Are AI hotels hellish in August?

[RainRainRain2025]

I am deep in indecision and have to book something this week. We can only go away in August. Two adults, two just turned teens. We usually do villas and eat out at restaurants. The two teens are not old enough to stay in the villa alone, but have reached the age where they don't like exploring or walking around trying to find somewhere to eat. They would be happy in a hotel, eating from a buffet, swimming, and then spending the rest of the time in the room on their devices.
DH and I want nice food and to see a little bit more than the inside of a hotel, but also don't want to have to do a lot of driving around etc. It seems that an AI hotel with various à la carte options may be the way to go, but I don't like the idea of being 200 deep around a shared pool. Is there anywhere anybody can recomend that is a bit less crazy in the height of August but that is still big enough to have options?

What about the adults only Sani?

Just seen the teens.
Sani resorts are nice

Can you go half board rather than AI? We like H10 and Barcello hotels, most hotels are going to be busy and a bit manic in the summer, look for some that say they are quieter.

OP, I'm a bit confused about "AI hotels" - AI is just your board basis, a lot of hotels offer AI, b&b, half board etc, take your pick.

But if you mean 'family friendly' hotels, then yes, a lot of them will be very busy in August.

I suppose I mean hotels that offer AI, where most people then spend the entire holiday in the hotel complex to get their money's worth. Maybe not always the case, but it seems to be amongst the people I have spoken to.

When I've stayed half-board at hotels previously, that was all they offered, so most people chose to leave at some point during the day to find lunch or sight-see.

We've not really stayed in hotels since the teens were young, so outside of peak holiday times and I'm not sure what to expect.

Yeah in August it will be hot and busy. However the experience will also be reflected in the cost so depends on your budget. Somewhere like ikos or sani will be completely different experience to a 3* in benidorm or Turkey where you will see people getting up at 5 am to put towels on sunbeds the alcohol is watered down and served in plastic cups and the food is questionable

I don’t think they’re any busier in August compared to July or June. The good quality ones I’ve been to have had full occupancy across the summer months.

'AI with various a la carte options' is incredibly expensive, so you'll have to decide whether that's what you actually want and within budget.

If that's not what you're looking for, HB is usually barely any more expensive than B&B and you could possibly get an apart hotel in walking distance to a town/marina with restaurants etc for a bit more room and facilities to store drinks and snacks. You could sit with DC while they have a buffet dinner, perhaps you and DH just have a small amount from the buffet and then leave them in their room while you two go out for dinner locally a couple of times during the week. Or leave them by the pool while you go out for a walk and lunch?

Plenty of places in the Canaries, Balearics or mainland Spain would offer that set up. Just make sure the hotel is in walking distance of other amenities. This of course is assuming your DC are mature enough to be by a pool or in a hotel room for a couple of hours and would leave the room if the fire alarm went off for example.

There are nice AI hotels and there are crap ones. We've been AI in Aug and enjoyed it but I did a lot of research on the hotel before booking.

Maybe give an idea of your budget and preferences and people can give you ideas?

Sadly, we don't have the budget for Sani or Ikos during school holidays.

Teens are also young teens, and so I wouldn't feel comfortable leaving them alone and leaving the hotel.

Budget probably £6.5k all in. Not too sure on destination as many places are off the table with the current war ruling out Turkey, Cyprus etc. Otherwise, we probably would have gone for a Turkey mega-hotel and hoped for the best.

Your budget won't get you an AI hotel with good food option and two rooms in August. I found most a la carte restaurants aren't as good as going outside to eat unless you really throw money at it.

I also found that my teen started not really enjoying AI anmore, she wanted to do stuff and resorts aren't great for teen clubs unless you are sporty.

I’ve no experience with AI but it sounds like being in a hotel wouldn’t really solve your problem as you wouldn’t be able to leave the DC there any more than you would in a villa. Only for a lot more £££ and sharing with loads of drunk randoms!

How about a nice villa with a pool in south of France walking distance from a town with nice foodie options? Or even a campsite with on site dining options? At age 13 can they really not be left alone for a couple of hours in the evening with a big pile of snacks while you and DH go out for dinner?

We did a few AI hotels when DC were teenagers but HB gives more flexibility.
Look at a hotel offering AI or HB and see the price difference.

If you go HB there's still the same restaurant options. You can often swap dinner for lunch. You can buy lunch in the hotel or go out. That leaves drinks and snacks. Unless you are necking alcohol all day it's seldom cheaper to go AI. Just put everything on the bill.
Look at 4* hotels Costa Adeje in Tenerife or Plata Blanca Lanzarote.

We have stayed in a few of the Mitsis hotels in Greece and they're always pretty solid with nice restaurants and good entertainment. This one was our fave...

https://www.mitsis.com/en/hotels/rodos-village

We often go AI, but still eat out in the evenings - AI can be such good value, particularly as all your soft drinks, snacks and icecreams are included, that we have enough left in the budget to go out and about for our evening meal.

I think eating out is part of the holiday AI can be good if you want to stick around a pool all day and you're happy with buffet food but I really don't like them the run for sun loungers and people just drinking so many pre mixed cocktails out of plastic cups just because they're "free"

Have a look at Eden Roc, Rhodes.
It has À la carte options, lots of sports stuff for the kids, watersports on the beach and the pool was very civilised! I think it would be doable in your budget too.

I went to one in Crete and prebooked a different restaurant each night. I did eat in the buffet one evening after a long excursion.

We’ve just booked ten days all inclusive at a 4* beach resort on the algarve for ten days. £6200 for five of us in July inc one free child place

Cent get over the prices of holidays now. Nearly 7k wtf. Not worth it for a hot, crowded and stinky hotel. We’re going away over Easter for 2.5k and I thought that was ridiculous

Have a look at Lanzarote? Plenty of villas that are walking distance to resorts.