Every week our Holiday Hero Neil Simpson takes an in-depth look at a brilliant holiday topic, doing all the legwork so you don’t have to. This week, there are no fees for child placements during summer vacations.
Holiday companies are keen to offer children free accommodation. Take advantage and kids don’t just get a sofa bed in your room. Children also receive free flights, full baggage allowances and transportation to the resort. And at the hotel, children are offered the same food and drink deals as their parents, whether that’s B&B, half-board or all-inclusive deals.
To be eligible, children must normally be less than 11 years old (but can reach as high as 15.) On the date you return to the hotel, and not the day that you booked. Ages can also vary among hotels even within the same hotel.
Make a splash: The travel companies hope that families will return to the road with no-cost holidays.
Jet2, Tui, and easyJet offered more than one million places to children at no cost. With departures at airports all over the UK, tens to thousands of places are available.
Enjoy a relaxing getaway on Kefalonia, a Greek island. Jet2 offers a free kid’s stay at the Apostolata island Resort and Spa. The hotel has three swimming pools and an area where children can play. There is also a spa and mix of restaurants on rooftops and by the pool. Seven nights’ half-board in May costs from £1,069pp from Stansted.
Or head to Turkey, set to be 2022’s summer-holiday star due to low prices and wide availability. The Miracle Resort hotel on Lara Beach has four pools, water slides, a kids’ club and a dozen places to eat. From £6,799pp for all-inclusive weeks from Leeds Bradford in June.
There’s also availability for Jet2’s free kids’ places on holidays in the Canary Islands from Birmingham, Spain’s Costa del Sol from East Midlands, Crete from Belfast, plus breaks in the family-favourite Wave Resort in Bourgas, Bulgaria, from Manchester. Jet2holidays.com offers holiday options in the section entitled “Free Child Places”.
Tui’s best kids-go-free deals can take families to Portugal’s Algarve for seven-night, all-inclusive breaks in Salgados Palm Village.
Six pools are available and there is a complimentary shuttle service to the beach. Get a week from East Midlands Airport in May from £827pp.
Jet2 is offering a discount on a family-friendly getaway to Kefalonia in Greece. (pictured)
In peak summer there’s still availability at Tui BLUE’s low-rise Tropical hotel by the sea in south-west Turkey. Enjoy water flumes, splash pools, a kids’ club and family-friendly entertainment.
The hotel’s wellness focus also offers healthy-eating challenges to encourage youngsters to try new foods. All-inclusive deals depart Luton Airport in August from £1,137pp. There are also great offers on holidays departing from Birmingham Airport for the Black Sea resorts in Bulgaria and holidays in Greece.
Find a bargain with the Free Kids Place Finder tool at tui.co.uk but if you can’t find availability try firstchoice.co.uk – it’s Tui’s sister company and uses the same aircraft and resort staff but has its own allocation of holiday deals.
Package holidays with easyJet can also qualify for free kids’ places. You can find offers from 3-night mini-breaks up to four-night stays in the sun.
Use the tui.co.uk Free Kids Place Finder Tool to find a deal
Its best prices are currently on holidays to the Canary Islands, Corfu, Crete and Morocco, with many deals set at less than £500pp per week and deposits of just £60pp.
Face-to face assistance finding the right deal Staff at resurgent Hays Travel, with branches on some 400 high streets, also have access to free children’s places.
Top summer resorts include Majorca (Turkey), Minorca, Majorca or Ibiza.