All inclusive?

[spud]

hi was just wondering what folks views are on all inclusives?
we seem to be having a bit of an all inclusive epidemic out here at the minute and it's making life very difficult for traders in all aspects of tourism.
the hotels don't actually advertise themselves as allinclusive, as only certain ones have licence to do this,however when checking in they are offering customers the chance to 'upgrade'!! their words not mine! to all in for as little as 14 euros a day, in some cases.
the problem is that the standard of food and service seems to be well below standard and i'm worried this will put tourists off returning to lanza.
any thoughts are very welcome please as we are all stuck for answers to this out here:sigh

[Celtygirl]

The Papagayo Arena in PB has some of the best food and service standards inn any hotel I've ever been to whether AI or not. I wouldn't go AI below 4* as that can be very hit & miss.

If it was just me and Mr C alone, we'd probably prefer to self cater and eat out in local bars & restaurants. We tried this once with child in tow, and boy, did it cost us. Drinks, ice creams etc all add up. I know it can be done happily & successfully, but hey, iy's my holiday too, and if it makes life more chilled for me......From a budgeting point of view AI is also better.

Also, as AI hotels tend to be large, there is acivities for them and lots of other children to play with.

Do hope to return to s/c in the hopefully near future when they've grown out of Agadoo!!!!

[Jackie H.]

Hi Spud

Tried A/I twice-never again for me unless it's Sandals!:lol As you say, I found the quality of food/drink and service to be below an acceptable standard.But it wouldn't put me off returning to a resort and even when I am in an hotel H/B often go out for drinks and dinner for a change.

This subject has been raised on other forums and no easy answer. As a tourist and visitor to Lanza for many years I have seen a lot of changes on the Island. But I think it is prices in general that have put a lot of people off. Flights are getting expensive and since the euro was introduced eating out etc is a lot dearer.When you compare to places like Turkey and Bulgaria people are looking for cheaper alternatives I think.

Also Lanza was always known as one of our nearest,warmest winter destinations. But the last 2-3 winters have been dreadful out there so that has put lots off-me included. Last January was soooooooo cold I had to go out and buy jumpers and trackie bottoms and the hotel was freezing-my last winter trip I'm afraid.

[spud]

thanks for the views,it's good to know what people are thinking and what can be done to improve,I personally would try AL if i had children too cg i can see how it would make life easier,I think the problem is with the hotels themselves really,the ones in pb seem to have cottoned on and give a better quality,it's time the canarian tourist board started reading some of the forums instead of sitting in their ivory towers spending our taxes!

time for a general overhaul i think,the island has such a lot to offer but is not advertised correctly.:nono
we need to appeal to a broader spectrum of tourist and low class all inclusive just won't do it!

[Celtygirl]

Hi again,

Thanks for that Spud. I've got a friend (who's much richer than me) who goes to the Canaries at least twice, if not more a year - sometimes h/b, sometimes AI, but always 4 or 5*. The only hotel she has had a real problem with in all that time is the Occidental Allegro Oasis in CT which is AI. She said she doubted if it could manage 3* status. This was about a year ago. She got herselved moved to the Papagayo which she loved, but still shudders at the thought of the Occidental. She said that if she had been a first time visitor to Lanz and had not known what kind of standards to expect for a 4* she would have been put off the island for life!

[Jackie H.]

Another example re the A/I is the Rubicon at PB. It started as A/I then went to H/B-have been there once and enjoyed it. My son and his family of 3 teenagers went there 4 times in two years and loved it. As CG says, with kids those places are ideal as gives the kids lots to do which equals a break for mum and dad as well.

Then when the Pap Arena opened, Rubicon had competition so went back to A/I again-to it's downfall by looks of things. My son went last September and said never again. They all said the food had gone down the pan and they were catering and giving preferential service to the mainland Spanish that had invaded the place. Reviews on other forums have supported this fact as well and as people are getting wiser the "look before you book" method will have a reflection on bookings.

Also with soooooooooo many villas available for rental now that must have a knock on effect with people catering for themselves and having BBQ's round the pool etc. We shop at Vivo's and a nearbye cash and carry and you can dramatically cut down the amount of spending on holiday that way if you are budgeting.

[spud]

oh I can totally agree with her!! we were at a ball there about 3 years ago when it had just gone AL from a very nice 5 star hotel and it was appalling,:yikes bad food, bad attitude!
this just shows the narrow mindedness of hoteliers that they assume tourists want AL on the cheap,it just ruins a perfectly good hotel,the problem is that the tourist areas have their own individual officers and budgets,in this case money and time is being plowed into PB and costa and PDC are coming in as poor cousins,we need to have input from the government if we are to survive in this competitive time. traders try their hardest but if money is not spent on the overall structure of the resort we might as well not bother.
also we live and die by the decisions made by uk tour operators,it is up to them to make lanzarote an affordable option for families and keep the island popular.
I heard a nasty rumor too that the tourist board of yaiza (playa blanca) were paying the tour operators 5 euros per person to send allocation on arrival to playa blanca! what chance do we have if this is true!
we need good advertisement,not bribery!

[Celtygirl]

Agreed, Jackie. I looked at booking the Rubicon lasy year as I recalled it had some good reports in the past, but decided against it after reading the more recent less favourable reviews. They should stick to what they know. The sad thing is that many of the unfavourable reviews were from long standing repeat customers. Who knows if they will desert not only the Rubicon, but Lanza in general.

I do look forward to renting a villa in the future - but not till I know that the youngest is unlikley to wander outside and get drowned in the pool. Even more so, though I look forward to buying one some day, but sadly, that day is way off yet!

[spud]

sorry jackie that reply was for celty i hadn't seen your post!:blush
but ........ good point,we have also had a lot of spanish tourists in costa,but from a good point of view as they seem to enjoy english brekkies!
re the villas,tho,this is still better than substandard accomodation as at least the majority of tourists who book privately take time out to enjoy the island and they do get sick of cooking every night so the restaurants at least get a little bite of the cherry!

i'm glad of all this feedback tho as at least it proves what we suspected in that costa is being pushed aside for PB the island should be viewed as a whole with each resort able to offer something different to it's customers,but on a high standard all round.

i'm off to email the daily mail letters now to complain about the uk tour operators underhand tactics and extortionate prices during school holidays! i',m on a roll now! don't stop me!:nono

[Jackie H.]

I rest my case!:giggle

Also read some time ago Spud that the UK tour operators feel Lanza has had it's day as far as the tourist boom goes and they have moved on to places like Croatia and Bulgaria to satisfy demand for cheaper holidays.

CG-couple of years ago went in a villa with son and his family and can tell you it was hard work! The kids were bored half the time and we had to spend a LOT of time taking them go-karting etc to keep them amused. Wouldn't just lay quietly round the pool with a good book like me :lol


You go for 'em Spud-I think that practice should be outlawed!!!

[spud]

now celty.i've told you this before! tie them to chair,bag of crisps,telly on,sunbathe to your hearts content!:giggle
thats a joke by the way before you all go rushing off to the NSPCC!!:yikes
thanks for the support jackie,i'm so mad with it all we came out here for a nice life,which we have and I won't let my business be ruined by big brother tactics from the tour ops.
wish me luck it might get published! under an different psuedonym of course!:giggle

[Celtygirl]

It's also the tour operators mark ups. My holiday last woud have cost me nearly £1000 more if I'd booked through one of the main tour operators. Big profit considering all I missed out on was a bus that stopped everywhere before I got to my hotel. Paying for a taxi to whisk me there in half the time was much preferrable!!!

[Celtygirl]

Believe me Spud, I'm tempted - and good luck!

For any of you reading these posts later, me, Spud and Jackie are all cross posting, thats why it looks a bit confusing. From my point, it's because I'm a very bad typist!

[spud]

and mine cos i'm trying to feed the dog,have a bath and feed hubby too,just a day in the life of any woman i suppose!:giggle
oooo that could start a right war!

actually one of the points I want to get across when i do my letter is that families in general are at the mercy of the larger tour companies.
when the government announced that it would penalise parents for taking their children out of school during term time the uk tour ops promised that prices would be brought in line to reflect that! they obviously meant that they would be doubled! we have some customers who pay more than twice the general price for holidays during the summer hols,when the hotel owners don't charge the tour companies double! you don't need to be a rocket scientist to work out who gets the profit there.

I bet someone pinches all my ideas now and gets in before me! i'd better get writing quick:giggle

[Celtygirl]

Yes, Spud, get that letter written now!

Before my eldest went to school, we used to have two holidays a year, now having to go in the school holidays, one is the same price - even booking direct, the flight price is still crippling. Last year the cheapest flights I could get were nearly £300 each, so £1200 before you even start on accomodation or food and drink!

[spud]

i'm on to it!!! after i've done the tea! well during actually,quite adept at multi tasking!:giggle
speak to you all later,keep your views coming tho,i need a bit more ammunition for this xx

[peggy]

Only once did I go AI, never again, I like to go out and about,try different things. I was surprised we went into the LosZocos tent, and all the places were for AI, one of our favorite restaurants had gone.:shkhd
Someone in the Gazettelive said "because of AI Lanza is attracting the wrong type of tourist" !!!!!! Make of that what you will.

[dave o]

hi folks,
we have only ever been all inc twice.
once to cuba £1700 the lot for 2 weeks last year and this year we went to another island(shhhhhhhhhhh!!) for £650 the lot.
if we had gone sc it would of been about £2500 with spends for cuba and about £1900 for the other island, so you see why we chose all/inc.
the last time we were in lanza,2004, we spoke to a few cafe/resturant owners and the told us about the effect all/inc hotels were causing. many were struggling and some have closed. there was one called rosies in cg which was a lovely little spanish resturant. the food was superb but sadly it has had to close through lack of custom.
i have to say that we miss the freedom of a sc holiday but the range of food etc available (especially in cuba) was fantastic.
i suppose that we will carry on with all/inc until we have a bad one and then it will be back to sc:shkhd

[Celtygirl]

The Chavs that never leave their compound!!!!

[Celtygirl]

My last post was for Peg - slow typing again!!!

[Floyd]

Stayed there in March This Year.First time we tried A I .
Great for breakfast, but I feel that I missed out on evening entertainment and atmosphere.Food was o k (especially the chinese guy). Wouldn,t to it again though!

[dave o]

cg- we always make sure that we leave the compound at least every other day. we would not go all/inc if we had to stay in the compound and be bored sh----ss!!!!!!!!!!:nono

[Celtygirl]

I agree Dave O - I still like to get out. Floyd - where did you stay - if it was the PA, I thought there was plenty evening entertainment - not that I was ever up ater 10 and I never ever found the nightclub/disco!!!

[peggy]

CG in bed by 10pm omg, I am very rarely in bed by 2am on holiday.:blush

[Celtygirl]

Yes, but my eldest has never needed much sleep, so up by 7 every morning - including holidays, so shattered by 10. Even with him staying up till 10 on holiday, 8am is a dream start!

Just trying to get him in bed now, which will be a 6am start tomorrow!!!

Conversley, youngest has been in bed since 7 and I wil need to wake him in the morning - he's more like me!!

[spud]

cg he sounds like my kind of child!!
well i've done it,sent off an email to letters daily mail condeming government policies and allowing tour ops to hike prices,might make a few sit up and think!
thanks for your posts folks,nice to get a bit of a debate going,the general trend seems to be that it's not one thing but a combination of many that are damaging tourism in the canaries,so lets se if we can stop it cos I know all you lot love coming out so spread the word!:love

dave,rosies is still here! he just moved cos the rent was too high and his wife broke her arm and they couldnt get another cook! he trades in centro commercial punta jabillio! his evening meals are lovely,but dont have his brekkies! come to me instead!!:lol

[Celtygirl]

Why the Daily Mail Spud? One of my least favourite papers, readers of whom I'd least like to meet on holiday!!!

[spud]

cause apart from the sun or the mirror it's the only other paper you can get out here daily,it's printed in tenerife! i don't agree with a lot of there journalism,or their political views either,but they have a wide reader base,so hey ho!
does that mean you won't speak to me if you saw me reading it?
:tongue I only buy it for the sudoko!!!:lol

[Celtygirl]

Ha ha!! Do read it sometimes to see what the other 5% are doing. It's circulation figure in the UK are awfull. But it's not even to do with the politics - I enjoy the Observer and the Sunday Telegraph equally as they are well written, it's the fact(IMHO) that most of their stories have no basis in truth and I'msick of Lady Di stories!(& include the Express in that)!!

Ohh, must go to bed- Mr C is engrossed in some stooopid golf tournament , which is why I'm on here!!!...sad.....

[Jackie H.]

www.websudoku.com Now you've got no excuse Spud:lol

So have you sent your letter to the UK Mail or the Tenerife one then? Be good if we could all jump on the band waggon if it's printed-maybe get some satisfaction then huh?

Us regulars are already converts so it's the ones that have never been you need to reach maybe. But feel the ones with young family's must find it an expensive holiday compared to Spain and some of the other places. And school holiday prices are just extortianate aren't they?

I often wonder if the term "small profit big turnover" would work to reverse the current situation. If flights etc were cheap enough I'm sure tourists would arrive in their droves again. And once there people enjoy spending their money out and about if they feel they are getting good value.

You also have to contend with all the reviews from people who are sick of being ripped off by the camera shops etc-that desperately needs to be dealt with by the authoritys as well.