How on earth do you choose a holiday resort?!?

[roratone]

I've spent 2 hours going round and round on Jet2 going crackers. This is my 3rd time attempting to book a summer holiday and I've given up the last 2 years and booked a UK holiday.
So, I go through the filters but still end up with 60-70 resorts, going round and round in circles. Second guessing myself etc etc
2A, 2C 8 & 12

Europe, but not Turkey or Cyprus
AI, FB or HB
5k budget.
Manc/Leeds airport

Anyone any fabulous recommendations?

I set my budget, filter down to destinations I want, sort by best rated on Tripadvisor and then pick from the best 5 by that criteria.

If you are getting 60-70 resorts, add in another filter, e.g. star rating. Then look at the ones closest to the beach. Don’t overthink it.

I usually begin with narrowing it down to one country. I usually base it on where you can fly to from local airports, then what I fancy seeing while there or what the beaches / scenery and towns are like.

I'd recommend the Algarve, went for the first time last year and loved it.

I feel you. We went round and round and eventually just wanted sunshine, nice hotel and a pool so ended up back at Tenerife but the hotel next door to the one we stayed before.

I apply the following filter AI, 4 or 5 star, min 4 trip adviser rating and also tick the entertainment filters. When the list comes up I look through but only add any that are AI plus to my saved list as they include branded spirits.

I base the 5 I save on the pictures and price (I also write them down). Once I have 5 I then look at each one to see what room types they have (DD likes her own room or at least a lounge with a sofa bed and a seperate bedroom as we do not like to all be in one room), I then read more about the location and facilities.

Last step is to continue to selecting room type to find out the price for the room we want. At this point I'll discount any from the 5 that I don't like the look or don't have the right room type, cross them of the list and unsaved them. Then I repeat the search and add more to my saved list so I can repeat above steps. I like to narrow it down to 3 before checking trip advisor reviews!

I've probs made it sound over complicated but I find this helps me narrow it down and not look at ines I don't like

You need to narrow it down a bit, add in some more filters. Decide what's really important. Start ruling out some destinations too based on flight time or desirability.

My list usually includes:
All inclusive
Separate sleeping areas for adults/kids
Short transfer time
More than one main restaurant
4 star +
Facilities for kids such as football pitch, arcade
Waterslides
Heated pool (if lower season)

Are you saying that in previous years you couldn't find anywhere that met your requirements? Or that you found lots that met your requirements and you just couldn't choose?

It it's the latter then maybe you could maybe just try putting all 10 (or whatever) names in a hat and choosing one, or asking DC to choose (they will feel very grown up, and they don't know that Mum doesn't really care!). After all, you will never go on the other 9 holidays. It feels a bit like having the choice between fillet steak and lobster, and ending up with fish fingers because you don't want to favour one over the other.

But maybe I have misunderstood something... 🙏

You need to make up your mind on board - do you want AI, FB or HB? If you plan to go out everyday on excursions, exploring, trips to the beach then AI will be a waste of money because you aren’t at the hotel getting your monies worth and also having paid for AI you will have to pay again when you are out for lunches and snacks. If you plan to spend most of your time at the hotel, enjoying the pool, kids club, the entertainment etc then AI is well worth the money, it means everytime your children want a drink or a snack it doesn’t cost you anything and they can have as much as they like. If they pick something for lunch or dinner and they don’t like it, no worries they just go up for something else.

What dates are you looking at? For 2 adults and 2 DC in July or August you’d be looking at £6k for two weeks at 3* plus.

What are your priorities? A hotel close to or on the beach will be much more expensive than a hotel that is inland (lots of inland hotels have a free shuttle bus that will take you to the beach and return you later in the day).

If you want air conditioning (a must for us) you’ll need a minimum 3 hotel but check the hotel description. To be a 4 or 5 a hotel must have air conditioning, some 3 do and some don’t.

How long a transfer are you willing to endure? Do you want to be at the hotel 20 minutes after boarding the bus or is two hours on a coach after a four hour flight acceptable?

What type of accommodation do you want? All four of you in the same room will be the cheapest. If you want separate bedrooms or interconnected rooms that will cost more.

Decide on your priorities and use the filters. These are ours (2 adults and 2 DC age 6 and 10);

On the beach or no more than 10 minutes walk to the beach
AI because we have two very fussy eaters who expect unlimited drinks and snacks all day and one DM who likes a cocktail or many!
Air Conditioning because none of us can sleep in the heat
A separate bedroom because nobody can sleep through DP snoring!
Decent flight times - we don’t want to land at 2 am in the morning on the return flight.

As well as the filters you've already specified, add in Trip Advisor rating 4 and above and sort from low to high price. Pick the cheapest one that looks suitable.

A good balcony or terrace is a non negotiable for us as that's where we spend all our time when we're in the accommodation. I also see if I can get one that's also 4.5 or above on TA (just by looking at the dots, you can't filter for this) and I also want it to be walking distance to beach, restaurants and a decent sized supermarket or convenience store because we go SC or B&B, mostly eat out, but like to buy drinks and snacks for when we're relaxing on the balcony.

Bear in mind that you can change a lot of those after you've chosen the hotel.

We've just booked a package with Jet2 and changed the flight times because they just showed the cheapest option, which was arriving at midnight and setting off home at about 10 am, so you can change the room and often the flights at the next step. By picking an earlier flight out and a later flight home, we gained an extra 1.5 days of holiday time without any more nights away for minimal extra cost. You can also upgrade the room size or possibly add sea view or similar.

OP if you have a Hays Travel or independent TA nearby, they sell Jet2 packages so you could go in there, tell them what you want and let them guide you?

I filter extensively then read Google and Trip Advisor reviews. DD and I ended up with Melia Jardines del Teide in Tenerife for early July (adults only) which was £££ cheaper on Expedia than Tui for the same flights. We also worked out that AI wasn't good value as it was over £700 more than HB, and I don't drink alcohol or eat lunch.

Just sort the results by highest rated and go for the one that looks the best! Can’t believe you abandoned booking abroad twice before!

I am on jet 2 this morning for a similar search but from Scotland. There are a lot of options OP. Plenty with free kids places too.

I think of a few areas I’d like to go to, for example Greek islands or Balearic Islands. Then look at hotels in those places I can afford. Once I’ve picked hotels I then look at the reviews for these and for the areas they’re in. Look at proximity to the beach, local attractions and places to eat. I check other sites to make sure I can’t find the place cheaper elsewhere. I booked what seems to be the best value for my budget. It’s always worked out ok so far.

I find it much easier to book a package holiday than a UK one. Too easy!

I envy your streamlined, efficient approach. I bet you're great at packing as well.
🙂

I hear you too!

I usually want a pretty sandy beach and walkable to a nice picturesque resort with a few bars and restaurants but not too lively.

it’s amazing how many hotels are miles from the beach or the resort, or the resorts are a bit manky looking, or the beach is manky.

Obviously the write up doesn’t say that, so you have to read through the reviews, or google separately which adds on a lot of time.

I usually filter out locations based on flight times too. That’s an easy filter to apply. Morning departure and lunchtime return suits us but jet2 doesn’t always offer that. I’ve been booking jet2 packages for us since DS came along 3
yrs ago

I think you need to be more specific about what you want out of the holiday.
Do you want to spend most of your time at the hotel doing activities/swimming/chilling?
Are you looking for kids clubs/water slides?
Do you want to see some historical sights/have days out?
As others have said you need to narrow it down a lot more based on your family’s needs/interests.
If it helps, some places we liked when the kids were younger are
Alvor in Portugal (nice fishing village vibe, cobbled streets etc, great Sandy beach)
Porto Pollenca in Majorca (big long promenade, lovely restaurants, short bus to Pollenca town which is beautiful)
Cala Galdana in Menorca (fabulous Sandy beach that’s really sheltered and shallow, great for kids)

Just remember there’s more than one right answer here! There’s not only one hotel/resort for you, so just find something that ticks the boxes.

I tend to use Jet2 as I like the app and can filter on room type. I remove stupid flight times, long transfers and it must have a separate sleeping area for DC, and some sort of slide/splash park.

Filter by price, airport, stars and anything that is a must have for you.

perhaps choose a country to start with, Spain is a good option

Right? And she’s abandoned this thread too.