Value winter holiday.

Nebulous2

We've been to Tenerife twice post-covid. Both times in the same decent hotel all-inclusive. The first time, 7 nights in Jan 22 was about £1300 for two, which was a very good deal, designed to draw people back. November 22 was £2200 for 11 nights, same hotel.

I'm looking at booking for Nov 23 and am getting priced £2900 for 11 nights. I'm reluctant to pay that, as we are going to New Zealand in March 2024. 

Is that typical of price inflation for holidays in the last year? 

Any suggestions of somewhere I'd get better value for this winter?

Should I wait and look at a last minute deal? 

tightauldgit

If you're looking for value for money then going for an AI package probably isn't the way to do it. Even 7 nights for £1300 seems stupidly expensive to me but it all depends on exactly what you want. November isn't peak time so there will be any number of low cost flights available for 11 nights give or take to any number of Euro locations for about £50 each way and hotels for 30/40/50 quid a night. 

I suspect all the tour operators are going to be hiking their brochure prices as high as they can to try to capture as much money as they can these days, but whether people are silly enough to pay those prices remains to be seen - I would expect a lot of discounts are going to be available if that's indicative of the kind of price hikes that are happening. 

Nebulous2

tightauldgit said:

If you're looking for value for money then going for an AI package probably isn't the way to do it. Even 7 nights for £1300 seems stupidly expensive to me but it all depends on exactly what you want. November isn't peak time so there will be any number of low cost flights available for 11 nights give or take to any number of Euro locations for about £50 each way and hotels for 30/40/50 quid a night. 

I suspect all the tour operators are going to be hiking their brochure prices as high as they can to try to capture as much money as they can these days, but whether people are silly enough to pay those prices remains to be seen - I would expect a lot of discounts are going to be available if that's indicative of the kind of price hikes that are happening. 

£1300 for both of us, flying from a regional airport in Scotland, in a decent hotel. The advantage of Tenerife, over any number of Euro locations is that the weather is likely to be better. 

Anyway I wasn't asking about my choice of holiday, more the rate of holiday inflation. I'm much exercised by increasing prices and I'm cutting back elsewhere because of it. It may well be that I need to leave Tenerife to those who are willing to spend £3k for 11 nights.  

strawb_shortcake

We were looking at Spain for October half term, mainland Spain was quite reasonable but too cold for my liking. 

I guess the Canaries goes up over the winter as there's less competition for warmer climes that time of year? 

But I think the holidays have all gone up this year, Canaries are our preferred destination and the kind of prices I'd have previously expected for 4/5 of us is now the same price for just 3. I tend to stay quite basic 3* accommodation too

daveyjp

Cruises are one type of holiday where bargains can be had.  They are no more expensive now than 15 years ago.

Nebulous2

daveyjp said:

Cruises are one type of holiday where bargains can be had.  They are no more expensive now than 15 years ago.

Thanks - my wife won't cruise, because of seasickness. The most I've ever managed to persuade her to do was a long ferry crossing to Bilbao. 

Nebulous2

annabanana82 said:

We were looking at Spain for October half term, mainland Spain was quite reasonable but too cold for my liking. 

I guess the Canaries goes up over the winter as there's less competition for warmer climes that time of year? 

But I think the holidays have all gone up this year, Canaries are our preferred destination and the kind of prices I'd have previously expected for 4/5 of us is now the same price for just 3. I tend to stay quite basic 3* accommodation too

I guess you're right about the weather.  I went to the South of Spain recently, for the first-time in many years, and it was really good. Looks cheaper than Tenerife.

I'm not sure about November weather though. 

CKhalvashi

Nebulous2 said:

annabanana82 said:

We were looking at Spain for October half term, mainland Spain was quite reasonable but too cold for my liking. 

I guess the Canaries goes up over the winter as there's less competition for warmer climes that time of year? 

But I think the holidays have all gone up this year, Canaries are our preferred destination and the kind of prices I'd have previously expected for 4/5 of us is now the same price for just 3. I tend to stay quite basic 3* accommodation too

I guess you're right about the weather.  I went to the South of Spain recently, for the first-time in many years, and it was really good. Looks cheaper than Tenerife.

I'm not sure about November weather though. 

Weather shouldn't be too bad.

As mentioned above, packages probably won't get the best deals on something like this, flights + refundable until a few weeks before hotel should get something cheaper as you're open to a much wider range of suppliers. We travel quite often for sub-£80 for 2 people on return flights and sub-£25/night for accommodation (although not to Spain) with no real loss of standards to hotels. Due to the regulatory requirements and additional costs of running an agency, cheap packages are still something of a niche and the companies operating them are generally not the best customer service-wise.

Nebulous2

CKhalvashi said:

Nebulous2 said:

annabanana82 said:

We were looking at Spain for October half term, mainland Spain was quite reasonable but too cold for my liking. 

I guess the Canaries goes up over the winter as there's less competition for warmer climes that time of year? 

But I think the holidays have all gone up this year, Canaries are our preferred destination and the kind of prices I'd have previously expected for 4/5 of us is now the same price for just 3. I tend to stay quite basic 3* accommodation too

I guess you're right about the weather.  I went to the South of Spain recently, for the first-time in many years, and it was really good. Looks cheaper than Tenerife.

I'm not sure about November weather though. 

Weather shouldn't be too bad.

As mentioned above, packages probably won't get the best deals on something like this, flights + refundable until a few weeks before hotel should get something cheaper as you're open to a much wider range of suppliers. We travel quite often for sub-£80 for 2 people on return flights and sub-£25/night for accommodation (although not to Spain) with no real loss of standards to hotels. Due to the regulatory requirements and additional costs of running an agency, cheap packages are still something of a niche and the companies operating them are generally not the best customer service-wise.

Thanks - we've always done independent travel, almost always self-catering or camping, sometimes crossing to France with only a crossing booked and picking up campsites or accommodation as we go.

I haven't driven to the continent since 2019, and after getting locked down in New Zealand and having a huge struggle with insurance and travel company I have become wary of dealing with multiple suppliers. 

Getting back abroad we went for an all inclusive week in Tenerife, first time for both AI and Tenerife, and we couldn't believe how good it was. Food was much better than I expected, service was good, drinks were plentiful and of reasonable quality. Most people there had been multiple times and wouldn't consider going anywhere else. So much so that we considered joining them and becoming regulars. 

It looks like I either have to cure myself of my new-found AI habit, or dig very deep to pay for it......  

Doshwaster

Mainland Spain is usually good value over Christmas. It won't be hot but it will be nicer than here. I was in Malaga last Christmas. It was 18-20 degrees during the day but you needed a coat at night.  Christmas can be a good time to go to Spain as it doesn't totally shut down unlike the UK. Christmas Day is just like a Bank Holiday here.

If you want warmer weather but not too far away then the Canaries would be my first choice but Christmas is a popular time to go there so prices will be high. It's a better place to go for some winter sun in January or February. 

TELLIT01

A very quick look on TUI shows AI prices for 11 nights in November to be broadly similar to those quoted by the OP.  Self catering for the same period is showing between £1300 and £2k for the same period!