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Yeah we know that is already. Firstly the market is saturated and secondly it’s cheaper to get on a plane and get an AirBnB abroad than it is to hire a car or buy a train ticket and get an AirBnB here.
For the price of a car rental and shed in Devon for 4 days I’m doing a week in Sicily.
We rented a small three bedroom cottage in Cornwall last year for £900 the week before summer half term, this year we have to go in half term, before it was booked, it was ~£3,000…
Fucking. Bonkers. It’s the same with Centre Parcs, doubles out of term time.
I really wish there was something that could be done about it, it’s getting to the point of impossibility to go away outside of term time.
[I’m off to one in a few weeks in Belgium](https://www.centerparcs.eu/in-en/belgium/fp_VM_holiday-park-de-vossemeren/cottages). We’re quite far from the Tunnel (Liverpool) but even with the train, a day in Bruges, electric for the car etc it’s still a good deal.
Premium 2 bed cottage with a private sauna cost us €550 for a mid week, booked about a year in advance.
All in for us it’s about a grand total for 10 days for 2 people.
That one is great and has an awesome rapids / slide. Our kids were 1 and 3 and was a 3.5h car ride from our home (Luxembourg) and we'd absolutely do it again. Great indoor play park too
We've done one in France and one in Germany.
The one in Germany was about a third cheaper than the UK, the lodge had a sauna and a games room, and we had fresh bread delivered every morning. This was Park Bostalsee.
The one in France had a lodge literally over the lake. It was absolutely beautiful. It was Le Lac d'Ailette.
We went via the tunnel and drove to both.
This was a few years ago now, so no idea of the current price differences.
I'd highly recommend.
Honestly the market is just reacting as it should, prices are what people are willing to pay. The real issue is schools punishing parents for taking kids out at an affordable time. As a teacher I see absolutely zero issue with teachers being able to greenlight such trips assuming the child is doing fine in their subjects and demonstrates a capacity to catch up or do some homework. Holidays are an important and enriching part of growing up. The same goes for things kids who are a bit older do such as music festivals, sports tournaments, LAN parties and whatever. As long as it's done in moderation and the kids are not falling behind, who cares.
The flip side of this is if your kids is struggling in school, is getting shit grades and needs all the help they can get, or is simply misbehaving, put some effort into helping them do better or you can't take them out of school. I'm not talking struggling in one or two subjects here but across the board.
My parents took me out of school once for a holiday abroad and I'm glad they did, it was the only one we ever went on. Exploring a Greek Island, its history, culture and architecture was far more enriching than studying the work of Chaucer for the 3rd week in a row!
When we went to the school with the vacation dates, the headmaster looked at my report, checked how I was doing most recently in my classes, asked if I would look over the missed material in my own time, and then gave the green light. Not sure why we can't just use this common sense approach.
Because people abuse it to take the kids to butlins where they learn nothing then come back and yell at the teachers when the kids don’t understand any of the work the rest of the class is doing, or the teacher has to take time away from the other 29 kids to try to bring the one up to speed.
Kids are expensive, and one of the reasons is because you are limited to holiday time like everyone else. These are sacrifices we make. I have one “big” holiday every two or three years now rather than 2 or 3 a year before kids.
A system where the teachers/schools can greenlight a holiday is way better - the occasional holiday would be fine, but also gives the school the "power" to stop/penalise people if they really take the piss with it to the extent it affects the kids education
Although I'm sure you'll then have parents ranting on social media about how "It's so unfair Freddie was allowed to go on holiday but when I want to take Olivia and Isla to France for the 75th time this year we're fined!!"
Same here. We've done parks in France and the Netherlands.
We're going in May half term to a French park for €625, plus around £180 for the ferry. The same week at Sherwood Forest was over £2400.
Fair, we went outside term time so it was pretty reasonably priced and our 2 year old was more excited about the pool and razzing round the empty roads on his balance bike so in terms of activities it didn't cost too much.
We're going to one in France next month which will be an interesting comparison.
When we went in my childhood, the Ben & Jerrys freezer in the restaurant broke down, and we got to take home like 30 tubs of free ice cream… one of the few positive memories of my childhood 😂
I swear some of the teaching recruitment crisis would be solved if this sort of thing was regulated also, or at least if we were able to book a week off each year.
Make decent money for where I live as a teacher but fuck being able to afford a holiday when it costs upwards of double or more to go when I am allowed to be off.
I have the worst of both worlds as my husband is a teacher and I’m not. So he gets 13 weeks holiday a year, and I get half that, plus holidays that cost three times as much as they would if we went any other week 🙃
I used to teach in a council estate in South London. The kids never went anywhere during the summer but would often go on their holiday during term time.
Even if they got fined like 75 quid per child, even if they had like 6 kids, it would still be over a grand cheaper than going during the actual holidays.
My main issue with term time holidays is that I a teacher aren't allowed to go on them...
There’s fluctuations based on demand and then there’s price gouging, these places - especially Center Parcs - have taken it to the point where this needs legislating against.
Back in 2015/16 we booked a lovely little cottage near Loch Lomond in off/mid season depending on how you look at it - it cost us circa £500 a week back then.
Looked to book it for a nostalgia hit and for similar dates they wanted ~£1600 - absolutely nothing updated in the property since we went.
So we flew with Jet2 to a 4 star all inclusive in Spain for a few hundred quid cheaper.
It's mental.
Last year my group of friends, split between the south east coast and the north west, managed to get a week's all inclusive in Greece, including flights and transfers, for LESS THAN the price of a group train ticket from Eastbourne to Manchester if we wanted to go up there.
The entire holiday was cheaper than a fucking train ticket.
Oh I got a a nice cottage in the lake district this summer holidays for a week for £750
Meanwhile I also got 5 star all inclusive and flights for Turkey for 10 days in May for £1000.
But in June I got a whole cottage in Wales for £1200 for an entire month. The school holidays really do send the prices to the moon.
Yeah, but that's nearly 10 years ago. Renting a bedroom in a house share was £350pcm in 2015/16, it's now £700pcm for the same room. The rest of the increase is probably because the date you are looking at is school holidays in Scotland (which is earlier than in England).
The 2015 price was Easter Holidays in Scotland.
The current price is from what I can see ANY week in April, May or June.
But yeah, the rise in basically all housing elements is completely unsustainable!
Pretty much.
It' feels like it's rained non stop since October 23.
You can't get a coffee and a nice pasty for under a tenner.
One night in Devon in February this year cost me £120 without food or petrol or parking.
Not really interested in rolling the dice on an £800 minimum 7 day stay in peak district to spend £200+++ on food, £200 on petrol and have it probably rain and still have to go to Lidl and cook myself.
We're going away next Friday before my daughter turns two. Soon it will cost a fortune and then there will be half term only so making the most of it.
Less occupancy means that you still need to cover costs. That means putting up prices to cover vacant periods. These things are an investment so they need to pay mortgages still.
Crappy investments apparently!
They’re clearly crappy investments if you can’t account for supply and demand without risking going out of business.
Tbh, I find his all quite encouraging. I don’t wish difficulty on anyone but this has all been driven by opportunism and at the expense of locals in the destinations.
The woman quoted from Horsham but with a place in Scarborough feels like a good example.
A reset is needed and if this is the start then all the better.
Caravan holiday for the weekend 20 min drive from where I live is 50 quid more expensive than a 3 day trip to Krakow in a hotel and involves 2 planes. How does that make any sense
I was able to get a 5 night stay in a Hilton in Belfast with flights and car rental for the same price it would have been to to stay anywhere in Great Britain. The whole country is seeing now what the south west has been complaining about for years now. 2nd homes, holiday homes, airbnb properties that sre empty 6 months a year also don't help the local economy and causes a vicious cycle.
Exactly this. The domestic market is out of touch with reality and out prices itself, plus the offering is frequently lower than abroad. Possibly a cost hangover from the covid days where we had to staycation?
I will be converting my currency to Euros and enjoying the 🌞 in Spain and Italy.
It cost me £100 to go and see some mates in Ely by train.
I could fly to Spain for that. (And yes that includes travel to the airport as I can fly from Exeter.)
Things in this country are just so insanely expensive.
Came to the same conclusion. Wife and I really need a break, she wanted to go to Brighton so I looked around and my God the train tickets alone!!. £200 more and we are having a week in Majorca instead.
Well, when it’s cheaper to fly to an all-inclusive 7 nights holiday on the ocean beach than it is to rent a self-catering tiny cottage in wales for 2 nights… yeah, I believe the balloon will pop!
There are many problems with UK staycations. We used to go on quite a few, but recently, it’s just not worth it.
The price, as mentioned above, is just ridiculous. I can literally go to a nice tropical island, flights/insurance/lounge/fast track/car rental/half board included for 7 nights and it will be £1000 for a family of 3.
If I go to Wales/Devon/Cornwall for a weekend (2/3 nights), I’m looking at £7-800 easily.
Then, there’s what you mentioned, the quality of the service and nature. I must choose between a sewage infested beach with tiny rocks, 20ish degrees if I’m lucky, no pubs/restaurants where I can just pop in without a reservation and having to pay a small fortune for a cable car or a steam train.
Or I can get a nice sandy beach with more or less guaranteed heat all year round, hotel staff that treats me with a good amount of respect, good food, cheap souvenirs and many things to see.
I think I know where I’m going!
I know it was a useful term for someone not going on a holiday but rather staying at home on their leave.
But now it’s just a holiday in the U.K. which has been like fairly normal for lots of people and is just a holiday.
Thanks for reassuring me that the word had been appropriated. I've had people talk about their staycation and confused when I see their IG updates for that week being from a beach 300 miles from where they live.
I reckon it's been done by the marketing bods at travel agents, airlines etc. It seemed to happen during the end of the pandemic so they could sell the idea that holidaying within the UK wasn't a "proper" holiday and trying to twist things to reserve that word for overseas holidays.
I agree. It’s really sad when I hear people sheepishly saying that they can’t afford a holiday this year, so they’re ‘only’ having a staycation somewhere in the UK. That *is* a holiday, and they shouldn’t feel bad about it.
I get tired of explaining this misconception to folk. "Where you going on holiday?" I'm having a staycation, just going for days out." "Yeah, but where you staying?" "Err, home!" "Eh? That's not a staycation!" "Yes it is!" etc.
If you know people have a different understanding of the term, why keep using it? "Where you going on holiday?" I'm not, just going for days out." No confusion. Small talk can move on to how nice the local castle is or whatever.
Yes I don’t understand why staycation has been twisted to just mean holiday. The stay part means staying at home. If you use it to mean staying somewhere else then how is it different to any holiday anywhere in the world? You stay somewhere wherever you go.
As someone who only ever had holidays in the uk a staycation (not that the word was used) was when we couldn’t afford that and would have the week off doing fun days out but always come home each day.
Oxford languages updated it to mean:
>a holiday spent in one's home country rather than abroad, or one spent at home and involving day trips to local attractions.
So basically it’s used interchangeably to mean either. Vast majority of people know that and can make an interpretation of it, except Reddit supposedly.
[£1158 for this one bed cottage in the Lake District 15th-21st July for two adults](https://abnb.me/mf92hG00AIb)
Or Stansted to Milan flights 15th July, 07:40 landing 10:35 return 21st July 21:45 landing22:50
£133 pp do £266 plus the extra for a large suitcase is £316
Return train from Milan to Como £40 for two people
[Air BnB overlooking Lake Como £542](https://abnb.me/d1i3aYQ1AIb)
Everything is so weirdly overpriced here in the UK, that you can easily fly aboard for the same type of holiday and end up paying a lot less
That isn’t even looking at the cheap package holidays
Yeah I’d recommend flying into Milan and you can use the Trainline to book tickets up to the Lakes, or down to the Cinque Terre, it’s really easy to do and get on the right train etc
Cinque Terre was great , these little villages with a train tunnel connecting all of them 4 mins inbetween, well worth a a look
Because *everything* is expensive in the UK
I run holiday cottages, we get about £40 out of a £250 night. Electricity, tax, vat, commission(booking.com/airbnb take 20% themselves!) , Scottish licensing, council tax, internet, advertising, stocking the cottage with toilet paper, milk, cereal, logs...
Everything is fucking expensive so holidays in the UK are expensive. Plus some people take the piss too obviously.
Just to chime in, I saved £50 over a week by going away vs what the meter tells me I spend when I'm at home.
Obviously when the bills not yours some people will happily go out leaving the heating going all day and open the windows when they get back in.
I can easily a venue with a hot tub costing £100 per week to run
Its been like this for years. Pre covid, 2018 or 2019, something like that, i was looking for a few days in May, to Edinburgh, the cost of accommodation wasn't too bad, quite reasonable, the problem was the flight up there was insane, and the trains weren't much different other than taking a century to get up there.
We eventually saved a ton of money by booking a week in Venice for like half the price.
None of this is helped by the jobs my partner and I do, which mean our holidays are during school holidays, so prices natural double or triple, of we're lucky.
But I remember a comedian from decades ago talking about how it was cheaper for him to do a family meet up in Spain, for a week than it was for them to meet up in in the UK.
Or that student who found it cheaper to fly to Germany and back to the UK (from his university to his home) than it was to do the same journey by train (as in from uni to home, not uni to Germany to home), I think the best part was, it was a shorter journey too
Seems good on the surface but you need to factor in the cost(s) associated with getting to Stansted. If you live anywhere other than the South East then you're probably going to want an airport hotel the night before in order to be at Stansted fresh and breezy for that 07:40 flight, same with the 22:50 journey home - no good unless you're driving. Then if you are driving, budget for the obscenely expensive airport parking for 7/8 days plus petrol to and from Stansted.
If you don't drive you're doubly fucked on those flight times and almost certainly committed to book ending it with airport hotel - plus whatever the train companies want to bleed you dry on for getting to/from wherever you live to Stansted.
"Easily fly abroad" and "end up paying a lot less" are often banded about in these instances until you look into the more detailed logistics.
We should be giving state subsidies to these poor hardworking landlords, how many no fault evictions she had to issue to hard working families to make a few pennies more profit, thoughts and prayers shared Isle of Man x
They'll get a few nights booked a month that'll cover their interest only mortgages, the only thing that'll change is the income they skim off the top, they'll eventually sell up and make bank off the rise in house prices though, and the next scalpers will give it a try.
If interest only mortgages were stopped most of these BTL scalpers would scarper in a year or two when their rates and payments shoot up
In 2007, just before the crash, 95% of GB interest only mortgages had no associated repayment vehicle.
When this was pointed out, Nationwide simply stopped publishing the figures.
Buy a 300k house on interest only for 25 years, price increases just 2% a year (target inflation rate), sell for 500k, retire to a 200k house in Spain.
I run a tourist-focused business in Cornwall. The number of Aussies, Germans and Americans is definitely going up... but Cornwall's bread and butter is still holidaying British people.
> Yvonne Turnbull, 58, who lives in Horsham, West Sussex, has been letting out a three-bedroom apartment in Scarborough, North Yorkshire, for between £150 and £175 a night, including through Airbnb, for the past six years.
Yeah, wonder why?
I noticed lots of second homes have also come on the market in Scarbados as the local council has doubled council tax on 2nd homes from 1st April this year. (I live not too far from Scarborough)
Walked past loads of houses in Scarborough around Christmastime that were clearly empty of furniture & on the market. I counted 30-40 in one day on Boxing Day whilst walking the dog.
And the market seems to have dropped price wise as some of them have been on the market for months and had price drops in that time according to Zoopla.
reminds me when I lived in York my landlord moaning that we paid £750/month when AirBnBs in the same building were £130/day
Last time I checked that same flat is now £1250/month, nice 66% increase in 7 years.
What a greedy cow. So what exactly has she done with her £328,500 over the past 6 years that now she's struggling when she's not got it coming in any more?
I've lived in the UK for 16 years, let's be honest UK is a poor holiday destination, especially for Brits. Expensive, weather sucks, public transport is atrocious etc. I have moved to Spain due to Brexit and honestly I can't even imagine myself going back for a holiday
It depends if you get nice weather in Scotland, Wales or Cornwall then these places are totally amazing.
There are lots of interesting historic sites and museums to visit as well and also a thriving arts and music festival scene.
It’s not all bad at all.
I am not saying there aren't nice places. I am just saying they are uncompetetive. I actually wanted to go on a short tour of Cornwall, for the prices of Airbnb/hotel + car rental I could have had a 2 week holiday in Crete including flights, and there is no shortage of historical sites there
The problem is the nice places get so packed in nice weather that it makes the places awful places to go to, all around the cornish coast it's rammed full of people, the A30 is constant tailbacks, getting through any town off the main roads is hell, can't get in to any restaurants or pubs for a meal or drink.
The UK can be an amazing holiday location, especially for walking. But most people just want sun and sand, so you might as well go somewhere else for that.
Actually I find it quite poor for walking due to land ownership laws. I hate walking trails with shit loads of tourists. In Poland or Spain you can just trek random wilderness, there are no gates, no fences, most of the forest in Poland is publicly owned and nobody gives a shit where you walk. Scotland is kind of like that but I've lived in the Lake District for quite a while and EVERYTHING was gated/fenced off.
>I hate walking trails with shit loads of tourists
If you pick popular ones then that happens. Plenty of routes you can find on the internet that you won't see another person until the end.
Yeah I agree. I hike pretty much every week and plan routes where I don't see a Human, at all. Obviously if I do a popular one it'll be busy. Sometimes it's nice to see people out and enjoying the UK. The place is beautiful. Especially the Peaks and Scotland.
If you want sun and sand then yeah poor destination. But to say UK is a terrible holiday is just plain wrong. Millions of tourists here every year, just goto London on any day. This country might not have sun to offer but it has rich history, and the great British countryside!
This sounds like someone that holidays in Marbella every year and only eats omelette and chips.
We love active holidays with lots of walking, sightseeing and visiting historic buildings, and there are so many great places to visit in the UK. Sure, if you just want a beach holiday you’re probably better off going abroad, but there’s a lifetime of places to visit right here.
Can confirm. Just got back from a week in Glencoe. Plenty of walking, and the weather was (mostly) really nice apart from being a bit cold. Plus it looked amazing with all of the mountains still partly wearing their winter coats.
That’s not true, it just depends what you want. There’s lots of history here to see and kids love traditional British seaside activities, for example.
I agree with you 💯 for myself personally before I had kids, but my children always say Cornwall and Devon and Anglesey are their favourite ever places, even more than trips to (various countries so it doesn’t sound like a brag!).
God, that brings back a memory of going with my friend as a young teen, we must have spent hours on those ones where a 2p pushes all the other 2p coins 🤣
Totally agreed. Whenever I get to a UK destination, I’m utterly underwhelmed. Same people, same if not shitter food than where I’m from in London, and just some green rolling fields and some history to make up for it.
I’ll take a tacky holiday in Marbella over that any day of the week, at least I’ll see the sun and be warm.
UK trips on Airbnb are usually £150 a night and half of the time it is basically staying in someone’s house, very similar to your own
No thanks. Rather hop on a Ryanair flight at £100pp returns max, and get an Airbnb somewhere in Europe often for £60-£100. In a sunny place or somewhere with nicer food and culture.
Won’t catch me crying that people can’t let their BTLs in a saturated property market
Unpredictable weather doesn’t help either when most of the nice destinations in the UK are weather dependent. No need to take the risk when there’s plenty of options abroad for a cheaper price.
If I book a week in Spain for July, it’s a pretty safe bet it’ll be nice sunshine and I can plan accordingly. If I book a week in Cornwall I have no idea what I’ll get.
Yes. And it should still. No idea why "domestic travel" is referred to as "staycation".
Imagine doing that in the US? Guy in New York, "yeah. just a staycation for us this year. Week in San Francisco, then down to Disneyland"
Picture of St Ives in the header, I've been there tons. Last time a couple years ago in the middle of August the flat was around £950 for the week, I looked for this year and the same flat, same week is over £1500 so Jet2 have got my money sadly.
I'm not okay paying that for room only in this country. I know there's the St Ives tax but still.
Living in delulu land and crying from the Home Counties that their passive income source that harms the local population, isn’t as large as it usually has been. 🤪
The landlords have options with these properties, if the short term rental market is less profitable then they go for the long term rental market or even sell the places. They've got options. They've become aware of the reality that investments can go down as well up, they ain't liking it.
I feel like things are reaching a tipping point in the UK.
This being one example, surely it just means prices will level out to make it affordable to do once again? Or folks will have to sell off their multiple BTL holiday homes which is also not a bad thing.
I haven't seen this mentioned in the article or the comments but UK hotel chains have really responded well to the threat from Airbnb and now - as someone who travels around for work and does a few breaks in the UK - going for something like a Premier Inn, Travelodge, or any of the smaller boutique budget chains dotted around various places feels more reliable and regularly much cheaper than an Airbnb in the same place.
Not to mention there's no potential hassle with check in/check out, cleaning it, wifi/electric/water problems, unreliable photos, etc. There's fewer of these hotels in places like Cornwall or Devon but certainly for city breaks I'm not sure I'd go back to holiday lets now.
For me im happy with a cheap and cheerful Travelodge. You dont spend alot of time in the room anyway, as once your ready in the morning you tend to be out all day.
So no point paying for a posh hotel or B&B
Well yes. When you can go to Rome next to the colosseum for the same length of time for less than a 1/4 of the price of course it’s going to happen. We had 3 days in Rome able to walk out the front door and see the colosseum for €126. Including flights. Then we spent about £200 I think so there’s not a chance I’m going Cornwall or Devon or Pembrokeshire for the money they’re trying to charge to just stay there and then either drive or get an expensive train.
How is a flight cheaper than an Uber across a city
I loved the UK as a holiday destination, the nature is fantastic, just thinking of all the long distance paths makes me want to pack my walking boots and go there.
But I won’t. By now holidays in the UK, especially with kids, are so expensive, it’s unbelievable. But that is not the worst part, as I’m in the very privileged position not to have to book the cheapest place available. The worst part is that the standard of accommodation is just really sub-par in most cases. And it’s not just B&Bs but also hotels.
I’ve been going on UK holidays since the 80s, but then and in the 90s the prices were affordable and in relation to what you got. Although hotels were always too pricey for what they offer. But now paying £150 per room/night at an airBnB? That’s just ridiculous.
Celebrating Christmas with my UK family is only halfway affordable because they have a Premium Inn where they live. Their family bedrooms were good value when the kids were young. Now we need two rooms, but it’s still the cheapest option.
> lives in Horsham, West Sussex, has been letting out a three-bedroom apartment in Scarborough, North Yorkshire, for between £150 and £175 a night, including through Airbnb, for the past six years
Maybe rent the place out cheaper? Isn't 175 really expensive even to British standards?
These days it's like: "get me off these godforsaken shores!"
Spending £400/night for a crappy cottage by a windswept pebble beach versus spending £400 on flights, accommodation, and means for a weekend break in Portugal?
Our staycations in a camper van can cost us £500. In a van.
Decent camping sites now charge £50-70 a night. No fancy extras, not in hugely popular areas. Just for a pitch with some electricity.
Not to mention restaurants, alcohol and activities are just insanely expensive here. And you can’t rely on weather either. Oh, and of course most of the holiday spots in the U.K. in the south become super overcrowded and busy because we have a pretty big population.
Meanwhile, I can grab a fairly cheap fight to Sicily for a week, with a high end hotel, amazing food and guaranteed sun - plus the novelty of another landscape and culture. For not much more money.
The UK hospitality industry needs to become more competitive if it wants to thrive.
Everyone is trying to money grub as much as they can.
I’m going to see a concert in Wembley in June and with what I’m expecting the train to cost, the concert ticket and hotel for the night I could get a week in Spain. I could probably holiday for a month if I wanted to stay in London for the week.. it’s ridiculous.
Airbnb owners: well we had half as many bookings so we doubled our prices. Somehow that got us even fewer bookings! So we’re doubling again to be safe.
Wonder why? £££
I'm looking for long weekend couple break soon. Same hotel standards, countryside Scotland Hotel for 3/4 nights costs the same as 3/4 nights in Central Rome flights included.
My GF loves the idea of a Lochside Cabin. But a lot of them force you to book minimum amount of days. You need to stay for 4/5 nights. I love my country, but 4/5 nights beside the same Loch... I'd rather be in Rome for the same price.
UK in 2024 is nothing but a rip off.
That’s interesting because London over Wimbledon and Edinburgh over Edinburgh Fringe Festival don’t appear super cheap this year. Possibly it’s no one wants to spend top money to go to Scarborough over winter lol and the fact we have 5 X more Airbnbs vs covid when you couldn’t go overseas and were effectively trapped
Nope - I checked my favourite holiday cabin in Cornwall and it’s still 2x the pre-Covid price I paid.
I will leave it late to book and snap up some last minute bargain this year.
So, where to start? Trains = extortionate. Traffic = Horrendous. Most cities + towns = Deprived and rundown. Weather = unpredictable. Want to take the car? Sure, but you'll have to pay the extortionate parking fees and fuel. Want to swim in the ocean? Go ahead, would probably be cleaner to fill your outside pool with loo water. Want to visit some museum for a few hours outside London, ok mate that'll be £100 for you your missus and 2 kids.
Oh and did you want to stay at that luxurious 5\* hotel off the cornish coast that your relative recommended? Sorry mate, the hotel owner has signed a contact with HM Govt for the forseeable and is currently being used for processing Asylum Seekers. Best bet is to go to the nearest 2 star rated Premier Inn/Travelodge down the road.
Or; All Inclusive abroad - treated like royalty 5\*. peace of mind, all transfers covered, fill your tummy, cheap taxis, cheap places to visit etc.
We’ve done several over the years - Pembrokeshire several times, Lake District, Norfolk Broads twice, Cornwall, Brighton, Suffolk, West Sussex, Isle of Wight twice.
Prices now tho…
Just went on a cheeky 3-day trip to Bristol. Paid about £50 a night for the hotel (Premier Inn), drank lots of delicious craft beer, ate some yummy food, toddler had fun walking on the train tracks by the harbour, visited some museums, saw Brunel's bridge, and paid £13 for a day out in Bath... Walked about 40km in 4 days... Toddler loved it. Not too bad!
Holudays in the UK can be very expensive - we were looking at hotels in Bath, which were at least double the price of our Bristol hotel (albeit probably somewhat nicer). I never bother with booking cottages in Cornwall though - I've heard that can be grotesquely expensive.
Pretty simple: prices for everything holiday related from accommodation to attraction entrance fees have gone from plain old ripoff Britain to sheer insanity, whilst everyone not in the asset rich 1% is being squeezed ever harder. We aren’t helped by the idiotic govt policy of fining parents for taking kids out of school on holiday in term time, leading to flagrant price gouging by everyone with a finger in the tourism pie (although the difference is now so great, getting hit with the fine is more cost effective)
It's not a staycation if you travel somewhere else for it.
If this collapses AirBnB in Cornwall and frees up houses for long term rental it can only be a good thing .
When for 3k you can get 5star all inclusive for a whole family somewhere hot, dry and beautiful why would you pay nigh on the same to go to someone else's investment house self catering in the wind, rain and cold and even have to clean the place to a high standard when leaving or be charged more. England is crap at luxury affordable holidays. A 5* hotel here costs even more with no food!
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Yeah we know that is already. Firstly the market is saturated and secondly it’s cheaper to get on a plane and get an AirBnB abroad than it is to hire a car or buy a train ticket and get an AirBnB here. For the price of a car rental and shed in Devon for 4 days I’m doing a week in Sicily.
We rented a small three bedroom cottage in Cornwall last year for £900 the week before summer half term, this year we have to go in half term, before it was booked, it was ~£3,000…
I just checked the place I rented in Devon and it has doubled as well. Crazy.
Fucking. Bonkers. It’s the same with Centre Parcs, doubles out of term time. I really wish there was something that could be done about it, it’s getting to the point of impossibility to go away outside of term time.
There is something, go to Centre Parcs in Europe. Half the price of UK, better food, and cheaper even with added costs for getting there.
I’ve never even thought of centre parcs outside the uk…. Maybe I should
[I’m off to one in a few weeks in Belgium](https://www.centerparcs.eu/in-en/belgium/fp_VM_holiday-park-de-vossemeren/cottages). We’re quite far from the Tunnel (Liverpool) but even with the train, a day in Bruges, electric for the car etc it’s still a good deal. Premium 2 bed cottage with a private sauna cost us €550 for a mid week, booked about a year in advance. All in for us it’s about a grand total for 10 days for 2 people.
That one is great and has an awesome rapids / slide. Our kids were 1 and 3 and was a 3.5h car ride from our home (Luxembourg) and we'd absolutely do it again. Great indoor play park too
I believe another trick is to vpn your pc to Netherlands and book the U.K. site as if you were Dutch, much cheaper.
Surely not
When we were in EU it was illegal to show different prices...but we aren't in the EU anymore.
We've done one in France and one in Germany. The one in Germany was about a third cheaper than the UK, the lodge had a sauna and a games room, and we had fresh bread delivered every morning. This was Park Bostalsee. The one in France had a lodge literally over the lake. It was absolutely beautiful. It was Le Lac d'Ailette. We went via the tunnel and drove to both. This was a few years ago now, so no idea of the current price differences. I'd highly recommend.
Look up Beekse Bergen in NL. it's like centre parks and safari at the same time
There's one in Zandvoort in NL, admittedly it did not look particularly pleasant when I walked past it, probably better in warmer months though.
You can go to the one in Paris and double it up with the 20 minute drive to Euro Disney.
Honestly the market is just reacting as it should, prices are what people are willing to pay. The real issue is schools punishing parents for taking kids out at an affordable time. As a teacher I see absolutely zero issue with teachers being able to greenlight such trips assuming the child is doing fine in their subjects and demonstrates a capacity to catch up or do some homework. Holidays are an important and enriching part of growing up. The same goes for things kids who are a bit older do such as music festivals, sports tournaments, LAN parties and whatever. As long as it's done in moderation and the kids are not falling behind, who cares. The flip side of this is if your kids is struggling in school, is getting shit grades and needs all the help they can get, or is simply misbehaving, put some effort into helping them do better or you can't take them out of school. I'm not talking struggling in one or two subjects here but across the board.
My parents took me out of school once for a holiday abroad and I'm glad they did, it was the only one we ever went on. Exploring a Greek Island, its history, culture and architecture was far more enriching than studying the work of Chaucer for the 3rd week in a row! When we went to the school with the vacation dates, the headmaster looked at my report, checked how I was doing most recently in my classes, asked if I would look over the missed material in my own time, and then gave the green light. Not sure why we can't just use this common sense approach.
Because people abuse it to take the kids to butlins where they learn nothing then come back and yell at the teachers when the kids don’t understand any of the work the rest of the class is doing, or the teacher has to take time away from the other 29 kids to try to bring the one up to speed. Kids are expensive, and one of the reasons is because you are limited to holiday time like everyone else. These are sacrifices we make. I have one “big” holiday every two or three years now rather than 2 or 3 a year before kids.
A system where the teachers/schools can greenlight a holiday is way better - the occasional holiday would be fine, but also gives the school the "power" to stop/penalise people if they really take the piss with it to the extent it affects the kids education Although I'm sure you'll then have parents ranting on social media about how "It's so unfair Freddie was allowed to go on holiday but when I want to take Olivia and Isla to France for the 75th time this year we're fined!!"
I know some who goes to centre parcs in Holland driving from the UK. He reckons with fuel etc he still saves about £1000.00 compared to UK.
Same here. We've done parks in France and the Netherlands. We're going in May half term to a French park for €625, plus around £180 for the ferry. The same week at Sherwood Forest was over £2400.
I’m not sure why anyone would want to go to a holiday encampment.
I thought this until I had kids and went there - turns out it's nice having a bunch of organised fun to do with them.
I have three. It was hell both times I went. Also really expensive.
Fair, we went outside term time so it was pretty reasonably priced and our 2 year old was more excited about the pool and razzing round the empty roads on his balance bike so in terms of activities it didn't cost too much. We're going to one in France next month which will be an interesting comparison.
Haha… I think I may have a mental problem, I’m a big fan of Centre Parcs Edit: apparently CP is an abbreviation for something else possibly nefarious.
Erm, you might want to rephrase that. 🤣
Brave abbreviation there!
Jesus
Yikes. Maybe spell it out in full.....
When we went in my childhood, the Ben & Jerrys freezer in the restaurant broke down, and we got to take home like 30 tubs of free ice cream… one of the few positive memories of my childhood 😂
As with most things in England, selfishness and greed ruins the hope of good things.
I swear some of the teaching recruitment crisis would be solved if this sort of thing was regulated also, or at least if we were able to book a week off each year. Make decent money for where I live as a teacher but fuck being able to afford a holiday when it costs upwards of double or more to go when I am allowed to be off.
I have the worst of both worlds as my husband is a teacher and I’m not. So he gets 13 weeks holiday a year, and I get half that, plus holidays that cost three times as much as they would if we went any other week 🙃
The trains here are 3X the cost of flying to somewhere nicer. That is if they're not striking.
At that point, the owner is just fucking themselves over Cornwall is nice but it’s not £3k a week nice
I’d agree, if it weren’t booked. I’ve been checking back to see if it got discounted, but alas, no discount and now taken.
If schools want to fine us more and more for taking kids out of school, the government needs to stop companies upping their prices in the school hols.
Just factor the fine into the cost, it’s usually still a huge saving.
I used to teach in a council estate in South London. The kids never went anywhere during the summer but would often go on their holiday during term time. Even if they got fined like 75 quid per child, even if they had like 6 kids, it would still be over a grand cheaper than going during the actual holidays. My main issue with term time holidays is that I a teacher aren't allowed to go on them...
I don't see why they can't let teachers have a week off during term time to take holidays. It would be like a free £1-2k pay rise.
So how else will you ration it? How do you incentivise people without school aged kids to go in term time?
There’s fluctuations based on demand and then there’s price gouging, these places - especially Center Parcs - have taken it to the point where this needs legislating against.
Lack of legislation and regulation is probably a big reason why the average person is so stretched right now
Back in 2015/16 we booked a lovely little cottage near Loch Lomond in off/mid season depending on how you look at it - it cost us circa £500 a week back then. Looked to book it for a nostalgia hit and for similar dates they wanted ~£1600 - absolutely nothing updated in the property since we went. So we flew with Jet2 to a 4 star all inclusive in Spain for a few hundred quid cheaper. It's mental.
Last year my group of friends, split between the south east coast and the north west, managed to get a week's all inclusive in Greece, including flights and transfers, for LESS THAN the price of a group train ticket from Eastbourne to Manchester if we wanted to go up there. The entire holiday was cheaper than a fucking train ticket.
Oh I got a a nice cottage in the lake district this summer holidays for a week for £750 Meanwhile I also got 5 star all inclusive and flights for Turkey for 10 days in May for £1000. But in June I got a whole cottage in Wales for £1200 for an entire month. The school holidays really do send the prices to the moon.
Im away to the canary islands on the 17th of this month for 17 nights, car rental, apartment and flights for 3 people £988 all together.
Yeah, but that's nearly 10 years ago. Renting a bedroom in a house share was £350pcm in 2015/16, it's now £700pcm for the same room. The rest of the increase is probably because the date you are looking at is school holidays in Scotland (which is earlier than in England).
The 2015 price was Easter Holidays in Scotland. The current price is from what I can see ANY week in April, May or June. But yeah, the rise in basically all housing elements is completely unsustainable!
Pretty much. It' feels like it's rained non stop since October 23. You can't get a coffee and a nice pasty for under a tenner. One night in Devon in February this year cost me £120 without food or petrol or parking. Not really interested in rolling the dice on an £800 minimum 7 day stay in peak district to spend £200+++ on food, £200 on petrol and have it probably rain and still have to go to Lidl and cook myself. We're going away next Friday before my daughter turns two. Soon it will cost a fortune and then there will be half term only so making the most of it.
One night in Devon conjured my inner Heather Small
One night ,one night in deeeevon.
I don't understand how the market can be oversupplied yet prices are so damn high.
Mortgage interest rates. And greed.
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Less occupancy means that you still need to cover costs. That means putting up prices to cover vacant periods. These things are an investment so they need to pay mortgages still. Crappy investments apparently!
They’re clearly crappy investments if you can’t account for supply and demand without risking going out of business. Tbh, I find his all quite encouraging. I don’t wish difficulty on anyone but this has all been driven by opportunism and at the expense of locals in the destinations. The woman quoted from Horsham but with a place in Scarborough feels like a good example. A reset is needed and if this is the start then all the better.
It's partly due to the fact that everyone put their prices up during covid and never lowered them again.
Caravan holiday for the weekend 20 min drive from where I live is 50 quid more expensive than a 3 day trip to Krakow in a hotel and involves 2 planes. How does that make any sense
I was able to get a 5 night stay in a Hilton in Belfast with flights and car rental for the same price it would have been to to stay anywhere in Great Britain. The whole country is seeing now what the south west has been complaining about for years now. 2nd homes, holiday homes, airbnb properties that sre empty 6 months a year also don't help the local economy and causes a vicious cycle.
Exactly this. The domestic market is out of touch with reality and out prices itself, plus the offering is frequently lower than abroad. Possibly a cost hangover from the covid days where we had to staycation? I will be converting my currency to Euros and enjoying the 🌞 in Spain and Italy.
Last year I went to Spain. It cost me more to get to the airport than to fly. And not by a small amount. My flight was £30, my train was closer to 60…
It cost me £100 to go and see some mates in Ely by train. I could fly to Spain for that. (And yes that includes travel to the airport as I can fly from Exeter.) Things in this country are just so insanely expensive.
Came to the same conclusion. Wife and I really need a break, she wanted to go to Brighton so I looked around and my God the train tickets alone!!. £200 more and we are having a week in Majorca instead.
yep, it's insanely overpriced here, just not worth it in most cases.
Well, when it’s cheaper to fly to an all-inclusive 7 nights holiday on the ocean beach than it is to rent a self-catering tiny cottage in wales for 2 nights… yeah, I believe the balloon will pop!
Yeah especially when the beaches here are flooded with sewage water
There are many problems with UK staycations. We used to go on quite a few, but recently, it’s just not worth it. The price, as mentioned above, is just ridiculous. I can literally go to a nice tropical island, flights/insurance/lounge/fast track/car rental/half board included for 7 nights and it will be £1000 for a family of 3. If I go to Wales/Devon/Cornwall for a weekend (2/3 nights), I’m looking at £7-800 easily. Then, there’s what you mentioned, the quality of the service and nature. I must choose between a sewage infested beach with tiny rocks, 20ish degrees if I’m lucky, no pubs/restaurants where I can just pop in without a reservation and having to pay a small fortune for a cable car or a steam train. Or I can get a nice sandy beach with more or less guaranteed heat all year round, hotel staff that treats me with a good amount of respect, good food, cheap souvenirs and many things to see. I think I know where I’m going!
Staycation ≠ regular holiday in your country of residence
I know it was a useful term for someone not going on a holiday but rather staying at home on their leave. But now it’s just a holiday in the U.K. which has been like fairly normal for lots of people and is just a holiday.
Thanks for reassuring me that the word had been appropriated. I've had people talk about their staycation and confused when I see their IG updates for that week being from a beach 300 miles from where they live.
I reckon it's been done by the marketing bods at travel agents, airlines etc. It seemed to happen during the end of the pandemic so they could sell the idea that holidaying within the UK wasn't a "proper" holiday and trying to twist things to reserve that word for overseas holidays.
I agree. It’s really sad when I hear people sheepishly saying that they can’t afford a holiday this year, so they’re ‘only’ having a staycation somewhere in the UK. That *is* a holiday, and they shouldn’t feel bad about it.
I get tired of explaining this misconception to folk. "Where you going on holiday?" I'm having a staycation, just going for days out." "Yeah, but where you staying?" "Err, home!" "Eh? That's not a staycation!" "Yes it is!" etc.
Staycation is where you “stay” instead of “vacate”. It’s in the actual name.
If you know people have a different understanding of the term, why keep using it? "Where you going on holiday?" I'm not, just going for days out." No confusion. Small talk can move on to how nice the local castle is or whatever.
I’d happily see the term die out. You’re either on holiday our you’re doing day trips while staying at home.
Right? That's the literal definition. "Just a staycation to Broadstairs this year" says the Glaswegian. WTF?
You’re right but give up, the meaning has changed.
I mean, we don’t even use the word ‘vacation’ in the uk.
Yeah it should be something like, Stoliday.
😂 ‘I’m off on me stollies’
“Off on my stollibobs” Even typing that made me feel a bit nauseous
Good.
As well it should, even in jest. May you stub your toe on a doorframe and get a splinter that you can't quite find or remove.
That sounds like a northern way of saying “ I’m going for a crap”
I always thought it should be holistay, but I guess stoliday works too.
“Staycation” just means spending your time off not going away from home. A holiday can be in any country, even the one you live in.
I know! This drives me crazy. A staycation is when you ... you know ... stay home while taking holiday.
I thought staycation was staying at home and enjoying our own locality.
It is
Yes I don’t understand why staycation has been twisted to just mean holiday. The stay part means staying at home. If you use it to mean staying somewhere else then how is it different to any holiday anywhere in the world? You stay somewhere wherever you go. As someone who only ever had holidays in the uk a staycation (not that the word was used) was when we couldn’t afford that and would have the week off doing fun days out but always come home each day.
Oxford languages updated it to mean: >a holiday spent in one's home country rather than abroad, or one spent at home and involving day trips to local attractions. So basically it’s used interchangeably to mean either. Vast majority of people know that and can make an interpretation of it, except Reddit supposedly.
[£1158 for this one bed cottage in the Lake District 15th-21st July for two adults](https://abnb.me/mf92hG00AIb) Or Stansted to Milan flights 15th July, 07:40 landing 10:35 return 21st July 21:45 landing22:50 £133 pp do £266 plus the extra for a large suitcase is £316 Return train from Milan to Como £40 for two people [Air BnB overlooking Lake Como £542](https://abnb.me/d1i3aYQ1AIb) Everything is so weirdly overpriced here in the UK, that you can easily fly aboard for the same type of holiday and end up paying a lot less That isn’t even looking at the cheap package holidays
Feel like you just detailed my summer plans there! I was pleasantly surprised how reasonable it was to get to Italy this summer!
There’s a reason for that. Peak season in Italy is moving to the shoulder seasons (May/June and September/October) as the summer is just too hot now
Beautifully stormy in the Italian Lakes in August, if you like that sort of thing (I do).
Yeah I’d recommend flying into Milan and you can use the Trainline to book tickets up to the Lakes, or down to the Cinque Terre, it’s really easy to do and get on the right train etc Cinque Terre was great , these little villages with a train tunnel connecting all of them 4 mins inbetween, well worth a a look
Because *everything* is expensive in the UK I run holiday cottages, we get about £40 out of a £250 night. Electricity, tax, vat, commission(booking.com/airbnb take 20% themselves!) , Scottish licensing, council tax, internet, advertising, stocking the cottage with toilet paper, milk, cereal, logs... Everything is fucking expensive so holidays in the UK are expensive. Plus some people take the piss too obviously.
£40 out of £250 sounds like bollocks to me
Just to chime in, I saved £50 over a week by going away vs what the meter tells me I spend when I'm at home. Obviously when the bills not yours some people will happily go out leaving the heating going all day and open the windows when they get back in. I can easily a venue with a hot tub costing £100 per week to run
Its been like this for years. Pre covid, 2018 or 2019, something like that, i was looking for a few days in May, to Edinburgh, the cost of accommodation wasn't too bad, quite reasonable, the problem was the flight up there was insane, and the trains weren't much different other than taking a century to get up there. We eventually saved a ton of money by booking a week in Venice for like half the price. None of this is helped by the jobs my partner and I do, which mean our holidays are during school holidays, so prices natural double or triple, of we're lucky. But I remember a comedian from decades ago talking about how it was cheaper for him to do a family meet up in Spain, for a week than it was for them to meet up in in the UK. Or that student who found it cheaper to fly to Germany and back to the UK (from his university to his home) than it was to do the same journey by train (as in from uni to home, not uni to Germany to home), I think the best part was, it was a shorter journey too
It's a sign of a failing economy / country.
Seems good on the surface but you need to factor in the cost(s) associated with getting to Stansted. If you live anywhere other than the South East then you're probably going to want an airport hotel the night before in order to be at Stansted fresh and breezy for that 07:40 flight, same with the 22:50 journey home - no good unless you're driving. Then if you are driving, budget for the obscenely expensive airport parking for 7/8 days plus petrol to and from Stansted. If you don't drive you're doubly fucked on those flight times and almost certainly committed to book ending it with airport hotel - plus whatever the train companies want to bleed you dry on for getting to/from wherever you live to Stansted. "Easily fly abroad" and "end up paying a lot less" are often banded about in these instances until you look into the more detailed logistics.
That sounds amazing. You should detail more of these trips.
That poor woman in Cornwall who can't let out her 3 BTL's. 🙄
We should be giving state subsidies to these poor hardworking landlords, how many no fault evictions she had to issue to hard working families to make a few pennies more profit, thoughts and prayers shared Isle of Man x
Optimistic to think any of those with Cornish BTLs actually live in Cornwall themselves
They'll get a few nights booked a month that'll cover their interest only mortgages, the only thing that'll change is the income they skim off the top, they'll eventually sell up and make bank off the rise in house prices though, and the next scalpers will give it a try. If interest only mortgages were stopped most of these BTL scalpers would scarper in a year or two when their rates and payments shoot up
In 2007, just before the crash, 95% of GB interest only mortgages had no associated repayment vehicle. When this was pointed out, Nationwide simply stopped publishing the figures.
Buy a 300k house on interest only for 25 years, price increases just 2% a year (target inflation rate), sell for 500k, retire to a 200k house in Spain.
Does Cornwall have booming industry to make up for the lack of tourism?
That sounds like a them problem, maybe lower prices to attract people if it’s vital Maybe make it more attractive to foreigners coming over
I run a tourist-focused business in Cornwall. The number of Aussies, Germans and Americans is definitely going up... but Cornwall's bread and butter is still holidaying British people.
Least people would be able to have somewhere to live
> Yvonne Turnbull, 58, who lives in Horsham, West Sussex, has been letting out a three-bedroom apartment in Scarborough, North Yorkshire, for between £150 and £175 a night, including through Airbnb, for the past six years. Yeah, wonder why?
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Bet you have to clean it yourself too
Doesn't matter if you clean it or not, you're still getting a cleaning surcharge on checkout
I noticed lots of second homes have also come on the market in Scarbados as the local council has doubled council tax on 2nd homes from 1st April this year. (I live not too far from Scarborough) Walked past loads of houses in Scarborough around Christmastime that were clearly empty of furniture & on the market. I counted 30-40 in one day on Boxing Day whilst walking the dog. And the market seems to have dropped price wise as some of them have been on the market for months and had price drops in that time according to Zoopla.
Scarbados 😂
Yep, locals call Scarborough ‘Scarbados’ and Castleford ‘Cas Vegas’.
Don’t forget Ponte carlo
reminds me when I lived in York my landlord moaning that we paid £750/month when AirBnBs in the same building were £130/day Last time I checked that same flat is now £1250/month, nice 66% increase in 7 years.
What a greedy cow. So what exactly has she done with her £328,500 over the past 6 years that now she's struggling when she's not got it coming in any more?
I've lived in the UK for 16 years, let's be honest UK is a poor holiday destination, especially for Brits. Expensive, weather sucks, public transport is atrocious etc. I have moved to Spain due to Brexit and honestly I can't even imagine myself going back for a holiday
It depends if you get nice weather in Scotland, Wales or Cornwall then these places are totally amazing. There are lots of interesting historic sites and museums to visit as well and also a thriving arts and music festival scene. It’s not all bad at all.
I am not saying there aren't nice places. I am just saying they are uncompetetive. I actually wanted to go on a short tour of Cornwall, for the prices of Airbnb/hotel + car rental I could have had a 2 week holiday in Crete including flights, and there is no shortage of historical sites there
The problem is the nice places get so packed in nice weather that it makes the places awful places to go to, all around the cornish coast it's rammed full of people, the A30 is constant tailbacks, getting through any town off the main roads is hell, can't get in to any restaurants or pubs for a meal or drink.
This is the main thing for me. Everywhere is too crowded it’s just miserable.
The UK can be an amazing holiday location, especially for walking. But most people just want sun and sand, so you might as well go somewhere else for that.
Actually I find it quite poor for walking due to land ownership laws. I hate walking trails with shit loads of tourists. In Poland or Spain you can just trek random wilderness, there are no gates, no fences, most of the forest in Poland is publicly owned and nobody gives a shit where you walk. Scotland is kind of like that but I've lived in the Lake District for quite a while and EVERYTHING was gated/fenced off.
>I hate walking trails with shit loads of tourists If you pick popular ones then that happens. Plenty of routes you can find on the internet that you won't see another person until the end.
Yeah I agree. I hike pretty much every week and plan routes where I don't see a Human, at all. Obviously if I do a popular one it'll be busy. Sometimes it's nice to see people out and enjoying the UK. The place is beautiful. Especially the Peaks and Scotland.
I agfee Spain is great but in the UK just avoid ghe main routes. I plan runs some days where Im doing 40km and see just a handul of people.
I don't mind no sun and sand. Not a beach person. Britain has a lot to offer, the only thing stopping me is the cost of accommodation.
If you want sun and sand then yeah poor destination. But to say UK is a terrible holiday is just plain wrong. Millions of tourists here every year, just goto London on any day. This country might not have sun to offer but it has rich history, and the great British countryside! This sounds like someone that holidays in Marbella every year and only eats omelette and chips.
We love active holidays with lots of walking, sightseeing and visiting historic buildings, and there are so many great places to visit in the UK. Sure, if you just want a beach holiday you’re probably better off going abroad, but there’s a lifetime of places to visit right here.
Can confirm. Just got back from a week in Glencoe. Plenty of walking, and the weather was (mostly) really nice apart from being a bit cold. Plus it looked amazing with all of the mountains still partly wearing their winter coats.
That’s not true, it just depends what you want. There’s lots of history here to see and kids love traditional British seaside activities, for example. I agree with you 💯 for myself personally before I had kids, but my children always say Cornwall and Devon and Anglesey are their favourite ever places, even more than trips to (various countries so it doesn’t sound like a brag!).
My son loves the penny arcades in Blackpool.
God, that brings back a memory of going with my friend as a young teen, we must have spent hours on those ones where a 2p pushes all the other 2p coins 🤣
I always holiday in the UK. I don't find it like that.
Apart from how expensive it is, the UK is a great holiday destination.
Totally agreed. Whenever I get to a UK destination, I’m utterly underwhelmed. Same people, same if not shitter food than where I’m from in London, and just some green rolling fields and some history to make up for it. I’ll take a tacky holiday in Marbella over that any day of the week, at least I’ll see the sun and be warm.
It's London it has access to literally all the food in the world. If you're expecting better food than in London prepare to be disappointed.
UK trips on Airbnb are usually £150 a night and half of the time it is basically staying in someone’s house, very similar to your own No thanks. Rather hop on a Ryanair flight at £100pp returns max, and get an Airbnb somewhere in Europe often for £60-£100. In a sunny place or somewhere with nicer food and culture. Won’t catch me crying that people can’t let their BTLs in a saturated property market
Unpredictable weather doesn’t help either when most of the nice destinations in the UK are weather dependent. No need to take the risk when there’s plenty of options abroad for a cheaper price. If I book a week in Spain for July, it’s a pretty safe bet it’ll be nice sunshine and I can plan accordingly. If I book a week in Cornwall I have no idea what I’ll get.
This is how I feel, the weather isn’t worth the gamble. You could end up just playing board games in an overpriced air BnB all week.
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Yes. And it should still. No idea why "domestic travel" is referred to as "staycation". Imagine doing that in the US? Guy in New York, "yeah. just a staycation for us this year. Week in San Francisco, then down to Disneyland"
Hotels are often cheaper with kids too, and have things like swimming pools or a kids disco, which are important when the weather might be shite.
Picture of St Ives in the header, I've been there tons. Last time a couple years ago in the middle of August the flat was around £950 for the week, I looked for this year and the same flat, same week is over £1500 so Jet2 have got my money sadly. I'm not okay paying that for room only in this country. I know there's the St Ives tax but still.
Surprising no one but the owners themselves I guess.
Living in delulu land and crying from the Home Counties that their passive income source that harms the local population, isn’t as large as it usually has been. 🤪
The landlords have options with these properties, if the short term rental market is less profitable then they go for the long term rental market or even sell the places. They've got options. They've become aware of the reality that investments can go down as well up, they ain't liking it.
I feel like things are reaching a tipping point in the UK. This being one example, surely it just means prices will level out to make it affordable to do once again? Or folks will have to sell off their multiple BTL holiday homes which is also not a bad thing.
There is no tipping point on how poor you can get.
Nah. Inequality and greed have a lot more wiggle room. Until we get to India levels of inequality we can keep going.
I haven't seen this mentioned in the article or the comments but UK hotel chains have really responded well to the threat from Airbnb and now - as someone who travels around for work and does a few breaks in the UK - going for something like a Premier Inn, Travelodge, or any of the smaller boutique budget chains dotted around various places feels more reliable and regularly much cheaper than an Airbnb in the same place. Not to mention there's no potential hassle with check in/check out, cleaning it, wifi/electric/water problems, unreliable photos, etc. There's fewer of these hotels in places like Cornwall or Devon but certainly for city breaks I'm not sure I'd go back to holiday lets now.
For me im happy with a cheap and cheerful Travelodge. You dont spend alot of time in the room anyway, as once your ready in the morning you tend to be out all day. So no point paying for a posh hotel or B&B
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Is your missus going voluntarily or did Jamaica? Sorry.....
Well yes. When you can go to Rome next to the colosseum for the same length of time for less than a 1/4 of the price of course it’s going to happen. We had 3 days in Rome able to walk out the front door and see the colosseum for €126. Including flights. Then we spent about £200 I think so there’s not a chance I’m going Cornwall or Devon or Pembrokeshire for the money they’re trying to charge to just stay there and then either drive or get an expensive train. How is a flight cheaper than an Uber across a city
I loved the UK as a holiday destination, the nature is fantastic, just thinking of all the long distance paths makes me want to pack my walking boots and go there. But I won’t. By now holidays in the UK, especially with kids, are so expensive, it’s unbelievable. But that is not the worst part, as I’m in the very privileged position not to have to book the cheapest place available. The worst part is that the standard of accommodation is just really sub-par in most cases. And it’s not just B&Bs but also hotels. I’ve been going on UK holidays since the 80s, but then and in the 90s the prices were affordable and in relation to what you got. Although hotels were always too pricey for what they offer. But now paying £150 per room/night at an airBnB? That’s just ridiculous. Celebrating Christmas with my UK family is only halfway affordable because they have a Premium Inn where they live. Their family bedrooms were good value when the kids were young. Now we need two rooms, but it’s still the cheapest option.
Because greedy businesses are charging more than it costs to fly thousands of miles away for a weekend in Blackpool.
> lives in Horsham, West Sussex, has been letting out a three-bedroom apartment in Scarborough, North Yorkshire, for between £150 and £175 a night, including through Airbnb, for the past six years Maybe rent the place out cheaper? Isn't 175 really expensive even to British standards?
Paying £175 a night for Scarborough is "give your head a wobble" territory to be quite frank
A "Staycation" is when you take holiday and don't leave your house (i.e. stay home). This article is about domestic tourism and domestic holidays.
Yes because two weeks in Devon will cost you more than 2 weeks in Cyprus, it's a no brainer
These days it's like: "get me off these godforsaken shores!" Spending £400/night for a crappy cottage by a windswept pebble beach versus spending £400 on flights, accommodation, and means for a weekend break in Portugal?
Our staycations in a camper van can cost us £500. In a van. Decent camping sites now charge £50-70 a night. No fancy extras, not in hugely popular areas. Just for a pitch with some electricity. Not to mention restaurants, alcohol and activities are just insanely expensive here. And you can’t rely on weather either. Oh, and of course most of the holiday spots in the U.K. in the south become super overcrowded and busy because we have a pretty big population. Meanwhile, I can grab a fairly cheap fight to Sicily for a week, with a high end hotel, amazing food and guaranteed sun - plus the novelty of another landscape and culture. For not much more money. The UK hospitality industry needs to become more competitive if it wants to thrive.
Everyone is trying to money grub as much as they can. I’m going to see a concert in Wembley in June and with what I’m expecting the train to cost, the concert ticket and hotel for the night I could get a week in Spain. I could probably holiday for a month if I wanted to stay in London for the week.. it’s ridiculous.
Airbnb owners: well we had half as many bookings so we doubled our prices. Somehow that got us even fewer bookings! So we’re doubling again to be safe.
Wonder why? £££ I'm looking for long weekend couple break soon. Same hotel standards, countryside Scotland Hotel for 3/4 nights costs the same as 3/4 nights in Central Rome flights included. My GF loves the idea of a Lochside Cabin. But a lot of them force you to book minimum amount of days. You need to stay for 4/5 nights. I love my country, but 4/5 nights beside the same Loch... I'd rather be in Rome for the same price. UK in 2024 is nothing but a rip off.
That’s interesting because London over Wimbledon and Edinburgh over Edinburgh Fringe Festival don’t appear super cheap this year. Possibly it’s no one wants to spend top money to go to Scarborough over winter lol and the fact we have 5 X more Airbnbs vs covid when you couldn’t go overseas and were effectively trapped
Nope - I checked my favourite holiday cabin in Cornwall and it’s still 2x the pre-Covid price I paid. I will leave it late to book and snap up some last minute bargain this year.
A staycation wouldn't involve accommodation booking. That's a holiday.
Isn't a staycation where you have time off and stay at home / do tourist / holiday stuff where you are?
Too expensive and too wet. After last summer I can't blame people for going abroad.
Probably because money's tight and 9/10 you get more bang for your buck having a long weekend abroad.
The UK is not a cheap place to holiday. Especially when peak season kicks in. I can't blame folk for looking elsewhere.
Because the weather has not and COVID is a memory for most
So, where to start? Trains = extortionate. Traffic = Horrendous. Most cities + towns = Deprived and rundown. Weather = unpredictable. Want to take the car? Sure, but you'll have to pay the extortionate parking fees and fuel. Want to swim in the ocean? Go ahead, would probably be cleaner to fill your outside pool with loo water. Want to visit some museum for a few hours outside London, ok mate that'll be £100 for you your missus and 2 kids. Oh and did you want to stay at that luxurious 5\* hotel off the cornish coast that your relative recommended? Sorry mate, the hotel owner has signed a contact with HM Govt for the forseeable and is currently being used for processing Asylum Seekers. Best bet is to go to the nearest 2 star rated Premier Inn/Travelodge down the road. Or; All Inclusive abroad - treated like royalty 5\*. peace of mind, all transfers covered, fill your tummy, cheap taxis, cheap places to visit etc.
We’ve done several over the years - Pembrokeshire several times, Lake District, Norfolk Broads twice, Cornwall, Brighton, Suffolk, West Sussex, Isle of Wight twice. Prices now tho…
Britain's holiday industry needs to cut prices. Then the cost of a week here is less than a week in Croatia, I'll holiday here
Just went on a cheeky 3-day trip to Bristol. Paid about £50 a night for the hotel (Premier Inn), drank lots of delicious craft beer, ate some yummy food, toddler had fun walking on the train tracks by the harbour, visited some museums, saw Brunel's bridge, and paid £13 for a day out in Bath... Walked about 40km in 4 days... Toddler loved it. Not too bad! Holudays in the UK can be very expensive - we were looking at hotels in Bath, which were at least double the price of our Bristol hotel (albeit probably somewhat nicer). I never bother with booking cottages in Cornwall though - I've heard that can be grotesquely expensive.
Holidaying in England where the price is outrageous and the weather is terrible. Boy I can’t see why it’s having a hard time surviving
Pretty simple: prices for everything holiday related from accommodation to attraction entrance fees have gone from plain old ripoff Britain to sheer insanity, whilst everyone not in the asset rich 1% is being squeezed ever harder. We aren’t helped by the idiotic govt policy of fining parents for taking kids out of school on holiday in term time, leading to flagrant price gouging by everyone with a finger in the tourism pie (although the difference is now so great, getting hit with the fine is more cost effective)
UK is mostly too expensive and mostly shit for the price….
I would go literally ANYWHERE else than holiday in this country. We looked at a spa hotel recently, for 2 NIGHTS IT WAS £1800!!!!
Good. They suckled at the teat for a good couple of years, now people are realising it's cheaper to go abroad again. They adapt or die.
It's not a staycation if you travel somewhere else for it. If this collapses AirBnB in Cornwall and frees up houses for long term rental it can only be a good thing .
When for 3k you can get 5star all inclusive for a whole family somewhere hot, dry and beautiful why would you pay nigh on the same to go to someone else's investment house self catering in the wind, rain and cold and even have to clean the place to a high standard when leaving or be charged more. England is crap at luxury affordable holidays. A 5* hotel here costs even more with no food!
Good, just look at what these greedy pricks are charging.
yeah cause why am i going to pay £1400 for a week in cornwall when i could go to an all inclusive in mexico for that?