Travel&Vacation

“If you’re worried about high destination costs, consider an all-inclusive resort.” That’s a message coming from quite a few travel suppliers these days. And, for many senior travelers, it can be a good idea.

As the name indicates, an all-inclusive is a resort where one overall daily or weekly rate covers all of your destination expenses: accommodations, meals, and participant activities. Well, almost all: Many charge extra for some activities and external sightseeing excursions, and even more charge extra for alcoholic drinks. Still, the typical all-inclusive rate covers at least as much of your total daily costs as a cruise—the other all-inclusive option with which these such resorts are often compared.

As I’ve looked at the field, I see some general patterns:

• Most, but not all, are located on beaches or at least in beach resorts. Most of the resorts that cater to North American visitors are in Mexico and the Caribbean, but a few—such as Club Med, the prototypical modern all-inclusive—operate in other parts of the world as well.
• Most feature a wide range of activities—especially active water sports, but also tennis and golf.
• Some cater to families; some to couples, and others to singles. Quite a few discourage children—a factor that could be either a plus or minus for any given senior couple.
• I haven’t found any that cater specifically to seniors, but many claim to be popular with seniors along with other age groups.
• As with resorts in general, you find a wide variation in rates, as well as in degrees of luxury and range of available features.
• Quite a few all-inclusive resorts offer packages that include round-trip airfare from a variety of U.S. cities. Most, however, are available “land only” for those who want to arrange their own air or are lucky enough to score frequent flyer seats.

The topic of all-inclusives was prompted, in part, by two recent press releases that feature good deals on rates. Travel Ticker, an “independent business unit of Hotwire,” just announced a new program that searches out especially good travel deals. Travel Ticker’s postings are based on actual digging by people rather than simply screen-scraping. All I’ve seen so far is a shot of the homepage—the full site wasn’t up yet when I wrote this, but it prominently features all-inclusives in Cancun and Los Cabos, at rates starting at $158 to $178 per couple per day—a lot less than the usual asking prices. Presumably, the site will feature many such deals over the coming months.

Hotwire’s archrival Priceline also touts all-inclusives as a way to “stretch travel dollars.” Its release shows several deals in the Caribbean and Mexico in the range of $270 to $350 per couple per night, including airfare from several U.S. cities.

Club Med offers the widest range of worldwide locations, and it regularly promotes special rates at many. For example, couples can stay seven nights at its resort in Bora Bora, French Polynesia, for $1,776 (airfare extra) or about $250 a day.

The resorts’ own brochures and websites make them all sound like paradise on earth. For a reality check, log onto SmarterTravel.com’s sister site TripAdvisor. The site posts innumerable travelers’ reviews covering all-inclusives around the world. A subsearch of “all inclusive resorts seniors” cut the list down to a mere 387 reviews, several of which noted places that might be especially attractive to seniors.

How do all-inclusive land resorts compare with cruises? Primarily, you get a lot more space in a resort than in a cruise ship cabin—obviously—and a much wider range of activities. And you have time to explore the vicinity, in detail, as much as you want. However, on a cruise you get to visit multiple destinations. And, at least for a “from” priced cabin, cruises are typically less expensive than resorts.

In the final analysis, of course, they’re different experiences. And either can represent a pretty good value these days.

(Editor’s Note: SmarterTravel.com is a member of the TripAdvisor Media Network, an operating company of Expedia, Inc. Expedia, Inc. also owns Hotwire.)