Over the years, we’ve had great experiences with all-inclusive resorts like Sandals, Excellence, Iberostar and Sanctuary. On this episode we cover the pros and cons of staying at all-inclusive resorts either for family vacation or couples retreat!
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Transcript
Jess: Welcome to the Jetsetting Family Travel Podcast. I’m Jess. And I’m Rod. And today we’re excited to talk about all-inclusive hotels.
Rod: All-inclusive hotels have been on our mind because now that we are in this region of Mexico, there are all-inclusive places just all over the place. We are surrounded.
Jess: We could probably walk to a few, but there are adults only ones.
There are family friendly ones. There’s a huge variety of all-inclusive hotel options out there. Yeah.
Rod: And it’s funny. We have kind of cycled between all-inclusive hotels and doing more experiential activities when we plan couples’ trips. So last year we did Iceland, which was a big like road trip. The year before we were in the Dominican Republic where we stayed a week at this beautiful all-inclusive resort.
And I think we’re due for another one, but yeah, as we were trying to brainstorm, it’s like, oh, should we go to an all-inclusive hotel? Then we started thinking of the pros and cons of going to one, because there are some definite differences in the way that you travel when you consider an all-inclusive versus when you do a different kind of trip.
So. In this episode, that’s what we’re going to cover.
Jess: So yes, there’s so many pros to an all-inclusive. We’ll start one with cost. I’m not saying that they’re always cheap, but the beauty is, is you pretty much know exactly what you’re going to spend on that vacation. A lot of times all-inclusives it includes your food and your alcohol for the entire week for whoever’s there.
And it also typically includes like a variety of activities. So, you know, going into your trip exactly how much money you need to have saved and an approximately how much you’re going to spend because besides the airfare, which even some hotels help coordinate that there isn’t too many expenses you should be having.
Rod: Yeah. Yeah. I think it’s similar to a cruise in that sense, in which that all-inclusive pricing really ends up being more predictable in terms of what you should look forward to. Granted, there are going to be some places where you’re going to have upsells and Not every activity will be covered. So, for example, if you want a massage or some treatment of the spa, those are typically something that you’ll have to pay for, but it’s not necessarily a requirement.
In terms of the pros based on pricing too, there’s a lot of different tiers of. All-inclusive hotels that you can look at. So, there’s those that are generally cheaper, less expensive options. You’re not going to have like the highest end food, but you’re going to have a nice room. You’re going to generally have access to the beach.
You’re going to have the drinks that you want and that flexibility to just relax and lounge around. And then you have those more luxurious ones. Where they pride themselves on serving the very high-end food and fancy dining experiences, more luxury. The rooms might have two floors, or you might have a hot tub in your room as well, or a little pool, or a sun deck.
Jess: Some even come with an assistant. And when you get to the higher end ones, like Sandals, we’ve done Sandals. Three times now it’s really cool because some other activities are higher. And like, you can actually scuba dive. You get so many scuba dive sessions for free at sandals, which is crazy. I, they’re like one of the only hotels I’ve seen that offered, but you can also get like an assistant who coordinates everything for you from your dinner times to bringing champagne to your room.
I mean, it gets crazy that depending on which all-inclusive you choose. Yeah.
Rod: And you do start getting into a routine when you’re in an all-inclusive. Particularly if they have a big pool. So, a lot of the places you’ll see in the morning, everyone just kind of starts getting out and about, they’ll bring their towels out and they’ll leave their towels on a pool chair.
And then they’ll go either back to bed or go over to breakfast and eventually make their way over to the pool to just like chill and relax. So having that, Butler or that additional service or concierge service. Where they’re reserving that for you just makes it more flexible, to be able to do so definitely a positive in terms of how everything is all together.
You don’t have to do a lot of planning in terms of activities or excursions, so it makes it a really simple type of vacation.
Jess: Yes. And some of the kids’ ones have incredible, incredible kids’ clubs. They have incredible water parks. One of our favorites is Iberostar Paraiso Maya. That’s in the Playa del Carmen region of Mexico.
I mean, the activities, they had a wave pool, water slides, the beach. I mean, it had everything. It was incredible.
Rod: They put on a full-on production of Moana. The kids, the kids, the kids were involved in this. Over the week there were several hours where they were rehearsing the different little songs. Our kids at that point, I think they were what, like three and seven when it was adorable.
We went and Friday night there was the, the big show, and it’s funny because typically in a show like this, it’s like there can only be one Moana or one Maui or one lead character. Here. There were 18 Moana, there were like 15 Maui’s. All these kids all had a costume to be able to wear. And then all the Moana has got to sing their little song.
All the Maui’s got to sing their song. So, everyone got their moment. It was the cutest thing and it’s just something that is very easy to find at an all-inclusive. If they, if they have a kids club, they want to make sure that the kids are having fun so that the parents can enjoy and have a great time.
So, they can rebook in the future.
Jess: Yes, I think one thing that I will say is a negative about the kids are about all-inclusives is that a lot of times, since everything you’ve already paid for it and it’s included like your food and your drinks, there’s not a lot of motivation to leave. So, you don’t end up getting that experience for local culture.
Like, you’re probably not going to go try a local restaurant or get out and about as much had you stayed a hotel where, you know, when we stayed at the Grand Hyatt. The meals at the hotel are really expensive. So, it’s like, I’d rather walk a few blocks and go have a cheap local meal. But by doing that, I’m getting out and I’m experiencing the culture.
I’m meeting locals and I’m getting a more authentic experience where it’s kind of hard to justify when you’re at an all-inclusive resort and you know your alcohol and your food is free that you’re going to take the time and effort to go out and find that.
Rod: Yeah. Yeah. So, I think you, you kind of have to make a decision when you’re planning that all-inclusive visit.
It’s, are we going to prioritize the relaxation, staying within the resort, which is generally what they want you to do, right? Or, or if you really do want to go to an all-inclusive and you want to plan activities that is going to bring the added cost. A lot of these places are more remote in general.
So, getting to the main towns isn’t the easiest thing to do. So, then you really have to, to make that call on what are you going to find worth it with an all-inclusive, when we go to all-inclusives, we already pretty much kind of concede the fact that we’re not going to explore as much. Which when we go to these places, we do want to relax and we want to recharge.
And we want the kids to have activities if they’re going with us. So, you know, that’s a, that’s a decision that we make. And really, yeah, I think it is a downside to all-inclusives.
Jess: Yeah. We’ve had two friends since moving to Mexico who’ve come out. Not necessarily to visit us, but they’ve come out to Mexico and they were close enough.
They’re like, oh, come by our hotel for the day. But I mean, their hotel’s an hour and a half away from where we’re at, which we did. We took the time to go to their hotels and see them, but it’s like, they’re more remote from like where locals would be living for the most part. Another thing is, is that we have found that depending on the all-inclusive, the food can be really.
It can be really hit or miss. I mean, it can be, I mean, you might be paying still a decent amount of money and have very cafeteria food for an entire week, which isn’t ideal on a vacation. I won’t say Rod and I are nowhere near foodies, but I still value. Like a good meal, a good meal. I do not need like a Michelin star meal, but like a decent meal.
And Rod and I are like bar food type people. We love burgers. We love wings. We don’t need complicated food, but we have stayed at a couple of hotels. That just the food wasn’t good and it’s really unfortunate when you’re paying a lot of money and you feel like you can’t really have a good meal the whole week.
You’re there. So, I strongly suggest when booking an Airbnb that you should go on to the review sites like Expedia or a hotel dot com, whatever it may be. And look at the reviews and see what people say about the food, because at the end of the day, when you’re paying for an all-inclusive, that’s a huge portion of the money is being attributed to your food and beverage.
And if that part of your experience isn’t great, it’s going to, I don’t know, diminish your stay to some degree. Yeah.
Rod: And I think another thing that can be hit or missed, regarding the food is you might not necessarily get the local cuisine when you’re going to an all-inclusive. So, a lot of these places are in island destinations where, yes, they might have some like fresh seafood and things like that, but they’re also going to want to cater to the preferences of the people that visit.
A lot of Americans go to these places, so they do have like pizzas and burgers and like random things that you would expect. They’re having the U. S. There’s some places even in Mexico when we’ve gone to an all-inclusive where it’s hard to find tacos. And it’s like, oh man, we’d have to go into town to get some like really authentic tacos.
And we actually did do that at one of our stays.
But then
Jess: what’s hard is your 1 local taco that if you could walk there, you’re literally. Spending a dollar, a taco now becomes really expensive because you’re usually so remote. You’re now spending like $30 on a taxi each way. So, I mean, we really love tacos, so we went for everyone.
Yeah.
Rod: Yeah. So, in terms of, you know, just don’t expect to have the real, authentic, cultural food experience when you go to an all-inclusive. We might be wrong. There might be some where they really do focus on giving you the tastes of the local area, but it seems like it’s rarer than not for us.
They’ll have a steakhouse. They’ll have like an Italian restaurant at these places. It’ll be a sushi place. It’s like international. Yeah.
Jess: Cuisine. Right. So that’s definitely something. Yes, I would also consider something to look into as well as we’ve been to a variety of hotels, thankfully from our job and some all-inclusives are like chill relaxation where like you can read a book at the pool and you’re relaxing and you’re meeting other people and other ones, there’s blaring music and a man on a microphone giving a jazzercise class.
I love a mix of both, to be honest, like I could be happy at either place, but there are some people that I know who do not want music blaring and a jazzercise class happening, and they don’t want all of the activities. They want it to be peaceful. And then I have friends who, if they went to a peaceful hotel, would be bored out of their minds.
So, these are things to consider when you are booking an all-inclusive hotel is not only the food, but what is the vibe? Like, what is it? And then also to just kind of go down this rabbit hole of things to consider. We have been to adults only inclusives, and there’s something important to note. There are adult only all-inclusives, and then there are couples only all-inclusives.
And you kind of get a two different vibe at each of those. So, for example, sandals is couples only. There aren’t going to be bachelor parties and bachelorette parties and things like that because you have to go to couple. You’re going to find a lot of newlyweds and honeymooners and it’s more of, I would say like a mature just couple’s crowd.
Yep. We saw a lot of drunk people, so don’t think there’s
Rod: like, it’s completely boring. Yeah, I mean, we went on our honeymoon on, sandals trip. It was so much fun. Yeah, we wanted to find that and we were able to find that.
Jess: But we’ve gone to other hotels where it’s adults only, where we had an amazing trip.
For instance, Excellence Playa Mujeres, amazing hotel. I actually really enjoyed the food and I enjoyed my time there. I can’t talk about the drinks. I was super pregnant, but it was different because that one, it was a lot more giant groups of people. Like people would plan their family vacation there and they take 20 people from their family or they’d have their bachelorette party or weddings.
Yeah, it was very different. So, I mean, it does kind of change the dynamic a little bit. So, it depends on what you’re looking for. I love, love, loved if you’re going on a honeymoon that we went to Sandals because there’s so many honeymooners at sandals that like we met all of these people with our same wedding date.
Right. And who just like went through the same experience and you got to hear about like, I don’t know, the craziness of the planning and their family and how the wedding went and what their dreams were. And so, it was cool to be at a hotel with a lot of people that were at the exact same stage of life with us.
Yeah. And you
Rod: instantly had that in common. It was super easy to strike conversations. And then throughout the week. You’d find that you run across people or you’d go hang out and become friends with them. And by the end of that trip there, then you have a new set of friends.
Jess: Yeah. And we met so many friends on that first trip to Sandals.
One of them, I’m still Facebook friends with them. We’ve always joked like, oh, for our 15th anniversary, we should all go back and like, relive this trip together and it’d be kind of fun. But those are some of the little nuances. I would definitely keep in mind. The last nuance I would keep in mind is some hotels, their kids club have distinctions between ages.
So, like, I don’t know, like four and under in one room and. Five to nine and another, and then there’s a teen club, whatever that may be. And some hotels are flexible with that. And some aren’t. If you have a sibling pair who you’re hoping to keep together, that’s something you might want to look into. I know several families for safety reasons, if they have a younger one, they want them with the older child and some hotels aren’t going to permit that.
So, if that’s something important to you. Look into that as well as some kids’ clubs take the kids to the beach and the pool, and that’s a part of their program. And not everyone’s comfortable with that, especially if your kid’s not a strong swimmer, if that’s something that interests you. So that’s another thing that you might want to look into is what does their kids club entail?
Are they going to the pool and beach? If you opt not to have your child, go to the pool and beach, is there another activity or do they need to be released from the kids’ club at that point? So, these are all just small tips you might not think about. Until you’re there and you’re kind of like, oh, I wish I would have
Rod: in terms of the vibes, you know, even if you’re at a family resort or an adults only, there are certain quieter areas to the resort as well.
So, if you don’t want to be near the pool where there’s going to be blaring music and they’re going to be having the parties at night and all of that stuff, you can go ask to see if there’s a room and a more kind of outer area of the resort where you might not hear that as much. We’ve seen that happen before.
When we were in Dominican Republic, we spent time in two different rooms. One was in a cabana that was by the beach, by where the parties and the big main pool were, and then the other half of the stay. Then we stayed in this more hotel, looking area, looked like a big castle, and that was a quieter area of the resort.
So, if you do want to dabble in the vibe and the parties and all that, but you. still want kind of quieter sleeping arrangements, then that’s something that you can request directly with the resort when you’re booking the room, or you can call them and ask what the differences are between the different room sizes and the areas of the resort that they’re at.
Jess: Speaking of that hotel, just to give it a plug, that one was called Sanctuary Cap Cana in the Dominican Republic and the castle part of that hotel was really incredible and I actually thought that hotel did a great mix of like relaxation and activity and nightlife and the food there, I thought was great.
So that’d be one I would recommend to go check out. Oh, yeah.
Rod: Yeah, we loved it. Cap Cana was awesome. Sanctuary had a little bit of everything. I’d say the beach wasn’t like top notch. Yeah, the beach was lacking. But the pool was fun. The food, the food was good. We went on our anniversary there and we stayed in the two different parts of the hotel.
Jess: It’s right next to the public beach. You can walk to the public beach, which was beautiful. Yep. But the beach at the hotel itself, I’d say would be the biggest con. But Rod doesn’t love the beach as much. He loves the pool. So, it was fine.
Rod: Yeah, the other thing to consider is even though you say, or it says that you’re going to an all-inclusive, some of these resorts are part of like a larger chain of three or four resorts, some of which have like varying levels of inclusiveness, I guess.
It’s kind of strange how they stand up. Yeah, it’s very strange because there’s, you know. There might be the four-star all-inclusive, but it’s right next to the five-star all-inclusive. That’s owned by the same brand or company. And the five-star inclusive people will have access to all the amenities and stuff at the four-star resort.
But if you’re at the four-star resort, you don’t have access to the stuff on the five-star resort. So, make sure that when you’re looking at it, that there’s not any like gates, I guess, to the kind of things that you want to do. I know for, for us, we’ve been to a Club Med. That was one where there was, we stayed in a separate, kind of section of the resort that was rated there like five-star accommodations.
And then we had access to all the four-star stuff and we weren’t super clear. It’s like, what’s included in the five star versus the four stars.
Jess: That’s also the same at the Iberostar Paraíso Maya. So, the Paraíso Maya section of the Iberostar here is, I guess it’s a five star. So, it’s the top of the top, but there’s different tiers throughout this whole complex.
Like Rod was mentioning, and some of them, you have to be careful because when you’re looking at the website, you assume you’re getting everything, but then it depends on the tier your room is. And I know for, for a friend who went, I believe it was to Iberostar, their tier, none of the restaurants, including Included AC, they were all open air.
Oh yeah. . And you could only access the AC indoor restaurants if you were at the higher end resort. And so that is a big difference. Yep. So, the five star, like Rod said, could go to any of the restaurants on the whole property, but if you book a cheaper room, you’re limited to which ones you could go to.
And so, I mean, for us who love AC, that’s like the one thing that we struggle giving up when we travel. That would be a big deal to us. So, just be very careful when booking, not to say that you will have a negative experience. We’ve had some incredible experiences. Like I said, our favorites were Sandals, Excellence Resorts were amazing, Iberostar, Sanctuary Cap Cana.
So, there are amazing experiences, but just when you’re booking your room, like Rod said, make sure you truly understand what it’s included, if it’s at a shared room. Complex. Yeah.
Rod: Yeah. So, I think that about does it for our quick rundown of the pros and cons of all-inclusive. If you’re planning an all-inclusive visit sometime, or you’ve been to one that you recommend, reach out to us.
I think we’re currently planning where we want to go next on an all-inclusive visit. So, we definitely would love your suggestions. If you have any, you can reach out to us on Instagram: @thejetsettingfamily, or just, you know, say hi, shoot us an email: [email protected]. And if you really enjoyed this episode, then make sure that you’re subscribing.
So, you have access and reminders for all of our future episodes.
Jess: So, until next week guys, Happy Jetsetting!
