Advantages: Less fuss than holidays abroad, plenty to do, suitable for all ages, you can take your pet
Disadvantages: British weather may spoil your fun, but not the kids fun.

...I wonder how many people remember as I do the Great British Holiday? I've put it in capitals because at one time travel abroad was limited to the middle classes and above. There was such a tradition about the British seaside many years before I was born when all classes of people stayed in guesthouses or hotels leading to the wonderful Victorian architecture that some seaside resorts still boast today. I was born in 1952 and still remember when some resorts had their traditional pier for the ladies and gentlemen to stroll along but alas these are now crumbling as more and more people take their holidays abroad. I had my very first holiday when I was ten years old at a little place called Newton just a few miles from Porthcawl. In those days it had a big sprawling campsite called Trecco bay where the miners spent their two weeks annual... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful

Advantages: Conveniently located, well priced, spotless and comfortable
Disadvantages: No proper restaurant

...Holiday Inn - Wandsworth. 1 Trevor has upgraded. Those who know the scrimping and penny-watching that has been part of my character from Scottish schooldays, will know that my regular trips to London all target the cheapest accomodation available. Well, not quite the cheapest - I try to ensure they are flealess, clean and with a bed that accomodates my full frame. Usually Travelodge gets the vote, and I have ladled the praise to them in the past for clean, comfortable basic rooms. Holiday Inn this time actually beat the local Travelodge on price, believe it or not. Well, it was a bit more complicated than that. Members of David Lloyd leisure clubs have (or had until the buy-out) access to members' benefits with other organisations. I don't usually pursue these as you are offered 10% discount, say, off of a full price - which... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful

Advantages: Honest reviews, useful information
Disadvantages: A bit slow at times, reviews could be set out better

...If you are thinking about booking a package holiday, or are about to book one, then it might be worth your while taking a look at this website. Even if you have already booked, it may still be of interest to you, but only if you are prepared to read reviews of your chosen destination/accommodation that you may not like ! It may be a case of shutting the barn door after the horse has bolted ! The site consists of 2 main things : A database of over 25 000 holiday reviews by ordinary holidaymakers. A Holiday Resource Centre. Both are extremely useful. Basically, if you haven't decided where to go on holiday, but have one or two ideas, then the database will give you information that the travel agent / tour operator / brochure don't. That is the good points AND bad points of a particular destination... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful

Advantages: cheap at first glance
Disadvantages: not really cheap, overall insufficient product & service quality

...Some writers have commended the Holiday Inn for its excellent service at very reasonable prices. A look behind the scenes of the brand policy, products and pricing shows however a very different picture. Holiday Inn is in fact often more expensive than the competition and provides a low degree of service for the price. The problem with the perception of HI is that most people only know their lowprice HI Express chain and have little to say about HI's other brands and products. All five opinions posted on HI before mine only discuss the merits of HI Express, but that's just one of four HI brands. That's also Ciao's mistake, they should have created a category for each brand/chain separately. The Holiday Inn Group consists of four brands of Hotels: ~ the classic Holiday Inn Hotels, 4-5 Stars ~ the upmarket Holiday Inn Crown Plaza... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful

Advantages: Great Family Holiday, value for money
Disadvantages: None as yet

...Since writing this review, i have been on three more Eurocamp holidays and all i can say is they have been even better, I will update on those ones shortly. Sorry a bit long this one but so much to say on it.. I discovered Eurocamp by accident last year while searching on the internet trying to find a good family holiday but at a low affordable price. We are quite a large family comprising of myself, my husband and 4 young very active sons of 10yrs, 8yrs, 7yrs and an 18 month old, so this was not an easy task. We have had many good holidays in Britain but wanted to go abroad as we never have together as a family before, mainly due to the cost. While searching for long periods on the internet for a great affordable holiday i was getting more and more disheartened thinking i would have to yet again tell the kids we could... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful

Advantages: Cheaper, Easier
Disadvantages: None

...After not having a holiday abroad this year, due to lack of funds, I was adamant that next year I would be going no matter what. The Direct Holidays brochure came through my letter-box and I briefly browsed through it and then discarded it into my poffee along with all my other magazines/newspapers. Yesterday whilst out shopping me and the hubbie went and got a armful of brochures to look through. Having two children we thought our best option would be an all-inclusive break thus avoiding constant purse-dipping (hopefully). Going via the Internet I visited many of the tour operator websites to get some quotes on how much it would cost, on finding a hotel we liked. I got a price, and then phoned the Travel Agents too to see if they could beat the web price, they could not even get £300 close to the amount quoted on the website... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful

Advantages: Great accomodation, easy to organise, great locations, no rep hassle!
Disadvantages: Mid week departures only and that's it!

...We picked this holiday because we wanted the following things: 1) Relaxing holiday 2) Great, quiet location 3) Secluded/ small town accomodation 4) Great selection of restaurants 5) Sun, sun, sun! 6) No hassle or hard sell from the rep We chose Laskarina as my girlfriend had been years ago with her family. Laskarina deal in relaxing, no nonsense holidays in traditional locations. No built up hotel complexes, no 18 - 30 holidays. We ordered a brochure and were impressed with what we saw. They have a choice of hundreds of villas across all the greek islands. All the islands are well described and the villas accurately pictured. Only well developed locations are used so you won't come across half built cess pits. Apart from the charter flight, everything is organised by laskarina. When we arrived we were placed on a 15... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful

Advantages: Nice clean accomodation, excellent kids entertainment, good offers avaliable out of season
Disadvantages: price of 'extras', drinks and in the shop are expensive, beach can be unaccessable until afternoon and is a steep climb down from the park, hard with toddlers/prams.

...We booked a weeks holiday at Quay West, Newquay South West Wales and got a real bargain, half price £210 for a week for 6 people the first week in June. We arrived and were greeted by friendly staff and checked in quickly. We were surprised when we got to our caravan as we had a top of the range 3 bed caravan and had only booked a 2 bed bronze. We were pretty pleased, it was very clean and had excellent facilities, even a DVD player. We unpacked and headed for the beach. It said 200 yards from the beach in the brochure, and it was, only down a steep set of steps! This is hard with twin toddlers and 2 other small children and many people were struggling with buggies! There may be other routes down to the beach but this is the one belonging to the park and the only one on the park map, as it is a cliff top location, one can only guess... Read review

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Advantages: Very addictive and very fun.
Disadvantages: Can be difficult to install and has bugs.

...The Sims On Holiday is another brilliant expansion pack following the success of the Hot Date pack. Produced by Maxis/EA Games it allows you to venture out in the great outdoors to a whole new world. The game provides hours and hours of none stop entertainment. It's the best game that I have played in a very long time and you will find it very addictive and you just can't stop playing it. The game is aimed at people who love to be in control. You create your sim to how you want them to be, build a house and interact with every object how you want to and then get to take them on any kind of holiday you wish. It's just so much fun and in a way you play at being God. As with all the other expansion packs you must have The Sims installed onto your pc to be able to play it. To see The Sims On Holiday at its full potential I recommend... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful

Advantages: Great holidays, super sites, Good Value. Surprise venues.
Disadvantages: Fares are Extra. Price depends on venue & travel availability.

...Having been on three Sun Holidays now, and waiting for the details of the next holiday to arrive, I just have to tell you about the wonderful times that we have had, for the small effort of collecting 8 tokens from the Sun Newspaper. With any holidays like these, one has to be very open minded, hiring a car definately helps, as the sites can be some distance from any town, and not minding driving on the right hand side in the European countries, and some are certainly some distance from the nearest airport. We always prefer the European holidays, there is more chance of good weather. As soon as your details have come through, and you know your destination, (you have to list a choice of 5. followed by a choice of 5 dates) you can start looking for appropiate means of travel. Here, the best way is on the internet. If your... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful