David - I saw this report and listened to the landlords and restauranters in the resorts speaking. I felt really sorry for them, and can understand their complaints. AI isn't my favourite way of taking holidays, but I have done it 3 times in the past. I confess we spent hardly any money in the resorts. At a top hotel in Mexico we were told that as the hotel was American owned and AI, we weren't putting anything into the Mexican economy, which is true. However, when you have a couple of children who require constant supplies of pop and ice cream e.t.c SC & HB are expensive options, and you can't blame them for going AI. My son took his wife and 3 children AI last year. With everything paid for upfront, he only spent around £150 in the resort. He said he wouldn't have been able to afford to go any other way. Perhaps the answer is a decrease in the price of SC, B & B & HB, so that they once again become viable options for families.

AI isn't for me either - I've only done it once (in Cuba) and disliked the experience so much that I was glad that I was only there for 4 nights. I can, however, fully understand the attraction for families, because it does make things not only affordable but predictable in uncertain times.

At least the hotel I stayed at in Cuba was 100% locally owned and all the food was sourced locally - one of the reasons why some guests weren't happy with it because many people have got out of the habit of eating seasonally. There were imported drinks but on the whole a high precentage of what the guests were paying to stay there was going into the Cuban economy because most people had also booked through Havanatur and there were very few on packages where a big overseas TO would be taking a substantial cut of what people were paying for their holiday.

But this isn't the case for many AIs - in Cuba the big European hotel chains eg Sol Melia, fly EVERYTHING bar the rum in. And in one hotel I stayed in on a B&B basis even some of that was imported rather than being Havana Club or one of the other locally produced brands - talk about coals to Newcastle! So often about the only money that is reliably going into the local economy is the money the staff receive in wages and tips and exceedingly little else. Staff will know this and no wonder sometimes the resentment surfaces in the form of surliness or very heavy hints about gifts and tips.

I would feel a lot less anti-AI as a concept if the hotel and TOs were themselves spending locally more of the money visitors pay to stay in an AI hotel or resort. OK - so it won't put money in the pockets of local bar and restaurant owners and the tendency anyway to build big AI resorts in isolated spots away from local businesses is a whole other issue - but legal obligations on hotels and TOs to spend a % of their 'take' locally could make a difference. How it would policed I don't know - in Cuba it's done by the state taking a 50% stake in all hotels (no matter how the hotel is branded, they are all 50/50 joint ventures with the Cuban Government) so even with Sol Melia at least some of the profit is also staying within the country even if not going directly into the economy of the local area.

My biggest personal fear is that the growth of the whole AI market will eventually crowd out some of the other options and so reduce the freedom of choice of those of us who don't want to go AI. As I said, I can fully understand why AI is an attractive choice for many people, especially for families, but in the long run I think that the growing number of people choosing this option will reduce the freedom of choice for those of us who prefer something else.

And, even though I don't stay AI I have also contributed to the decline in resorts where most people do. I have learnt from experience that in areas where the majority of visitors stay AI then there is a very good chance that a lot of the bars and restaurants in the area will have closed down due to lack of business (or in the case of new developments will never even have opened in the first place) and that outside the AI hotels there will be very little available. So by never even going there in the first place, I too am not going to be spending anything either.

Sadly, I think that one of the inevitable results of the growth of the AI sector is that some resorts will become totally dominated by AI hotels and their effect on the surrounding locale will mean that nobody but AI visitors will bother visiting - so also reducing the choices for people who like to stay in an AI hotel but who also want to venture out for a change of scenary, to meet with locals other than those paid to service their needs in the hotel and taste something of local life and culture. I've never wanted to visit the Maldives because I don't want to stay on an isolated atoll populated with just other tourists but could this become the fate of lot of other destinations? Does AI, how ever unintentional, contribute to the rise of isolated, almost ghetto-like resorts with eventually fewer alterantive options? I really do hope not

SM

Having done AI a couple of times in the early days I had vowed never to do it again. However, we ARE going AI to Mexico this summer. I spent ages trying to find a hotel that did just B&B or just accomodation only. Every thing I found was dearer than the AI I have booked, which does have good reviews. This doesn't really make sense. How can a hotel be able to let you eat and drink as much as you want and be cheaper than every option I looked at ( and would have wanted to go to)? Where is the logic? I think I can work out their one- AIs are taking away from the local econony so push up the prices to make up for the fact they have fewer people paying. Meanwhile even fewer folks stay outwith AI and less and less use the restaurants and bars in the surrounding area. Its not just Mexico with this mindset. Hotels need to compete with the AIs and take prices down and not up. If they have restaurants and bars these will gain money as holidaymakers eat and drink in quite a few times.
We thought long and hard before booking AI but decided to treat it like an ordinary hotel. We may eat and drink there when we want to laze about( which we would with a normal hotel) but we fully intend to go and out and about during the day and at night. From what I've been reading the prices at restaurants are reasonable, unlike their hotels.
By the way my other AIs were in Barbados. We chose that option because I was under the impression that Barbados was too expensive. Once I actually started to do my own research I found accomodation only was a lot cheaper. Infact we could eat and drink where we wanted and spend the same as AI. You still get that margin of difference there by the way.

Difficult .. we have tended to holiday on an A/I basis for many years now and to be perfectly honest we enjoy the convenience of it and of course none of us im sure would argue that we are all entitled to spend our hard earned money on a holiday of our choice . I'll also confess we dont tend to eat or drink outside of our hotel . We do spend lot's of money on diving etc but not really sure how much of that goes back into the local economy . We buy a few nik naks as well . Surely though these A/I hotels are doing their bit by employing a vast number of local people . Why is that never mentioned. I've seen the effect a drop in visitors has to the morale and livelihoods of the Egyptian people when tourists stop arriving at the predominantly A/i hotels on the red sea and it's a very very sad sight to see. .

Someone mentioned the possibility of A/i hotels/chains working with the local restaurants to offer more dine around options . That would certainly be a move in the right direction.

Perhaps the answer is a decrease in the price of SC, B & B & HB, so that they once again become viable options for families

Trouble is I should think the main T/O's are already squeezing all the profit out for most hotels , whether it be A/I b&B or self catering . We paid £35 per night for A/I at the hilton in sharks bay egypt over easter by booking direct so that to me only shows how much the T/O's are making . It wouldnt surprise me at all if they are paying some of these B&B £5 or £10 per night .

I think AI is excellent for people with kids. When we used to take my niece on holiday it meant we weren't always shelling out for drinks and ice creams or paying for a meal that might have been left or half eaten, although she wasn't very fussy.

On one holiday to Cambrils when she was about 6 or 7 she got a boyfriend a couple of days before we were due to leave. I remember laughing when she announced that Simon was "buying me a drink"!

We have been on AI holiday where we drank more out of the hotel than in it, not because it was bad, just because we enjoyed going out to the local bars. At Xmas we were AI and had 3 dinners out and a few breakfasts as well as our usual coffee stops, again just because we wanted to.

To be honest this is is not a new issue that's being raised - and there are always those that like to go DIY, B & B, HB etc rather than AI, and those that prefer the AI package. I can totally understand why families opt for the AI method of their holiday, for the convenience and probably high on the list is the price, with larger families cost has to play an important part and AI can and does offer a good package that includes everything including lollipops etc and indeed some non motorised watersports which if priced up separately, for food, drinks treats etc would probably make it unecconomical.

Surely the AI hotels have to employ additional staff, purchase additional foods, drinks etc in the first place so would be putting back into the local economy anyway - or am I thinking too simplistic

I have enjoyed many AI holidays and some long haul with my son when he was younger, and have found an economic way to travel.

Surely the AI hotels have to employ additional staff, purchase additional foods, drinks etc in the first place so would be putting back into the local economy anyway - or am I thinking too simplistic

I think the problem is that a lot of AI hotels don't purchase the food and drinks etc locally - it's imported direct from elsewhere. Sol Melia branded hotels in Cuba don't even purchase seasonal fruit and vegetables locally - all the food served is flown in from elsewhere.

And an AI hotel doesn't necessarily need any more staff than one running on the traditional basis would - quite possibly less where they are using a buffet service as the standard dining option rather than table service from an a la carte menu. And once the AI hotels start to dominate a local labour market there is evidence that they use the power that gives them over local rates of pay to force wages down. And of course tips are an important component of the take home income of workers in the hotel and catering trade the world over. And whilst waiting on and bar staff can usually expect tips on top of their wages in ordinary bars or restaurants in most holiday resorts, this isn't always the case in AI hotels. This isn't necessarily because visitors are consciously being mean but it there's no money changing hands for drinks you need to consciously take the decision to tip rather than just automatically leaving the odd change when settling your bill etc.

As lynnwestie says, everybody is entitled to spend their money how they want and my beef is with the TOs who I think are pushing the option which is most profitable for them with very little thought to the real and damaging consequences for the local economies in many areas and also at the expense of those of us who prefer other options to large AI resort hotels.

SM

SMa wrote:

Surely the AI hotels have to employ additional staff, purchase additional foods, drinks etc in the first place so would be putting back into the local economy anyway - or am I thinking too simplistic

I think the problem is that a lot of AI hotels don't purchase the food and drinks etc locally - it's imported direct from elsewhere. Sol Melia branded hotels in Cuba don't even purchase seasonal fruit and vegetables locally - all the food served is flown in from elsewhere.

And an AI hotel doesn't necessarily need any more staff than one running on the traditional basis would - quite possibly less where they are using a buffet service as the standard dining option rather than table service from an a la carte menu. And once the AI hotels start to dominate a local labour market there is evidence that they use the power that gives them over local rates of pay to force wages down. And of course tips are an important component of the take home income of workers in the hotel and catering trade the world over. And whilst waiting on and bar staff can usually expect tips on top of their wages in ordinary bars or restaurants in most holiday resorts, this isn't always the case in AI hotels. This isn't necessarily because visitors are consciously being mean but it there's no money changing hands for drinks you need to consciously take the decision to tip rather than just automatically leaving the odd change when settling your bill etc.

As lynnwestie says, everybody is entitled to spend their money how they want and my beef is with the TOs who I think are pushing the option which is most profitable for them with very little thought to the real and damaging consequences for the local economies in many areas and also at the expense of those of us who prefer other options to large AI resort hotels.

SM

I totally agree with your sentiment SM and that comes from someone who has holidayed AI exclusively for the last few years.

In my opinion it all started to go downhill with the introduction of the Euro , this led to the "rounding up" of prices and all of a sudden eating and drinking out whilst on holiday became very similar cost wise to this country.

As a family with children we just find it makes so much sense financially , but yes smaller resorts are suffering.

On our last trip non Inclusive it was funny to see the same old faces moving from happy hour to happy hour just to keep the costs down.

The situation bit us on the backside last year as we ended up in a resort that had virtually given up restaurant wise so we didn't have much choice anyway if we wanted a change and eat out.

Unfortunately I fear soon we will have a generation who only know AI holidays

I hold my hands up and admit this Sept we will again be going AI but this time we have picked our resort wisely and plan to eat out at least five of our fourteen night stay.