let’s try n all-inclusive holidays
All out for
all-in value All-inclusive holidays have been around for over 60 years, but with the economic crunch squeezing purses ever tighter they are becoming an increasingly popular option, offering value for money and allowing holidaymakers to budget for their entire stay. Debbie Ward looks at what’s on offer
Spice Island Beach Resort
Rex Resorts
n Antigua resort Hawksbill in all-inclusive only
n Tuck in – the food is free
ou’re not seriously going to have afternoon tea?” asked my partner on day three of our holiday at Grenada’s Spice Island Beach Resort. It was a fair point: on one hand the scones and cakes were free, on the other I’d already practically danced a jig of delight before the five course evening menu posted outside the restaurant – a gourmet feast also included in our room-rate. I considered my strategy over a complimentary cocktail and decided I’d just have to work up an appetite in the pool.
“Y
n Diving is even included at some allinclusive resorts Sandals
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let’s try n all-inclusive holidays
let’s try n all-inclusive holidays
n Cooking up some fun in the kitchen
nPrivate island at Green Globe recipient Sandals Royal Caribbean
All-inclusives have come in for some criticism because the nature of an all-in tariff discourages guests to spend money out in the community they’re visiting. Consider taking excursions during your holiday or choosing hotels that offer dine-around schemes where you can eat in local restaurants some nights for no extra cost. Also check out the hotel’s sustainability credentials; some have won Green Globe awards and similar.
n Free water sports appeals to families
All-inclusives vary from little more than a full-board hotel with a buffet to upmarket affairs with a choice of restaurants and water sports thrown in. Some, like foodie Spice Island, cater for special interests. The common theme is that you pay for virtually everything you’ll spend on your holiday up front. Since we’ve been in recession, the concept has boomed. Cash–strapped couples and, especially, parents like the idea of controlling their budget. First Choice, part of Britain’s largest tour operator TUI, announced it was selling only all-inclusives from 2012, saying demand for this holiday type had grown by around onethird over five years. A typical family could save more than £500 a week choosing all-inclusive over a standard holiday, First Choice claims. While some have quibbled over the maths, there’s no doubting that for the right kind of holidaymaker the savings can add up.
Neilson
local v premium alcohol So what’s typically included? A key difference is across the food and drinks. Some resorts have all meals in the same buffet restaurant; others have a choice of al la carte venues. Soft drinks are usually limitless – but the complimentary alcohol in your package will vary from local wine or beer with dinner to an open bar with a choice of localbrand booze or premium-brand spirits. Kids clubs and sports facilities – from tennis courts to a range of non-motorised water craft – are other common inclusions. Think what you really spend on holiday. There’s no point paying for all-inclusive Some of the more upmarket resorts take things a step sports, kids clubs and premium drinks if you’re child-free teetotallers who like further. In the Caribbean, the dominant adult-only to laze by the pool. But families will appreciate water sports. Sandals and Couples brands (which also have sister Some all-inclusive properties fall down on the food. In larger hotels aimed at friends and families) not only throw n Check resorts’ resorts, look for a good choice of restaurants rather than one in all meals and snacks, premium drinks and food choices buffet. sports tuition, but also provide free boat trips, f you’re considering an all-inclusive wedding, ask how many water skiing, diving and, at some resorts, the resort handles a day and in how many venues, to avoid unlimited golf. Couples also includes selected the “conveyer belt” effect. excursions and Sandals has complimentary If you like variety, look for chains that let you use facilities butler service with some suites. at their sister resorts during your stay. SuperClubs offers what it calls Super-IncluCheck the resort’s location if you like to explore. Some allsive at its Breezes properties on Jamaica, the inclusives are quite isolated and you could be reliant on taxis Bahamas and in Brazil, which includes all meals to get around. and drinks, land and water sports with professional Spice Island Beach Resort instruction – and no tipping is allowed.
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Club Med
sustainable travel
Rex Resorts has seven properties on five Caribbean islands – Antigua, Barbados, Grenada, St Lucia and Tobago – as well as an all-inclusive beach resort plus a luxury safari lodge in Kenya. Most of its Caribbean resorts offer all-inclusive stays as an option, although Hawksbill in Antigua is all-inclusive only. Another group with Caribbean all-inclusive offerings is Spanish company Barcelo. It offers its Club Premium all-inclusive product at five hotels on Mexico’s Riviera Maya and two on the Dominican Replublic. These and other Caribbean all-inclusive resorts prove particularly popular for weddings, offering a basic ceremony and trimmings for free, or the opportunity to upgrade for additional cost. One of the biggest draws of all-inclusives can be complimentary childcare. Mark Warner and Club Med are particularly known for this. Club Med’s children’s clubs are free from four years up; Mark Warner’s are free from two years, as is its evening babysitting service. These brands also major on sports and activities, with tuition from tennis to sailing and windsurfing to circus skills. Club Med even has a flying trapeze academy at some resorts!
coloured beads Club Med, a French brand, claims the first all-inclusive – a sports camp on Majorca in 1950. A few years later it introduced bungalows in Tahiti – reached by boat for those who could afford to take a four-month holiday. More accessible resorts followed, with guests wearing
Summer 2012
coloured beads to let the bar staff know they were on an all-in tariff. One of the early successes of the all-inclusive concept was to entice nervous travellers to exotic climes at a time when travel was still all a bit, well, foreign. Worries about unfamiliar food or personal safety were allayed because guests didn’t have to leave the resort. All-inclusives helped open the Caribbean up to mass tourism and the islands are still one of the big strongholds for this style of holiday. The Mediterranean also has a proliferation of allinclusives, with some resorts such as Belek and Antalya on Turkey’s southern coast having most accommodation on this system, and most of them four or five-star. Popular all-inclusive hotels in Belek include the family-friendly Cornelia De Luxe, adult-only Cornelia Diamond and the Rixos Premium, which features the Troyaqua water park and a dolphinarium. Other all-in hotspots include: Egypt’s Sharm El Sheikh, with hotels including the Sultan Gardens Resort Sharm, Hilton Sharks Bay Resort and Royal Grand Azure; Mexico’s Caribbean coast, where the El Dorado Royale and El Dorado Casitas Royals in Playa del Carmen and Cancun’s Riu Caribe and Barcelo Costa Cancun are among all-inclusive offerings; and Bulgaria, at beach resorts such as Sunny Beach and Elenite, where the Elenite Holiday Village is among hotels featured by several UK tour operators. They have also recently become established in luxury
“A typical family could save more than £500 a week choosing allinclusive over a standard holiday”
Elenite Holdiay Village
Sandals
Club Med
n Flying high with Club Med
n All-inclusive is popular in Bulgaria
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let’s try n all-inclusive holidays
all-inclusive facts
n Enjoy all-in tariffs on the slopes
Indian Ocean haven, the Maldives, where you can stay at many of its resort islands on an all-inclusive basis. Mauritius is another destination in the region where the concept is now popular, with Beachcomber Hotels offering it as an option at several properties on the island as well as at its Seychelles spa resort. The odd all-inclusive is also found in destinations less known for fly-and-flop holidays. Brazil, China, Japan and Senegal in Africa are all featured by Club Med, for instance, while in Vietnam, Fusion Maia in Da Nang claims to be Asia’s first all-inclusive spa resort with two spa treatments a day included and all villas featuring a private pool and garden.
skiing and diving Even if you think all-inclusives are not for you, it’s worth checking out the special interests catered for by some resorts on this tariff. Skiing is the most obvious example. Club Med and Mark Warner specialise in this sector as well as beach breaks, while some ski tour operators including Crystal and Neilson offer selected all-inclusive hotels. Inclusions vary, but along with your accommodation and meals you may get some combination of ski passes, ski hire, lessons and free day or evening childcare. Sandals and Couples can work out very cost-effective for daily diving; you can even learn to dive at their resorts. Some diving is also included at wellness-focused Le Sport and Le Source resorts, in St Lucia and Grenada respectively. These resorts also throw in daily spa treatments plus a host of exercise classes and sports from archery to fencing to water skiing. Golfers, meanwhile, can tee off on an all-in tariff at 45 Club Meds. And if the words “clothing optional” light your candle, you’ll find an all-inclusive for you. Jamaica’s Hedonism II resort (part of SuperClubs) boasts “open bars and open minds”. Accommodation is split into Nude and Prude parts of the resort and by night you can dress, or undress, to impress at fetish and mask parties. Debbie Ward spent her first week as a travel journalist at a Caribbean all-inclusive hotel, reeling at the concept of a swim-up bar with free cocktails. She warns that when returning home from an all-inclusive holiday remember you can no longer leave restaurants without paying.
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Fusion Maia
Club Med: www.clubmed.co.uk Mark Warner: www.markwarner.co.uk Sandals: www.sandals.co.uk Couples: www.couplesresorts.co.uk SuperClubs: www.superclubs.com AM Resorts: www.amresorts.com Almond Resorts: www.almondresorts.com Beachcomber: www.beachcomber-hotels.com Rex Resorts: www.rexresorts.com Barcelo: www.barcelo.com
n Vietnam's Fusion Maia
individual resorts include: Spice Island Beach Resort, Grenada: www.spiceislandbeachresort.com Fusion Maia, Vietnam: www.fusionmaiadanang.com Half Moon, Jamaica: www.halfmoon.rockresorts.com Pestana Porto Santo: www.pestana.com/en/pestana-porto-santo-hotel LeSport, St Lucia: www.thebodyholiday.com LaSource, Grenada: www.theamazingholiday.com Jumby Bay, Antigua: www.rosewoodhotels.com/en/jumbybay
tour operators offering all-inclusive holidays include: Thomson: www.thomson.co.uk First Choice: www.firstchoice.co.uk Thomas Cook: www.thomascook.com Cosmos: www.cosmos.co.uk Crystal: www.crystalholidays.co.uk Neilson: www.neilson.co.uk Virgin Holidays: www.virginholidays.co.uk Kuoni: www.kuoni.co.uk Funway: www.funwayholidays.co.uk Hayes & Jarvis: www.hayesandjarvis.com Classic Collection: www.classic-collection.co.uk ITC Classics: www.agents.itcclassics.co.uk Sunshine.co.uk: www.sunshine.co.uk Golden Holidays: www.golden-holidays.co.uk
n Spice Island Beach Resort Spice Island Beach Resort
Crystal
all-inclusive specialists include:
sample packages Kuoni offers seven nights on all-inclusive basis at LaSource, Grenada in a luxury room, from £1,989 per person, including flights based on two sharing with Virgin Atlantic from Gatwick and transfers in resort. The price is for September/October, 2012. www.kuoni.co.uk Funway Holidays offers seven nights staying at Sandals Carlyle, Jamaica, including return flights with Virgin Atlantic from £,1245 per person based on two sharing between August 20 and September 15, 2012. www.funwayholidays.co.uk Hayes & Jarvis has a twin-centre break to Vietnam with three nights at the four-star Halong Plaza, Hanoi, and then four nights at the five-star Fusion Maia Da Nang, with inclusive spa treatments. A September 11 departure costs from £1,499 per person, and includes flights from Gatwick, internal flights and transfers. www.hayesandjarvis.com Club Med’s new Pragelato family Italian Alps resort opens in December. A seven-day all-inclusive package starts from £1,060 per adult, £954 per child, including flights, all meals, drinks and snacks, ski/snowboard tuitir to 17 inclusive. www.clubmed.co.uk
Summer 2012