Package holidays v booking separately

[Aug12]

Hi all,

Currently planning our first abroad holiday. My partner and I haven’t flown for many years and it will be our children’s first time too (7, 4 and 2)

I was looking at a lovely villa in Valencia, booking flight’s separately and hiring a euro car once arriving. We loved the idea of having freedom to explore, private pool, enjoying food bought from the local food market and also the options to eat out a few times too.

I have been told that it’s a very naive idea by some seasoned travellers. They advise that with a young family navigating flights, hotels etc all for the first time, we should just take the stress away and book all inclusive. That way you don’t need to worry if flights are cancelled and costs can quickly add up for food etc so all inclusive is the better option. Less stress if things go wrong with young children in tow.

On one hand I do kind of agree that for our first time, perhaps keeping things simple is best. However, I have this, perhaps wrong, idea of what an ‘all inclusive’ holiday is like.. I can’t think of anything worse than being in a shuttle bus full of fellow holiday makers from the plane stopping at various hotels on the way to ours, trying to ‘bag’ the sun loungers early morning by the pool, eating buffet style meals at the hotel.. all of this is the opposite to my dream of a holiday in the sun. I loved the idea of the rental car so we could day trip further afield but with an all inclusive style we would be more limited, and I know if we’re paying for food/drinks on site then my partner isn’t going to want us to fork out for restaurants.

I know the kids would enjoy either option. The new experience of being on a plane, sunshine, beaches and a water park, they will be living their best life regardless of which option we pick!

Is cover less protected if you don’t book a package? Is my idea of an all inclusive holiday wrong? Opinions and wisdom all very much appreciated. Thank you

I’m with you, OP. Ikos, Sami etc seem to be the order of the day around here, and they just don’t really appeal to me. I like having a kitchen and sitting area so have somewhere other than a bedroom to come back to in the day and sit out in the evening. It’s also nicer to be able to choose which restaurants to go to. I like to have lots to do in the area rather than beach/pool all the time. Though I will say it takes a lot of time for me to find the right accommodation, with a pool, within walking distance g distance of nice restaurants and amenities. I think if you have decent travel insurance it isn’t an issue.

Go for it! Cancelled flights are just as likely to happen on package holidays.
I recommend arranging car hire in advance to ensure you get child seats

All our holidays with children were booked separately... you get decent travel insurance & pay for your hols with a credit card.

Just check on where in Valencia, the area was hit with devastating floods, a lot of re-construction going on there.

On hire car, get priority pick up and some form of insurance, EverSure is good or buy their own, which is much more expensive but can be less hassle.

I like the ease of booking a package holiday but we don’t do them as you’ve described. We organise our own private transfer to avoid driving around the hotels on a coach. We do bed and breakfast at the most as we prefer to explore and eat as we go. Our upcoming holiday is self catering in a hotel with villas so we have our own kitchen and terrace which I prefer. We also book a hire car so we can travel around, and we choose quieter hotels where we don’t generally see a rush for sunbeds. I guess as it’s not all-inclusive you don’t tend to get people hanging around at the hotel all day so it’s less busy.

Depends what type of holiday you want. I book package if going all inclusive and a chill holiday. But always make sure it’s walking distance to places so we can eat out. This year we found a great deal with 10 restaurants.

if wanting to explore we book everything separately. We have a draft itinerary before we go of things to do. Using booking.com for apartments etc. prefer an apartment over a hotel if not all inclusive. Never had an issue.

I think you’re talking about a package holiday rather than all inclusive resort per se ?

we’re just back from a place where we booked a package but just as easily could have booked flights, car hire and accommodation separately, it would probably have been cheaper but once with small children we were completely screwed over with easyjet canceling our return flights, it took three days to get home and cost a fortune (which we eventually got back but it was a right battle). DH reckons it’s worth the extra with kids so that we have a single point of contact to hassle if there is a serious problem. If it was just me and him we’d just diy it.

that said I think 95% of independently booked holidays will be just fine. In our case we’re once bitten twice shy I guess.

We book a package, and we get breakfast and dinner at the hotel. A package is handy as if flights go wrong the travel agent sorts it.

I am always careful to ensure the hotel is in a busy resort so there is a town to explore, more towns with a few miles etc. We take a taxi to nearby towns. I get coffee out in the cafes.

We have the opposite problem in that DH woud not go out for dinners if we took an apartment. He says night time food is too dear. He would heat up things for dinner. Our meal out would be a lunch in tbe daytime at a nearby town. I love eating dinner which I have not cooked and it is a relaxing way to round off an evening. Of course it would be the best to eat at different restaurants.

You can get exactly what you want by buying a package, or you can book it all independently. Not all package holidays go to big AI hotels

Btw do your research. Our holiday which we returned from was very civilized, private transfer included, hardly any Brits at the hotel, food was buffet but high quality and no queues. You can definitely get a very nice experience if you’re prepared to pay for it.

I suggest to go 4 star at least. Preferably a smaller hotel as there are not hordes of people queuing for meals. Also if the hotel is in a busy resort people are less likely to hang around the hotel all day, so it is less crowded.

Even if you go to a large hotel, you can watch and see the busy times for dinner, and you can go earlier.

We've holidayed in Europe with small kids and now late teens.

I've always booked accommodation (self-catering) and flights separately as there is more choice that way. Also used both car hire and public transport to get around.

Good travel insurance is a must though.

@Aug12 Jet2 do villa packages, flight, villa and rental car included.

You can get packages for villas too.

Self-catering vs. all inclusive is just personal preference. As my kids have got older I've preferred all inclusive so there's no stress about food, drinks, ice creams etc.

We’ve done private villas with a pool many many times and loved it.

Your plan sounds great. Book on a credit card and take out decent travel insurance at the time of booking and you’ll be absolutely fine! I think the only time a package is a ‘must-do’ is for first time skiers since that is genuinely complicated. But as you say- flights, villa, car hire - easy to sort yourselves! If your flight gets cancelled then the airline you’re booked with will rebook you.

Not necessarily. Easyjet canceled our flight home and didn’t have any others for several days so we had to rebook ourselves and eventually get reimbursed. So a decent credit limit on your credit card is a must. If it’s a destination with a lot of flights though eg Alicante, Palma, Tenerife you are more likely to be rebooked

We’ve never booked a package holiday other than once for Ibiza and we hated it. We’ve always booked separately and loved the independence even when the kids were little. You just need to check and double check all your bookings and be organised.

I think you are confusing two different things.

All Inclusive is where the price of your holiday includes all food and drink alongside your accommodation and airport transfers.

Package includes flight, meeting reps at the airport and airport to hotel transfer at your destination. You can book them as either half board (bed, breakfast and evening meal) full board )bed, breakfast, lunch and evening meal) or just bed and breakfast. Your other drinks and snacks throughout the day you usually need to pay extra for.

That's my understanding anyway. We like package deals. It's nice to be met at the airport and then taken to the hotel. We don't like driving when on holiday usually. We opt for half board so after breakfast we are free all day and then have a relaxing meal in the evening.

Your plan sounds great. I’d suggest that these ‘seasoned travellers’ who have said AI aren’t as confident or seasoned as they think… A villa with its own pool will be much better than racing down to bag a sun lounger or four every morning. Though you’ll probably be popping down to the nearest Lidl rather than a local farmers market!

I would never go all inclusive, alwsys sort my own accommodation, hire a car etc. First, because I hate crowds, and second, I am a very fussy vegetarian and feel like the food quality and choice would not be good enough for me. I have never had any problems doing it myself. I do have only one dc but feel you'd be fine.

Many years ago we booked a package city break for our honeymoon. Main reasoning was that it was a wedding present and the process seemed more straightforward.

On arrival in Italy, the company rep and transport to the hotel were nowhere to be seen. Turned out they picked up another couple who were on the go as you please option. It wasn't at all difficult to find our way to the hotel.

I've always been sceptical of package deals.

I would get a package but not to an all inclusive hotel if you like to be out and about. You don't want to be paying for meals you do won't useYou don't need to go on the bus. You can pay a bit more for a car as part of the package or organise your own. You can still hire a car to go out in. You can hire at the airport and use to hotel or wait and hire when you get there. I would either go b and b at the hotel or half board. B and B is great for getting you all up and on your way with no organising if food
The B and B option usually has healthy options like yoghurt, fruit, fruit juice as well as most cereals kids like plus eggs ext. Great. No shopping no clearing up. Straight out. Half board can be good with kids because they can sometimes be really tired after days out. Can get things to eat after great day out and you don't need to use all of the time. Holidays with 3 small children are great but full on. You will probably want at least a couple of chill out rest days or even afternoons. Thee 7 year old and even the 4 year old might go to an occasional club. Again it doesn't need to be often, but you might like a short break even once in the holiday and can give you a little break. If things go pear shaped with flights you don't want to be in the scrum trying to rebook at the airport with 3 small kids in town. It will be someone else's responsibility to get you back home on a package. So basically, no need for all inclusive, fighting for beds ect Use the parts of a package that make your life easier at this stage of your lives. Enjoy 🏝️🏖️🧳🥂

We do AI now we have DS, but we hire a car drive ourselves from the airport, still go out during the day, and sometimes in the evenings, we also only ever book the higher end AIs so it's not a cattle market and a room/suite with separate bedrooms and a small living area or terrace. I don't need a kitchen I have no intention of cooking or washing up! The AI just gives the option of pool/beach days, breakfast every morning and the option of evening entertainment to keep ds occupied, they also usually have decent gyms. When he's older we'll go back to booking individually and what I call proper travelling! DH and I travelled extensively pre DC and would often just book flights and first couple of nights accommodation and hire car then play it by ear, what was fun without children gives me anxiety thinking about doing it with a 6 year old!

It's not a binary choice of one or the other.

We've had "package" holidays to self catering accommodation, half board, bed & breakfast, etc. They're not all All Inclusive. Even on "packages", we've tended to hire our own car, sometimes from the airport, so not even using the tour operator's transfer coaches.

Travel agents can also create your own tailored "package" with full coverage in case of flight delays/cancellations, etc as long as they're ABTA/ATOL members, so just tell them what you want, where you want it, when you want it, and they'll do the donkey work, including hire cars or airport transfers, and "package" it for you so that it's fully covered.

If you're happy and confident with your first idea then go for it. If you don't want the AI experience then it's a waste of money.

I would imagine your seasoned traveller friends are not quite as well travelled as they like to think. Make sure you have good travel insurance and some emergency funds (a credit card works for this) and be fine. If your flights get cancelled, they get cancelled. You can't change it and you're no more likely to have cancelled flights if you've booked separately.

We've just been away for a week with a 2 & 5 year old, all booked separately as we wanted to move around a few different areas. In October we've booked an AI hotel and flights separately, because the package deal was a significantly higher cost, however wouldn't have been against booking the package deal if the price difference was smaller.

There's no right or wrong here, just what you're most comfortable with and will give you the holiday you want.