newbie question: Leaving C. teen son pressuring to book lads break in Magaluf...

martco

when I say newbie I mean to this particular situation, I have a fair bit of travel experience but this one is new on me

SO I have a youngfella going into his Leaving Cert this year....and out of nowhere he's in a desperate tizzy now to organise a 5 day trip to Magaluf with 4 of his schoolpals post leaving

last 3 evenings after I've landed in from work he's in a panicked craze at me to book this thing, I have to book it now because if I don't the price just keeps going up and up and they'll be gone etc.

the whole thing has a Matchattax/fidget spinner craze bang/vibe off it...I'm a bit stumped suspicious and reluctant but to be fair to him I'm going to at least look into it and so as to make sure if one of them does end up booking it on a parents c.card that it won't end up in tears

SO (apart from the parenting aspect) I want to ask if anyone out there knows of this particular set of details or has any experience/advice to offer me as my basic research is very mixed (for example the place they HAVE to goto shows up in some sites like its a 5 star gaff and yet on Expedia it gets just 1.8/5)

- Hotel BH Av. Palmeres, 12 in Torrenova/Magaluf
- 29/6 - 4/7 2018 (5 nights)
- Travelrepublic.ie - €2876 for a 2x twin with a €1 deposit payable (eh ?)

also does not appear to be any flights yet available ex Dub (is this a potential snag?)

I've tried to get at this Hotel BH directly for a price but no success so far

ideas/advice really welcome!

beertons

Who is paying at the end of the day?

goingnowhere

Flights are not typically available as the airlines haven't released the 2018 Summer schedule, so far too early to book.

2876 is mad money, 287 euro/room/night?

Get an all in package deal flight/hotel/food, avoids a panic phone call from the lads saying they have run out

whomitconcerns

Tell him to pay for it himself. 2k is mad money

Neon_Lights

Magaluf is a bit of a dive, the smell of vomit and stale booze is putrid.

We were all young once but what I would say is you're getting ripped for accommo for where you're staying. 12 days is way too much aswell, I could barely stomach 7.

stargazer 68

That's bonkers! My son went this year and it was 850 for a week all inclusive. They didn't book until early in the year and used a great travel agent.

On another note he said he wouldn't go again and certainly not all inclusive

Yamanoto

martco wrote: »

ideas/advice really welcome!

Perhaps incentivise him by letting him know you're prepared to make a decent contribution towards a holiday if he does himself justice in his mock LC.

If he wants spending money let him earn it himself over the summer. Tell him to park the panic too, as there's no way anything needs to be booked this far out & you're certainly not parting with that amount of money for 5 days at Magalufs 13th best hotel.

Chatting it over with other parents (so as to present a united front) may be a wise idea too.

The Specialist

I wouldn't even entertain the idea of booking anything at this stage, he has the bones of 12 months to go before he can even go there. Flight prices change constantly.

Irelandmaryd

Hi,

I would get them to book with a travel agent that way no parent is waiting on getting the funds from the others going. With a local travel agent they pay an initial depost fee and then they can make regular payments until balance due is cleared. My daughter and her friends went this year to Santa Ponsa and this is what they did. They can book travel insurance, etc with travel agents and it normally includes tranfers etc, for Leaving Certs it more straight forward.

I think it cost them about €650 for flights, hotel and transfers and they booked after Christmas. They all had to save the deposit first it was around €300.

They did visit Magaluf but were happy they picked Santa Ponsa as more Irish there.

They all paid for their own travel.
HTH

TimeToShine

Even the hardiest of drinkers can barely manage 7 nights in these places. 12 will kill him.