Air b and b negatives I've not thought of ?

[mrssunshinexxx]

Went to Spain this summer for our first holiday abroad it was nice , 4 star all inclusive didn't really leave the resort other than to go to the beach right outside
Food was average and very samey, we were all in one suite2 adults 2 kids was very noisy at nighttime

due another baby soon so was really searching for a 2 bed suite with Swim up pool for next years hol cheapest I found was £7500 for a 1 bed penthouse so not even ticking all the boxes and very expensive!

Decided to look at villas / air b and b what had put me off previously was having to buy/ prep food on hol but actually the all inclusive was very basic so thinking maybe I wouldn't mind so muc.
Will do a super market shop stash freezer with ice lollies find a lovely bakery for breakfast bits and eat out on an evening.
Found a 5 bed bungalow with own pool that's detached for a fraction of the price right on the beach walking distance to shops restaurants. Am I missing something obvious as to why this will be a nightmare with 3 kids 4 and under ?
The place has a high chair and travel cot x

You'll need to check things like how safe the pool is - I wouldn't want to be in a villa where it wasn't fenced off. No stairs to worry about if it's a bungalow at least!

You might miss the kids club…
we’ve never done a resort hotel as we usually camp but what put us off a villa was the lack of other kids for our two… they’re 3 years apart and get bored and cranky with just eachother to play with

@DaveWatts yes good shout a few state in the comment they have a pool fence they could put up. My eldest can swim but obviously would never not be in there with her. Tricky to know if baby will be crawling by then as that will obviously make it more difficult.

@donthaveaname they definitely squabble but hoping they would make friends at the beach/ restaurants on an eve in general they get on well and without sounding a total knob we are the type of parents who love to play guess who / dominoes / I spy with them over meal times and in between they get a lot of attention as they should

You need to check if breakfast is provided

I'd check the cleaning requirements. Never used air b & b, but seen from threads on here that some places have ridiculous cleaning requirements and cleaning up on the day we're leaving is the last thing I'd be wanting to do on a holiday, especially with kids and a baby.

The are holiday lets which are in groups- say 3 or 4 on a former farm , most will have a shared pool area and games area as well as your own space.

Do remember that Air is just one company- check out others for example Gîtes.co.uk, Gîtes.com, (independent companies) as well as the major international ones:Booking and Verbo.

As for the pool- in France all in ground pools have to be fenced in.

Agree about seeing if the place is listed on other sites but it sounds great. It's a family sized property so it should be suitable for families to stay in.

It wouldn't occur to me for breakfast to be included in a self catering property.

There's often lots of play parks in coastal areas so that's likely to be an option to take your DC out for something to do and to meet other DC.

Self catering can be done fairly easily and you can mix up eating out with lunches out, picnics and relaxed evenings on the terrace at the property with easy food like barbecue, bread and salad or nice ready made pizzas.

Go for a villa. You'll never go back to the hotel life.

We had villa holidays our entire childhood. They were idyllic. Rent a car, and the world is your oyster. You want to go to the beach all day? Fine / you're not wasting the AI you've paid for. You want to spend a day round the pool? Fine, you can without other people interrupting you. You want to curl up on a sun lounger and read? You can.

You can BBQ of an evening, cook, go out, we've even ordered in before. It's amazing.

There are advantages to both types of options but the main thing I’d be concerned about is pool safety and the place generally not being very child proof so you need to be more alert as many more hazards compared to a hotel (kitchen, dangerous stayed, breakable ornaments etc). Also more stuff that kids could wreck and you get charged for. As someone else says also check how much cleaning is required.

Yeah, check pool safety. With young kids check if any high terraces in gardens or sleeping areas that are in an annexe or croft and accessed by a ladder with a potential drop if you're not careful. These are all reasons we have turned down airbnbs when our kids were little. Check if it has private parking, also what blinds and curtains are like if you or your kids need a dark room in the morning !

Do also read reviews for each place, you may see comments about suitability for young families, and what facilities they have as they will say if there is a cot available, toys etc.

We've always self catered as we prefer having space to ourselves.

We have always done self catering houses with young children and find them sooooooo much easier.

have breakfast when you like, no more worrying about whether the kids will like the buffet, no fighting over Sun loungers or being surrounded by other people on holiday.

food is freshly cooked (by you or husband but it doesn’t feel as stressful when you’re on holiday) at a time that suits you.

a lounge to chill out in, a garden to play in, your own pool.

honestly, we love it!

Thanks everyone really helpful
This one I have my eye on has a pizzeria literally 200m down the road so could defo get takeout a couple times from there.
It seems a real hit with families from the reviews and people speak extremely highly of the host so hoping I may of hit the jackpot with his one and I should just bloody book it !
to the is breakfast included comment, I saw that thread this morning!

Airbnb is a destroyer of communities and local tourism businesses, so on that basis alone I'd never use them. They're the basis of what a lot of the protests in Spain were about this year (along with the governments who won't restrict them).

A purpose built and properly regulated holiday apartment or villa yes, Airbnb no.

We Always do self catering. We have done since the dc were young as we wanted to put them to bed and chill out. Now they're teenagers and love their own space.
The Dc love the food shop and look at all the interesting snacks and choose some.
We buy bread, eggs, coffee and milk for breakfast and do simple lunches and dinners. We eat out a couple of times.
We have to leave the kitchen pretty spotless with dishes put away, and empty all the bins. Strip the beds and gather all the towels and leave them where the owners want.
That's pretty much it. Dh and dc muck in so it's not too bad.

Check there is aircon if a hot country
Aim for a shop and a restaurant in walking distance if possible

Book it before someone else does.

Book it and then post link please!

I would read the fine print and especially about cleaning very carefully.

Also where does the landlord live? Make sure they're not on site otherwise you won't have privacy.

Main thing I worry about with Airbnb is lack of protection. hosts can cancel at late notice and leave you high and dry.

happened to me when things were opening up after Covid.
thankfully was in the UK but was still upsetting as everything else decent was booked up.

Hosts are supposed to be penalised for it (she had messaged asking for more money as she claimed she’d made a mistake with rates - she’d confirmed and accepted the booking months earlier, I think she just got greedy).

she then cancelled, and advertised the same week for 30% more.

Airbnb wasn’t interested and gave me a 10% goodwill voucher which was worthless since anything decent was booked for that half term week.

At the time I’d read experiences of others online where they’d arrived abroad and their host cancelled.

We had an Airbnb in the UK that changed hands between booking and our trip (booked 3 months ahead). Old booking had to be cancelled and the new owners wanted 50% more to honour the booking. I negotiated them down to a 20% increase (it was the only place available that met our multi-generational needs) and reflected the experience in the review.

This is definitely a worry , them cancelling

We've always done villa holidays - I've often wondered what I was missing by not going All Inclusive at a resort. Sounds like not much :)

Where is it you are planning to go to @mrssunshinexxx ?

We always do this kind of holiday - but more often an apartment in a block with shared pool, although we've had a couple of villas, sometimes where the owner has let out another building on their land. We have used various platforms to book our accommodation.