Paying for extras in accomodation

I was a bit concerned for a moment there Helen, I was wondering what kind of hotels you visit

Sounds steep to me but what do I know

ooooo! Graham you're naughty - but nice!

We're off for a fortnight's B & B to Kalamaki, Zante this year and have to pay for aircon, a fridge and a safe. To be fair we did know this up front, but it sems that the fridge and safe are 30 Euros each and the aircon 50 for a week. I just hope that it isn't double those figures for a fortnight, as that adds a significant sum onto the holiday cost. Do you think these are fair prices, or a bit steep?

I think that's going to be per week. Depends what you consider a fair price, electricity to run appliances and air conditioning ain't cheap these days any where in the world and if you've booked a hotel for something like 20/30 euros a night, then they have to make up their running costs somehow.

We've actually booked a package holiday with Thomas Cook, and as I said earlier, we did know that these were going to be charged extra. However, because of where we live, we worked out that it was still cheaper to book a package, than booking flight and acomodation separately, where all these were included.

but it sems that the fridge and safe are 30 Euros each and the aircon 50 for a week. I just hope that it isn't double those figures for a fortnight,

I've just read a report dated 2009 for your hotel, and they mention paying 55 euros for a fridge for 2 weeks and air conditioning 90 euros for 2 weeks.....2 years later......that would be 60 euros and 100 euros.?

Like I said, if you've ( not meaning you) paid a cheap price for the room, then they have to make up the operational loss somehow.

Sanji

...but we haven't paid a 'cheap' price for a room. Well I don't think £1300 for 2 weeks B&B is cheap anyway I do understand that our flights are included in that price and so the cost is very reasonable but not dirt cheap. In the past we've always had things like air conditioning included when we've stayed in hotels but have had to pay extra whilst self catering.

Now talking about cheap rooms- We had a very cheap room in Spain earlier this year but the charge for aircon was very reasonable. I think the sorts of prices the Venus is charging for the 'extras' seems to be the norm with Greece which in my experience is more than most other countries.

Having never staying in anything posher than a 3* in Greece I always expect to pay extra for aircon or safe - although have never had to pay for a fridge. Although you are right £1300 is an awful lot of money Greek holidays I find do tend to come up more expensive than say Spain etc so I just factor in the extra I would need to spend when looking at holiday prices.

I think 100e is about right for 2 weeks worth of aircon in Greece. For the 3 of us this summer our 2 weeks in a Greek 2/3* is costing us over £1500 (school hols!) with aircon and safe extra. It's the price we pay for holidaying in the most beautiful place on earth!

...but we haven't paid a 'cheap' price for a room

No, you haven't, but what the TO pays for the rooms will be! This is always a big problem here in Greece, the amount the accommodation owners get per night from the TO is pitiful, so charging for the extras is essential. As someone who has to pay for their own electricity I can tell you the aircon doesn't get used until I am really suffering, it's bloody expensive to run!

Although you are right £1300 is an awful lot of money

Oops, I shoujld have said that's for 2 of us I don't mind paying for the air conditioning but when you add that to the cost of the safe and fridge it takes the cost of the holiday per person up to around £750. That's still good during summer holidays but it's lucky we've booked with Thomas Cook because it would have been much more with Thomson.

Well I've had a nice prompt reply from Nick the owner, and these are the prices for 2 weeks
-A/C is 90 euros for two weeks -Fridge is 55 euros for two weeks - Safe is 50 euros for two weeks. It's slightly cheaper than double the price for a week, so it's not too bad.

Thats one of the reasons why we choose s/c over b/b , because of the facilities in the room......... knowing we have a fridge and kettle without having to hire them makes a difference , obviously pay for the safe and dont usually bother with air conditioning because we are not in the room long enough to use it so why pay for something your not going to use , the prices quoted do seem very high compared to what we have been told for the apts we are going to be using £135euros for 2 weeks air conditioning and safe ........ we prefer s/c to b/b because we dont always want breakfast first thing so for us we will be paying for something we wont be having

My holiday this year to Zante is cheaper than last years holiday in Crete same time of year peak weeks and both s/c
Zante £1100. Crete £1358

I would take a copy of your email from the owner with you - just to be on the safe side

Good idea hippyjack We don't mind whether it's Sc or B & B llindy. We always eat brekkie, but depending on what is on offer at the accomodation, we sometimes go out for it. Shirley & I will share a safe - we've done this in the past several times, and if we're lucky enough to have rooms next door to each other, which is what we'll be requesting, then we'll probably share the fridge as well. This will bring the cost down significantly.

good thinking .never thought of that.............. really cant wait to go now

Going for a week to Zante this Thursday and will also have to pay for any extras, aircon is approx 50euros for the week, which personally I think is a bit steep and adding on safe and fridge hire that takes the original holiday price up quite a lot.
I am going to take a small fan, (which I shall probably leave there because of weight restrictions) and see if that is sufficient for cooling the room down, only really want a bit of cool air for sleeping, otherwise no sleep for a week!!, Will try it for the first night and if it is still unbearably hot in the room will have to pay for the air conditioning......Caz

Helen email Nick with your request for rooms next to each other now, even if your not next to each other im sure you wouldnt be too far away so sharing a fridge would still be an option.
we are staying b&b at cronulla and as far as i know the fridge is included but know we have to pay for aircon and safe when we get there, we booked direct with them as thats the only option, we've never been able to stay there before as normally our daughter is with us but shes not coming this year and we always used to have breakfast there anyway and use their pool so we thought why not

aircon is approx 50euros for the week, which personally I think is a bit steep

Read my previous post, this is not expensive compared to what it costs them, it costs us about that much on our electricity bill if we use it for only a couple of days a week. I know of places that charge more than that too. It would be ideal if some sort of meter could be fitted to every room & you only pay for what you use! Far too many people have it on virtually all the time, costing far more than they are paying, so prices are based on an average. As an example, an accommodation owner friend had one person in a studio that went out every day from about 9am until 5 or 6pm & left it on all day. Their reason was, once they were discovered doing this & confronted, was 'so that the room was nice & cool when they got back'. Soooo selfish, it would only take a few minutes to cool the room down on their return, not the 8 or 9 hours it had been left on!

No, you haven't, but what the TO pays for the rooms will be! This is always a big problem here in Greece, the amount the accommodation owners get per night from the TO is pitiful, so charging for the extras is essential.

It's the same in Spain and I often wonder just how these hotels manage to keep operating, if you take the price of £750 and deduct approx £200 off for the flight, you're paying £275 per week per person, divided by 7 days is roughly £39 per person per night and that's before the TO takes their cut, so can you imagine what the hotel is getting.?

They couldn't do it, they couldn't cover their operation costs of providing free safes, fridges and air conditioning and paying the chamber maid's wages alone, plus all the cleaning stuff they have to buy, the laundry bills, etc.

But at least these things are optional, although IMO hiring a safe is one of the main priorities and whilst paying €4 a day for a fridge seems a lot, which is less than £4, you can save that by buying drinks cheaper from the supermarket to put inside it.
Air conditioning is a luxury and it's expensive to run it, IMO if you go to a hot country, then it's going to be hot and if you want the luxury of air conditioning, then you'll have to pay the price.
Just my opinion.