The truth about "all inclusive" holidays and what to beware of

I’m sure we all know of the term “all-inclusive holidays” but what I’m not sure of, is if everyone is really and truly aware of what they actually provide and how much of a danger to your wallet they could be. Just for context I'll briefly explain what it is so that it can be used as a checklist for when I discuss situations where the checklist hasn’t been met later on in this blog.

All-inclusive holidays (AIH) are packages that are presumed to cover the costs of:

• Flight/transport*

• Baggage costs (if limit hasn’t been exceeded)

• Transfers*

• Hotel*

• Room service*

• Food (minimum 3 meals a day) plus snacks and drinks*

• Activities/Excursions (in some cases)

• Other services depending on the company, type of holiday booked, and money paid

Not all AIH include the same services in their packages, however the one’s marked with a star on the list are the minimum requirements for them to even be classed as AI, with the excursions and other services being complimentary/optional to the travel agency to provide.

One thing to note is to know the difference between AIH and “full board” holidays. The confusion is evident through the similarity of Full board as it provides customers with breakfast, lunch and dinner (all included in the price of the hotel); however, it does not cover flight expenses, transfers or other services. It is simply focused on the hotel and the meals they provide. Therefore “half board” would only offer two meals (breakfast and either lunch or dinner) unlike AI which includes all three plus snacks and drinks. AI also tends to be unlimited, meaning you can eat as much as you’d like. Knowing the difference between all of these is essential in guiding you to choosing the best package for you and knowing what to expect.

My experience

My AIH to Cancun, Mexico earlier this year brought me to a shock. For the most part I knew what to expect beforehand, in terms of costs that would be covered by the package and costs that I would need to cover myself. However, I was surprised when I ended up spending much more than planned.

The price of the baggage was not included in the overall price of the package, even though I had a reasonable weight of luggage. I had to pay for it twice both going and coming back which was a costly £100 altogether.

Sure, it could be said that I should have done deeper research so I would have known this, but the travel agency did not specify that luggage would not be included, in fact they advertised on their booking website that it was, which caused me to become misled.

On top of this, when we went to the check in desk, it turns out that we (me and my friend) hadn’t been assigned seats yet as the package we booked was the ‘cheapest’, and that was basic economy.

We were told that if we wanted to sit next to each other we’d have to choose the ‘upgrade’ option and pay additional costs in order to do so as seats were very limited; when I was told this I couldn’t tell whether the check-in officer was joking or not because the situation was gradually becoming quite laughable. My friend gave the check-in officer a piece of her mind, so we did not end up paying extra.

However, we were sat in one of the worst seats possible which was in the middle, right near the toilets and a walkway that passengers kept using as a shortcut to get to and from each side of the cabin so every two seconds I’d have to keep moving my feet for them to cross back and forth and this continued for the entire plane ride.

If you aren’t already aware, here’s the difference between economy and basic economy.

Basic Economy:

• No seat (s) assigned until after check-in, not together

• No changes allowed

• Cancel for Partial eCredit (ticket minus $99/person)

• Last to board flight and not eligible for upgrades

• No miles earned, no credit towards SkyMiles Medallion Status

VS

Economy:

• Select and change seats at any time

• Changes allowed with no change fees

• Cancel for full value

• Earlier access to overhead bins and eligible to purchase upgrades

• Miles and credit for SkyMiles Medallion Status on paid tickets

As you can see, for a basic economy, the quality of service is sacrificed for the cheap cost, which is not worth it.

This information was obtained from the official Delta website for evidence purposes. Check the link below for more information.

Basic Economy | Delta Air Lines

At the hotel, I was given a clear, AI wristband that granted me access to all the hotel restaurants. However, little did I know that they all required reservations, which was again, not specified until last minute, extremely hard to book and quite inconvenient; I found out this information the day of my arrival and by then all the restaurants were fully booked for the night so I had no choice but to order room service since it was late and despite the food being free, we had to pay ‘delivery costs’, which was frustrating as the restaurants were below our rooms and no effort was required to deliver it upstairs.

At this point it seemed like we were being charged for the fun of it.

Lastly, the most unexpected cost I came across was during my ATV (all-terrain vehicle tour) excursion, which restricted us from taking pictures as we were told we had to put away our belongings, including phones in a locker, which again I paid $5 for.

This excursion was not included in the price of my holiday package as I booked all my excursions separately, however on the description of the excursion website, they stated it was all inclusive so they would provide transportation to and from the hotel to the adventure location, food and drinks and “all other costs”.

They provided transportation, food and drinks, but I had to pay to rent the locker as well as pay to be sent pictures of myself that the photographer had taken. It then all started making sense to me - the whole reason why they didn't allow phones was not so they could be held responsible if it got lost or damaged, but to prevent people from taking pictures on their own phones when they could be charged for them instead.

The photographer must have thought he was doing me a favour and offering an amazing deal when he said to me “original price is $100 for all photos & videos but for you and your friend I’ll do it for $50.” I couldn’t tell if he was serious or not at first but when I realised, he was, I did not hold back and expressed my outrage for how ludicrous the prices were. After this, he offered to reduce it to $30 and said it was his final price. I ended up accepting the offer, but it just angers me that if I hadn’t stood my ground, I would have been scammed. This just goes to show how you will be taken advantage of as a tourist, not matter where you go, unless you are a familiar with the country/language/culture etc. It's also best to have a basic understanding of the currency exchange rates for each travel destination.

Me and my friend on the quad bike, all smiles before finding out we were going to be charged for this picture.

I personally think that the pictures should have been free and included in the total price of the excursion, however I paid for them solely for the purpose of having those memories. It required a lot of bravery for me to do some of the activities that were part of the ATV tour such as riding the quad bike, ziplining across insane heights and finally mustering up the courage to deep dive into a cenote. I’m glad these moments were captured on camera as I wanted it to be more than just a flashback in my mind but instead of memories that I could actually look back on and remember

Me ziplining after having a mental breakdown over my fear of heights and being given a 20-minute pep talk to persuade me into finally doing it.

Me risking my life jumping into a 390 feet deep cenote.... I still to this day cannot believe I built the courage to do this!