Holiday prices gone mad in the UK

[peebles32]

So we have recently just come back from a 3 night break in Scarborough which was kindly gifted to us so joined a how much it cost! Accommodation was a cottage. Nice, basic clean in the centre of town. 2 adults and 2 children.
We though about staying in the uk next year and as a comparison I put in next years holiday for 2 weeks in the same cottage. 3 grand!

Flights and accommodation to Spain doing it myself including car hire came in to less than this. (Not a package) It's a no brainer.
I understand prices have gone up but we were hoping to stay in the uk and save some money. This was just a normally run of the mill holiday cottage! Nothing flash. Dread to think how much we would spend.
I understand why the owners do because of rising costs. However, I know I booked similar cottages pre Covid and they were around but sure I could have booked a similar cottage for 800 a week. It's doubled!

yup. A night in a meh uk hotel compared to an incredible hotel in Spain. Plus the uk is all the same chain stores and overpriced pubs selling meh burgers.
the uk is very good at knowing how to charge! Less so at doing anything for the money imo.

Yep the UK has gone crazy. I looked at family rooms for half term and so many were £300-£400 a night in fairly standard Hotels. Nothing included apart from breakfast. Nicer family Hotels were over £400 a night.
impossible to find anything affordable in the summer holidays plus you have the food issue too. I’d much rather fly abroad even if flights are delayed etc

Running costs in hospitality business has risen dramatically. Gas and electric at three, four times as they used to be. Good cleaners are hard to find and want good rates of pay, understandably. Mortgage rates for holiday rents are bigger than residential ones. Holiday season is shorter in UK then other parts of the world, Spain for example.
It all adds up. Business owners do, what they have to do to survive.

Wholeheartedly agree and I am done with trying to spend money on a UK holiday. Just found a 12 night cruise Southampton -Miami for £349 . For another £149 I get free wifi , open bar and speciality dining . Will need to pay for flight back but reckon it's still a bargain.

We've booked an Air BnB for 3 nights for half term for the same price we booked a week in a similar place 2 years ago - it is insane.

@Thebelleofstmarys do you mind saying what time of year that is for the cruise? Sounds amazing. We are stuck to school holidays at the minute unfortunately. We never holiday in the UK as it’s far too expensive and I definitely would never want to spend £3000 to stay in Scarborough when it could easily rain every day. We have been to Spain, Portugal and Denmark so far this year and have researched carefully to get great value holidays.

Yep; 2 nights in a half decent glamping cabin near scarborough in may half term was upwards of £580 for 2 nights for 3 of us!

I’d rather save the money and go abroad and pay the difference

It’s crazy prices in the UK. I’m off to Crete again as it’s half the cost of a UK hotel. My friend has just stayed in a 5 star hotel in Dubai for about £50 a night!!!

I’ve bought a tent in the sale. I’m going to
make use of it next year in the Lakes and National Parks. It’s ridiculous what hotels here charge (London is insane, although I tend to stay just outside central London).

Wow! Care to share the details?

We went abroad all inclusive this year. I looked at "cheap" UK holidays like holiday parks, also looked at things like center parks, cottages. Prices were extortionate. I found a 5* all inclusive in crete, put it in my basket. It suddenly dropped 40% and I booked it. Cheaper than a UK holiday once you price jn meals efc. Really sad as we love the UK!

Prices shot up in the pandemic when most people didn't go abroad. They never came down again.
I have been away twice in the UK this year. Each time to a large 3 bed property in a nice location so adult DC could join us. It cost me £1200 for 3 nights each time.

Wow good on you, I hope you have a fantastic time!

We've just booked a Marriott for half term because it was cheaper than the low-end chains or a cottage (also any excuse to get more Marriott points haha). IDK how cheaper places can justify these increases when they don't even offer a great service for customers.

That sounds amazing value! What time of year is it? Would you expect bad weather /storms out at sea?

Agree going abroad is often a lot cheaper in school holidays. Although sometimes I find holiday cottages are better value than abroad holidays in term time. But obviously not everyone can go in term time.

Hey can you share details of the deal you found? Feel free to private message if you prefer, thanks @Thebelleofstmarys

I agree. And when you add to that the highly unpredictable weather which means you could be rained in all week even in the summer, I can’t justify, let alone afford, the additional cost of a UK holiday.

Hey , everyone . Thanks for all your positive posts. It's on the NCL website . They were having a flash sale on that deal so don't know if it's still at that price . I've cruised with them previously and always had good experiences plus you can be as formal or as casual as you like on their ships . I'm not bothered about destination this time - just will enjoy using it as a very good floating hotel. Not overly worried about rough sea weather. These boats cope brilliantly and I've not suffered from sea sickness.... yet . Happy hunting !

Holiday season is definitely not shorter in the UK. My friend rents out a cottage in Cornwall and is fully booked from March until October and then again over Christmas. Most Mediterranean countries don’t have much tourism before April/May or even June.

Try a house swap. Costs nothing then...

Uk is nuts money for often mediocre quality and I am invariably that disappointed person who gets shit weather.

Why would someone want to swap my ordinary 4 bed semi in Sheffield though? It’s just a normal house in a northern city. Not much worth swapping for.

You might be surprised. It’s a thriving northern city , cheap and with good transport links. It’s worth trying.

We are at the mercy of Trans Pennine Express though!

@Threadreplier what company did you use, please?