!! 🫣🫣🫣 Thank you for all your tips and advice 🧡

Exciting! It's such a gorgeous location, if the kids are up for walking then the natural parc next to the hotel is beautiful, especially cala mondrago and S’Amadores