How do I enjoy holidays more?

eamon

I think that the OP has found the contradiction in AI holidays and using Tripadvisor as a decision maker. Customer reviews are incredibly subjective in that the reader has no idea of the things the reviewer rates highly or lowly and if the coincide with subsequent readers.
I've been on 3 AI holidays and my needs & expectations were met. But on reading TA reviews I'm left wondering if they had been to the same place. With AI holidays everything is paid up front so little things can quickly become irritating e.g. food, pool, entertainment. I can see that feeling the need to go offsite for replacements would be disappointing.
As with other posters I think the OP needs to look again at what they want, need, like from a holiday and make decisions based on that. Don't rely on TA its biased because its data set is tiny. Most people don't post on review sites and those that do are either serial moaners or have delusions of grandeur.

John259

A good way to research places (including accommodation) is with YouTube videos made by people who have visited them. For example:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DXiB4wre6xk

meer53

AI is my idea of hell. My idea of heaven is finding all the fabulous places to eat once you're there. Places that look like greasy spoon cafes but serve the best seafood i've ever eaten in my life (Madeira) or the tent in the beautiful Forest of Bowland (Featherdown Farm Holiday) no electricity, no internet, cooking breakfast on the log burner, using eggs straight from the chickens, helping the farmer with his goats, it was absolute bliss for a whole week. We've also stayed in some fabulous villas in Florida but my holidays are more about spending time with my family than the accomodation and facilities.

OP you need to rethink what you want from your holidays or you'll never enjoy them. You'll always find something to moan about.

hollydays

In the past I’ve done a couple of all inclusives in Lanzarote over Christmas.
The priority when looking at trip adviser is always the food.If that’s wrong, nothing else is right.
I like serve yourself buffets where they are also cooking fish, meat and a wide choice of salads. I too am very picky and I spend ages researching, I find the planning half the fun.
I would have rather stayed at an all inclusive with elderly German guests ( they are very discerning imho) than a noisy place in the centre.

As for tripadviser, I usually only choose accommodation that has a four or four and a half stars , that includes a hostel in cologne that was rated two stars but had the best central heating system for the freezing winter weather.
I could stay on a youth hostel, a travelodge or a cheap chain as long as there’s often a compromise to be had.

If I have a bad holiday, it’s no ones fault but my own ., but I’m a glass half full person and enjoy all new experiences.

Archergirl

What a shame the OP hasn't been back to enlighten us as to what they do on holiday... We did a great tour of Northern India with Wendy Wu tours. the hotels were nice and we saw some incredible things, this was the first escorted tour we have done and were a bit apprehensive but it was wonderful, going to Southern India in March with Cox and Kings, hope that will be as good.
I like the idea of tours as they tell and show you things you might not otherwise know.

leafyshin

OP here. Thank you all for your responses which I've enjoyed reading. For those of you who wonder what sort of holidays I go on, it's actually quite varied though camping is definitely NOT on the agenda.

If I do a city break I tend to go room only, or Airbnb, and eat out so the hotel is just sleep and shower. My last holiday was a week all-inclusive in Morocco. There were not many restaurants nearby and they tended towards the try and please everyone style menu. I did eat out a couple of times. I also took three different tours during the week which were the highlight of the holiday. On a previous Moroccan holiday I did a cookery lesson in a Berber village house, which included a never to be forgotten trip to a halal butcher.

The holiday before was a week half-board in the Greek Islands and involved three days out including a sulphurous climb down into an active volcano and more eating out due to the availability of local restaurants.

I've been 2 star self-catering half-way up a Greek mountain because it had great reviews and several hill-top villages nearby lined with restaurants. The food in the villages was definitely the highlight but the 2 star bed was awful.

My next holiday is also all-inclusive, as most resorts are in the Dominican Republic. I'm planning on a couple of boat trips for scuba diving and some horsey jungley excursions. They also seem to have a thing for zip-lining so that could be fun.

So for those of you worried that I don't get out and about and try and make the best of a holiday, I do. However, I also go away to relax, unwind, destress, etc and like to do that in nice surroundings. If I want to spend a day flitting between bed, balcony and bar then I'd like that part of the holiday to live up to the hype. After all that is what I'm paying these resorts for.

These custom built holiday resorts are above all about making money and sometimes the service, be it reception, catering, maintenance etc, doesn't get the focus from management that it should. When I ask how to enjoy my holiday more it isn't that I want to go somewhere else or try something different. The purpose of my post was really about how do I get more of the glass half full attitude rather than being bugged by the rubbish aspects of a place. There will always be negative things but I do seem to dwell on them more than other reviewers. Being trapped in a hotel room for an hour and a half waiting for the air-con to be fixed shouldn't be something I'm still irritated by two weeks after the holiday is over, and if it was the only thing the hotel did wrong I wouldn't be, but it was compounded by a long list of other crapness. I'm either terminally unlucky or I need an attitude makeover. I suspect it's the latter so how do I stop these annoying things staying with me?

Pollycat

leafyshin wrote: »

When I ask how to enjoy my holiday more it isn't that I want to go somewhere else or try something different. The purpose of my post was really about how do I get more of the glass half full attitude rather than being bugged by the rubbish aspects of a place. There will always be negative things but I do seem to dwell on them more than other reviewers. Being trapped in a hotel room for an hour and a half waiting for the air-con to be fixed shouldn't be something I'm still irritated by two weeks after the holiday is over, and if it was the only thing the hotel did wrong I wouldn't be, but it was compounded by a long list of other crapness. I'm either terminally unlucky or I need an attitude makeover. I suspect it's the latter so how do I stop these annoying things staying with me?

It sounds more like a personality trait to me.
If you're a glass half empty type of person, you're always going to see the downside of a situation.
I'm not sure how you can unlearn that.

DCFC79

Im like everyone else, I see a hotel as a bed for the night, all that really matters is a clean room and a shower too.

Would prefer to eat where the locals eat.

saterkey

Actually I like the accommodation that is one of my priorities on a holiday, we have tried abroad, last one I didn't enjoy, beach was crap, hotel was ok, but we had plagues of ants everywhere, food was uncooked when we paid for restaurant, people seemed to be in your face wanting to know your business. Local shops really expensive for self catering. And so on I said never again. We go to some lovely parts of the UK, have a detached house, self cater, this year we were yards from the beach. I waiting to afford a child free all inclusive to try that out.

MacMickster

leafyshin wrote: »

My next holiday is also all-inclusive, as most resorts are in the Dominican Republic. I'm planning on a couple of boat trips for scuba diving and some horsey jungley excursions. They also seem to have a thing for zip-lining so that could be fun.

The Dominican Republic is a perfect place to help you to forget 1st world worries. It is, after all, a 3rd world country. For many of the population every day is still a struggle to simply survive (but not as bad as in neighbouring Haiti).

As well as the excursions try talking to the locals (in shops, bars or even the waiters in your hotel) and find out a bit about their lives. They see tremendous luxury in the hotels and then go back to their own family lives in a wooden shack.

Try a trip into the heart of the country seeing how the villagers and smallholders live. See the shacks in which large families live and try to imagine being inside with a hurricane passing over. Take some exercise books and pencils to give to the local children who you see. They will really be appreciated. No sweets though as they don't have access to dentists other than the local voodoo witch doctor in many cases.

I guarantee that any little niggles about your hotel will quickly fade into insignificance.