Holiday Price hikes in school holidays

Prothet_of_Doom

This whole thing is actually part of a gradual and sustained attack on people who think they know better than schools.
They have gradually made it harder for people who home school, are very prescriptive about the curriculem, in schools, and the way it's taught, and quite frankly there is no reason why most children wouldn't learn as much about life, going on holiday for a week, with concerned parents, as they would from an overpriced music trip to erm the Great wall of China, with scant supervision.

peachyprice

Prothet_of_Doom wrote: »

quite frankly there is no reason why most children wouldn't learn as much about life, going on holiday for a week, with concerned parents, as they would from an overpriced music trip to erm the Great wall of China, with scant supervision.

The problem is, most of the people who complain about mass market package holiday prices are those that are likely to be taking their children to Costa Del Bucket and Spade and the like, which offer very little educational value.

Moto2

peachyprice wrote: »

The problem is, most of the people who complain about mass market package holiday prices are those that are likely to be taking their children to Costa Del Bucket and Spade and the like, which offer very little educational value.

Yes, but surely the middle classes shouldn't be prevented from taking their children off to Tuscany for a cultural break?
I'm talking about the proper middle classes here, not the Daily Mail reading 'Johnny come lately' types

peachyprice

Moto2 wrote: »

Yes, but surely the middle classes shouldn't be prevented from taking their children off to Tuscany for a cultural break?
I'm talking about the proper middle classes here, not the Daily Mail reading 'Johnny come lately' types

Ah, but such people are more than capable of booking an independent holiday during school holidays at a reasonable price

Mr_Wang

peachyprice wrote: »

Ah, but such people are more than capable of booking an independent holiday during school holidays at a reasonable price

Exactly.

End the thread here.

holidaysforme

I think it's tough really. if you have children and need to go in the school holidays, then you just have to be more creative about finding a holiday that you can afford!
It's really not that difficult.

I don't dispute that, prices can be very high, but i don't use Thomas cook or Thomson or any of the big tour operators, but book my own flights and accomidation separately. i have made huge savings doing this over the past few years.

It's supply and demand, and of course the holiday companies are going to charge more in the peak school holiday times! You DONT have to pay the prices though, nobody is forcing you!

I am looking forward a few years when i will no longer have to be tied to school holidays, and we can holiday in june and september, the way we used to before DC.
Until then, i'll carry on researching and planning my holidays like a military campaign to get the best deals possible

AdamBrunt

There is one simple solution to this where the only people who lose out are the holiday companies who have previously been profiteering for years from charging (up to double) for the same holiday just because it is one week later.

Staggered school holidays. It may need to be at LEA rather than school level (to cope with parents who are teachers and either the parents are at different schools or who the parent(s) teach at different schools to where the kids go) but surely that would ease demand and hence lower prices even if holidays across the country were staggered by a week by the law of averages you could have half the school kids going on holiday 1 week before the other half ?

holidaysforme

AdamBrunt wrote: »

There is one simple solution to this where the only people who lose out are the holiday companies who have previously been profiteering for years from charging (up to double) for the same holiday just because it is one week later.

Staggered school holidays. It may need to be at LEA rather than school level (to cope with parents who are teachers and either the parents are at different schools or who the parent(s) teach at different schools to where the kids go) but surely that would ease demand and hence lower prices even if holidays across the country were staggered by a week by the law of averages you could have half the school kids going on holiday 1 week before the other half ?

This already happens in different parts of the uk. It's not a solution though! October half term is a good example of this, as it's now become expensive for nearly the whole month of october, because of Scotland's half term dates.
Staggered holidays would mean that instead it being expensive to holiday in the peak weeks of any given month, for instance two weeks in April to cover the Easter holidays, or two weeks in October to cover the October half term, it will simply become more, not less expensive for the whole of that month! That's withouth mentioning the practicalities of having children with different term dates, and how parents would cope with work/child are ect..
Also, from the
Point of view of someone who will not be tied to holidays in a few years, I don't want to be surrounded by families and young children when my own are grown up. I will want to go on holiday when children are in school, so as I can take advantage of cheaper flights/accommodation.
So, a big no to staggered school holidays from me:D

peachyprice

AdamBrunt wrote: »

There is one simple solution to this where the only people who lose out are the holiday companies who have previously been profiteering for years from charging (up to double) for the same holiday just because it is one week later.

Staggered school holidays. It may need to be at LEA rather than school level (to cope with parents who are teachers and either the parents are at different schools or who the parent(s) teach at different schools to where the kids go) but surely that would ease demand and hence lower prices even if holidays across the country were staggered by a week by the law of averages you could have half the school kids going on holiday 1 week before the other half ?

The travel companies would just love that, an excuse to charge peak prices for 10-12 weeks instead of 6-7.

Staggered holidays will just make the peak longer and penalise those without children who currently go in June and September.

Moto2

AdamBrunt wrote: »

There is one simple solution to this where the only people who lose out are the holiday companies who have previously been profiteering for years from charging (up to double) for the same holiday just because it is one week later.

Staggered school holidays. It may need to be at LEA rather than school level (to cope with parents who are teachers and either the parents are at different schools or who the parent(s) teach at different schools to where the kids go) but surely that would ease demand and hence lower prices even if holidays across the country were staggered by a week by the law of averages you could have half the school kids going on holiday 1 week before the other half ?

It happens already if you take the North of England, Scotland and Northern Ireland.
Go sit in Newcastle airport on the 1st Saturday in July, the predominant accent will be Scottish.
There's about a 25% saving to be made on a family holiday in a lot of cases.
Again though, it's people thinking for themselves and finding the deals.