What are your family's holiday non-negotiables? Win a £200 voucher

[EllieSmumsnet]

Every family has certain things they look for when booking a holiday, whether that's a brilliant kids' club, a splash pool, an easy walk to the beach, short flight times or simply staying within budget.

We'd love to know what are your family's holiday non-negotiables? What features, facilities or little extras help you choose the right holiday, and what makes a trip feel like a great fit for your family?

• Share your must-haves and tips in the thread below by 01/07 to be entered into a prize draw.
• One lucky contributor will receive a £200 VEX voucher for a store of their choice.
• Don’t forget to vote in our poll below.

Thanks and good luck with the prize draw!

MNHQ

Insight T&Cs apply

No loud music played by the pool. Drives me insane so I always ask about it before booking. Also, no smoking, including vaping. These are deal breakers for me to have a relaxing holiday.

Disability access as my child is a wheelchair user

A firm line on
anti social late night noise
reserving sun beds

Comfortable beds and air conditioning.

Separate toilet from bathroom!

A lovely pool with lots of sunbeds, air con- I HATE being overheated at night.

So many things really. The one thing that’s 100% non negotiable but can be weirdly hard to confirm is what beds are provided, it always surprises me that the default for a family-of-four is one double bed and one sofabed - even a large one. My kids don’t sleep well sharing a bed, we need a double (for the adults) and two separate beds for the kids, whether they are sofa beds or not.

My skinny kids also can’t handle an unheated pool - no matter how warm the sun is, they turn blue and suffer full body shivers.

Those are my top two and can be so hard to get a clear answer on - I’ve seen places advertising heated pools which when you drill down into it they mean their spa pool which is over 18s only. Or the pool is heated in winter only (understandable but doesn’t work for us). One place told me their pool is ‘heated by the sun’ 🙄

Luxury and waterslides, a gym and good food.

Water slides for my youngest
in a relatively quiet area
air conditioning
excellent cocktails

Peace and quiet - no noisy clubs or entertainment. Just the sounds of nature,

Plenty of activities for the kids to do.

Wheelchair access

Pool
Space between pitches
A sofa bed in lounge does not equal "a beds"
Not too busy
Love a good onsite shop
Being surrounded by the country you're in not tourism hot-spot so you cant get the feel of the place
Bonus for early or late check in and outs
Calm relaxing feel to the place.
Good and plenty of pictures when booking

Food options important to us as we have dietary needs. Do they cater for us or are there good restaurants nearby?

For us it was family friendly accommodation. Two separate interconnected rooms at a minimum, ideally with a kitchenette. Even now, with just DH and I, I hate hotel rooms. I’m awake at 6, he’s still snoring and I have to just lie there or I’ll wake him up. A hundred times worse with 2 DC. One DC waking up can disrupt everyone’s night.

most important for us it to be in - or walking distance to- things to do and restaurants/ bars etc. Would hate to be stuck in the middle of nowhere and having to get into a car or taxi every time you want to do anything!

Plenty of sunbeds.
More than one pool. One with a shallow end and activities taking place. One where adults can swim in peace.
Lots of entertainment for the children.

High quality food with plenty of fresh fruit, and local dishes included.

Full wheelchair access and a changing places

For us it's location to whatever theme park we've built our holiday around, close enough im not spending my day trying to get there, but far enough away that a day by the pool as downtime is still quite and relaxing.

Ease of public transport when on holiday, Europe is great for trains, US not so (although uber is really easy), so I look at where we are heading and then map the routes, look up uber prices to key locations etc and factor the costs in so it doesn't come from the "fun money" pot.

2 bedrooms - and a way to filter for this.
I do not want to spend my holiday sharing with the kids.

I have one simple, steadfast rule when it comes to holidays: I'm not making my own bed!

Good vegetarian options.

Somewhere that is part of a local culture and not only tourist centred. Somewhere safe for a woman and children by themselves.

A window with a lovely view