Child prices when booking a holiday

Maddie0412 · 22 January 2020 at 12:06AM

Hello

I thought I’d share my experience with booking a holiday with a child. We decided on booking a family holiday to Jamaica, where there would be 13 adults and 1 child (3 years old). It was decided we would book an all inclusive package holiday with Tui. However, I was shocked to be told that my 3 year old would have to pay the same price as the adults. I refused to pay this price and so decided to contact the hotel that we wanted to stay at directly. I was told by them that as long as the child was in a room with 2 paying adults they would be free.
After looking into the prices of flights, I found that by booking the hotel and flights separately I would be saving over £1,400! I contacted Tui and asked why I had to pay the full price for the child and their reply was that they didn’t offer free child places for this particular package holiday. I will never book a package holiday again when traveling with young children. What a con!

heatherw_01 · 22 January 2020 at 5:00PM

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iwb100 · 22 January 2020 at 5:12PM

I'm pretty sure you didn't pay full price for your child. TUI present an averaged price per person when booking. If you priced up for 13 adults only I'd bet the price per person would have been a "little higher" because the child will bring the price down.

Try it. They present it as a price per person that makes it seem like you are paying full price for an adult.

For example I just priced up a holiday for 2 adults and one child (age 3) -
£1052 per person - total £3154.

Exact same holiday for 2 adults - £1257 per person - total £2514

So in this example the child is lowering the price per person average because they will be costing less.

However, note - they still take a seat on the plane. The saving will be the hotel as they will not need an extra room and if AI will not eat/drink as much.

I'm surprised you can get such a saving by booking flights and hotels separately to Jamaica - down the years I've only seen modest savings by booking separately and its got even harder since Thomson became Tui and their buying power for such trips is so high. Are you 100% sure you're looking at equivalent room categories etc?

Westin · 22 January 2020 at 5:43PM

The OP’s saving seems to be £100pp (14 travelling).

Presumably they have costed in transfers in their DIY trip which can be terribly expensive in Jamaica.

Also no ATOL cover, Rep service or 24/7 emergency back up.

Pollycat · 22 January 2020 at 5:44PM

iwb100 wrote: »

I'm pretty sure you didn't pay full price for your child. TUI present an averaged price per person when booking. If you priced up for 13 adults only I'd bet the price per person would have been a "little higher" because the child will bring the price down.

Try it. They present it as a price per person that makes it seem like you are paying full price for an adult.

For example I just priced up a holiday for 2 adults and one child (age 3) -
£1052 per person - total £3154.

Exact same holiday for 2 adults - £1257 per person - total £2514

So in this example the child is lowering the price per person average because they will be costing less.

However, note - they still take a seat on the plane. The saving will be the hotel as they will not need an extra room and if AI will not eat/drink as much.

I'm surprised you can get such a saving by booking flights and hotels separately to Jamaica - down the years I've only seen modest savings by booking separately and its got even harder since Thomson became Tui and their buying power for such trips is so high. Are you 100% sure you're looking at equivalent room categories etc?

It wouldn't surprise me if there's something the OP has missed.

And it's not a con at all.

NoodleDoodleMan · 22 January 2020 at 9:26PM

I will never book a package holiday again when traveling with young children. What a con!

As Westin alludes to - there are pros and cons of DIY arrangements compared to packages, so I would hold on the never again mindset.

We experienced this in Malta in April 2010 when the Icelandic volcano grounded return flights for several days.

Those of us in the hotel on Thomsons (as was) and Thomas Cook packages stayed on in our rooms on same board basis at no cost under Duty Of Care - DIY travellers had to pay for the extra days and meals etc. or leave the accommodation.

One large independent party ended up having to pay around a 1000 Euros each to get back to Ireland on a ferry to Italy, then onwards via coach to English channel, another ferry to reach UK, followed by another coach to Holyhead and lastly a third and final ferry over to ROI.

budgetflyer · 22 January 2020 at 9:49PM

I was the same.
Cost us around £800 all in to stay where I was in GOA for the extra 2 weeks we were stuck {Royal Goan Beach Club, Benaulim} Luckily we had the money to cover it, although we could have downgraded to somewhere else and cut back on food and drink if we had to.
We kept all receipts including food and drink from the beach shacks and Bank of Scotland travel insurance covered the lot

Thomsons /Thomas Cook put their clients up in an "all inclusive" hotel.

NoodleDoodleMan · 22 January 2020 at 11:28PM

After looking into the prices of flights, I found that by booking the hotel and flights separately I would be saving over £1,400!

I expect the answer is yes - but did you factor in add on charges for luggage and transfers for the whole party when calculating the final amount of DIY v package ?

leylandsunaddict · 23 January 2020 at 11:21AM

It's not a con. It's a matter of you not understanding.

As has been said, TUI present a per person price averaged out across the number of passengers travelling. You do not pay full price for a 3 year old.

When working out that you're saving £1400 by booking independently have you factored in that you'll need more comprehensive travel insurance than for a package holiday? You'll need supplier insolvency and consequential loss cover as a minimum, and ideally airport/airspace closure. Also the cost of transfers which can be very expensive depending, even more so if travelling any distance from the airport.

Also the obvious things like no rep, if that matters, and obviously no Atol, Abta or package regs protection, hence the need for increased insurance cover.

There is a reason why package holidays are often cheaper (but not always). It's because of the fall back cushion they provide.

Child prices when booking a holiday

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