Spill the beans... on how to max all-inclusive holidays

pogofish

new2012 wrote: »

This is what we had for spirits in an AI in Crete.
We also got draught wine and beer and fizzy drinks from a machine

Crikey! :eek: :eek: :eek:

That's a rough-headed night out from my college years right there!

new2012

Crikey! :eek: :eek: :eek:

Most people drank the beer and wine, which surprisingly tasted OK.

wallbash

Would a vague upper guideline of £1K (with a bit either way) be not unreasonable? I'm just about to finish paying my mortgage, so will have a bit extra cash by then.

£1000 per person ? you going on your own ?

I became M.F. last year , a great feeling.



Op in Late March / April and you want to fly within a few weeks ? Only you know if that is wise.
Thinking maybe Sept , kids are back at school , prices drop but the weather is still good.
You certainly want to avoid the school hols , wish I could.


New 2012 has shown what perils can lurk in Ai

Getting late , bed time .

To sum up ( again) Don't do Ai on the cheap
I don't do hotels where Ai is an option , I require the whole hotel to be Ai
Trip Advisor is wonderful , just be prepared to do your home work.

DEBTMONKEY1A

Why oh why do people think Trip Advisor is Gospel??? I work in the Travel Trade & many, many people lose mega deals as 'I saw a bad review on TA'...???!!! I understand its human nature to check out hotels etc but you HAVE NO IDEA IF REVIEW IS GENUINE. It could easily have been posted by another Hotel! What about the thousands of people (like me) who travel, have a perfectly nice time & can't be bothered to post on TA? Best alternative in my mind is holidaywatchdog-posts are verified before being put up.

90% of what we get asked for is AI. yes-you do get what you pay for & some of the Turkish/Greek AI is basic to say the least. Best prices this peak season seem to be Majorca/Lanzarote/Fuerteventura. For families who like the entertainement then YES-its very very good value. I don't have kids but still will go AI & budget for some trips & eating out. I can't see from a personal point of view how anyone not going with kids can sit in the same sunlounger-on it all day-every day & not move-it just seems a bit sad but different strokes for different folks...

Definately worth looking to upgrade rooms OR book an AI where the rooms are apartments -so you get a fridge/kettle-to my mind having an extra bedroom & kitchen is fab! Fridge too for cold drinks. Fuerteventura, Lanzarote & some of the Majorcan all-inclusives do this. Also-as it's your one break a year-if you can possibly afford it worth looking at a slightly better star grade???

Again from a personal point of view (as no kids) avoid July August as waiting time for drinks/food can be long -again I'm well aware that bigger family complexes may not have this issue.

Just my thoughts!

Oh...& PLEASE DON'T STEAL FOOD from the dining room (all the signs say you can't do this)-IT'S JUST SAD & WRONG. It's pure greed-the I've paid for it' mentality is awfull.

The worst thing I see on AI'S....is greedy !!!!!!s stacking 3/4 plates mega high with food-& leaving 90% of it. What a waste!

hollydays

DEBTMONKEY1A wrote: »

Why oh why do people think Trip Advisor is Gospel??? I work in the Travel Trade & many, many people lose mega deals as 'I saw a bad review on TA'...???!!! I understand its human nature to check out hotels etc but you HAVE NO IDEA IF REVIEW IS GENUINE. It could easily have been posted by another Hotel! What about the thousands of people (like me) who travel, have a perfectly nice time & can't be bothered to post on TA? Best alternative in my mind is holidaywatchdog-posts are verified before being put up.

90% of what we get asked for is AI. yes-you do get what you pay for & some of the Turkish/Greek AI is basic to say the least. Best prices this peak season seem to be Majorca/Lanzarote/Fuerteventura. For families who like the entertainement then YES-its very very good value. I don't have kids but still will go AI & budget for some trips & eating out. I can't see from a personal point of view how anyone not going with kids can sit in the same sunlounger-on it all day-every day & not move-it just seems a bit sad but different strokes for different folks...

Definately worth looking to upgrade rooms OR book an AI where the rooms are apartments -so you get a fridge/kettle-to my mind having an extra bedroom & kitchen is fab! Fridge too for cold drinks. Fuerteventura, Lanzarote & some of the Majorcan all-inclusives do this. Also-as it's your one break a year-if you can possibly afford it worth looking at a slightly better star grade???

Again from a personal point of view (as no kids) avoid July August as waiting time for drinks/food can be long -again I'm well aware that bigger family complexes may not have this issue.

Just my thoughts!

Oh...& PLEASE DON'T STEAL FOOD from the dining room (all the signs say you can't do this)-IT'S JUST SAD & WRONG. It's pure greed-the I've paid for it' mentality is awfull.

The worst thing I see on AI'S....is greedy !!!!!!s stacking 3/4 plates mega high with food-& leaving 90% of it. What a waste!

Informative post,thanks.
We got a good AI in the canaries this winter.My OH has a high pressure job,and just wants to veg out in the sun.I do have to drag him off to explore the local area.

i paid about £600 per person for 11 days,including a 7 course gala meal of spectacular quality one night.Food was really excellent, I always go for a 4 star rating on tripadviser.

Those photos shown,of the AI drinks, I am sure that if I had been looking at a hotel like that,the rest of the photos of the hotel would have given me a pretty good indication of what I was going to! The hotel we went to was waiter service in the evening.I have never been AI where you help yourself to alcohol,I wouldn't want that.I only go to hotels that are not particulary marketed to families.I get better quality going to places where there are older people,and few english.For me,it's all about good food and tranquility.
I also read ALL the TA reviews,and pay more attention to any recurrant complaints.If everyone says the food is bad,it may be.If just a couple say theres not enough choice ,I may conclude they are nursing a grudge Our hotel had a couple of reviews saying the food was not very good.The food was very good,and you would have to have been very difficult to please to say otherwise.You can also see which reviewers are one offs or look which reviewers are regular contributors, to get an idea of the truth.
One tip,in an AI hotel,as regards hotel entertainment.I have found any act that includes a keyboard best avoided! I have seen some very good flamenco,juggling/acrobatics,dancing acts but keyboard players, for me are a no- no,those are the nights we go for a wander into town..

wallbash

Why oh why do people think Trip Advisor is Gospel??? I work in the Travel Trade & many, many people lose mega deals as 'I saw a bad review on TA'...???!!! I understand its

Trip advisor is just another port of reference ............ as is a 'person' working in the travel trade. !!!
You could say Trip advisor is more balanced than a travel trade who is trying to sell a holiday?

As I summed up do your home work.

AI where you help yourself to alcohol,I wouldn't want that

My example ? In the whole time I was there , I saw no one reaching for the 'hard' stuff, it was available but when the temp hits 35 degrees its a long cold drink that you want.

DEBTMONKEY1A

Trip Advisor is hardly 'more balanced' ...it's the extremes that tend to post. There are as i said 1000's of people who can't be bothered to post....I know for a fact that probably 20-25% of bad posts-especially for Egypt/Turkey are from RIVAL HOTELS. I can't understand how people can hang on every word of something that can't be proved to be genuine?

Granted....its a bit of a guide. But people take it too literally. Good agents will give correct advice as in the current climate repeat business is needed. I'd better not mention again that I'm in the Industry as some MSE posters on the various boards thing that agents are the devils spawan as...shock horror (!) we actually make some money from the bookings we do....(!).

AI is 90% of what we get asked for now.....!

duchy

I'm not working in the travel industry (although I used to be). If people are freaking over a couple of bad reviews (when they are outweighed by many more good ones) I ask them what's the BEST hotel they ever stayed at-and then show them the TA reports for it. Often they don't recognize it from the "bad" reports and realize just how subjective TA can be. It's like any tool-it works best when you know how to use it correctly.

reluctantworkingmum

Used to do self catering when kiddies were tiny as easier to feed them what they liked when they wanted to eat but by the time they turned into hulking great teenagers continually asking for cold drinks or ice creams by the pool we decided that it was easier and cheaper to go AI. Kids loved it too as they could go and eat by themselves (first stage in growing up) without parents ordering for them.
If hubby and I go by ourselves we revert back to self catering so we can trawl the local bars and restaurants as sometimes the AI menus do pander too much to those who like chips with everything (not a complaint as I have teenagers who fit that description - but a fact)

Alantheaged

Fascinated by some of the replies/justifications for not using AI. We've used AI for the past 6/7 yrs now since the Euro got unbelievably out of tune with the £1 (Using Mars bars from supermarket in Spain as the criteria - the 1.50 Euro they charge is well over a pound compared with 66p ish here - about double - Euro should be 1.80 + to the pound using the Mars bar technique and I'm pleased to see its heading that way).

The main thing is ALWAYS to use the internet hotel reviews as a guide for any hotel and resort. And I mean guide - I can't forget us falling over laughing when we read one very negative review which was from a lady complaining bitterly that her holiday had been ruined because "almost everybody was talking Spanish all the time". Mind you, it was in Benidorm. The other one I can't forget was told us by someone in our AI hotel a couple of years ago. Apparently a young lady and friends tried to get in free in a town nightclub because they had paid for an All Inclusive holiday so it must be included. They made a big fuss when the night club people wouldn't let them in, so in the end were told they could pay to go in and the nightclub would give them a receipt to reclaim the cost from the hotel manager! No doubt the outcome was again a very negative review.

Also, there were several people who said it wouldn't be for them as they didn't want to be stuck in the one hotel all the time. Well, apart from all the AIs doing a packed lunch so you can travel round if you want, there are also chains where your AI in one of the chain also allows you access for meals and facilities in the others in the chain. The Magic group in Benidorm is one that did this (I don't know if it still does) and it was very good being able to be out and about and then nip in to the nearest Magic Hotel for a (free) cooling drink, snack or main meal, toilet break or to check the latest England match on the TV. They also had a free shuttle bus which drove around between the hotels so you could go to the entertainment in one of the others for the evening if you wanted, though it did stop relatively early, so you had to find your own way back. Presumably other chains do this, so, if being stuck in one hotel is your concern, search for one that does on the internet. I think its a big plus point and perhaps AI hotels should think about liaising to allow this even if they are not part of a chain.

There are lots of other things that people mentioned which help and we will be sticking to AI unless, fingers crossed, the Euro does fall to 1.60 - 1.80 + or Greece returns to the Drachma and reverts to more sensible prices - though we will do as proper comparison as we can first. As it was, last year, when we had an ordinary coffee, a beer and two sundae type ice creams on the front in Albir, it was 16 Euros plus tip (a bit over £15 all in) so AI is rather better value at present! If the rate went to 1.80 it would be around £10 which is beginning to get reasonable.