A bit of a winge and holiday help needed

Legacy_user

We're a family of 5 and I'm sick to death of being treated like second class citzens by tour operators! If you don't conform to a family of 4, trying to get an overseas (European) holiday is really, really hard. And you get really really ripped off. Most hotels will not allow more than 4 to a room (insurance reasons) so we have to have 2 rooms or a 2 bed apartment. Then we get into single room occupancy supps or paying adult prices for kids because we under occupy etc. It costs a fortune! >:( We also go all inclusive because otherwise it costs a packet in ice creams alone. We've just returned from Lanzarote on an all inclusive for 1 week that cost us £2,300. BUT, we had a fab holiday, loads of sun and pretty restful

What I need is a search engine that will give me accommodation in Europe (not eastern bloc thanks) that will take 5 of us in the same room without being crammed in like battery hens, or a 2 bed hotel room, or 2 interconnecting rooms, on an all inclusive basis. We'll pay up to around £2,500 for the right holiday going in June 2005. (we have to book this far ahead to get what we want). I've tried several of the main ops websites (firstchoice, thomson, airtours etc.) and I've asked a travel agent to research it and get back to me but that was 3 weeks ago and I've heard nothing .

Do any of you guys out there have any good ideas or suggestions please? Any inside knowledge that might help me?

budgetflyer

http://www.alpha-beds.com/

http://www.medhotels.com/

http://www.venere.com/

http://www.holiday-beds-direct.com/

for a list of hotel chains, go to

http://www.budgetflyer.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/hotels.htm

Addy

Might not be much help, but we're a family of 5 too, the eldest child being 16.

I was checking around for a cheap A/I for this September, teletextholidays.co.uk had a week in Costa Brava for 2 adults and 3 children for £154 each. I rang the phone number, and they confirmed that that price + £25 booking fees for the whole party was the price we would pay, even with the eldest child actually being an adult.

Because the eldest child has been in her later years at school, over the past four years we've had to take our fortnight's holiday during the school holidays. We can't afford the package prices, so the only way we could afford it was to book our own flights and accommodation. I've really come to like the flexibility and options this offers - plus in the summer holidays it can cost less than half the cheapest package/cattle truck holiday available!