in this video i'm going to give you 10
things i wish i knew before booking my
first all-inclusive vacation
so number one is what are those
must-haves those things that you must
have when you are on vacation
maybe you must have a really beautiful
beach or maybe the pool scene is more
important to you perhaps the room and
the room layout or the food and the
drinks whatever that is you have to
decide what your top priorities
are and if you're not really sure where
to start in that whole process i created
a trip planner sheet it's completely
free i'll put the link below
because it's so important that you know
what your priorities are in order to
pick the right resort
this process alone is going to help you
avoid major major pitfalls trust me
because i've been there and keep
watching because there's some others
that you can avoid as well
so number two is the price per night and
the price per night tells you a lot
about the resort
and it's absolutely true that you get
what you pay for so the price per night
is going to tell you a lot about the
quality of the resort
so the lower the price per night the
lower the quality and i know that might
seem obvious but i still see people fall
into that trap of they're looking at the
different resorts and one resort is 400
per night and the other resort is 600
per night and they go with the 400
one per night when if they just would
have paid a few hundred dollars more
they would have been at a much better
resort and remember this is
all-inclusive so you what you're getting
is not only a room but it's food and
drinks so if you're going to go low
quality on that you're going to go low
quality in everything
so when you're making that final
decision try to push yourself a little
bit higher because think how often do
you go on vacation and how much money
you're spending all the time on a daily
basis so just spending a few hundred
dollars more per day on vacation could
get you a much better experience and
remember that money comes and money goes
but these moments that you're going to
create will last forever so number three
is all about reviews and again it might
seem obvious of course you're going to
check the reviews before booking a
resort or vacation but sometimes the
reviews don't tell the whole story i
definitely encourage you to watch the
detailed video i did about how to book
travel for cheap without using a travel
agent and i really go into a lot of
depth about the reviews in particular
so i'll highlight some of the tips here
real quick so the first thing is in
tripadvisor i don't even look at the
resort if it has under 4.5 stars and
even a 4.5 star rating does not mean
it's a really great resort so make sure
you read those reviews you can even
search the reviews for particular
aspects that you're looking for whether
it's the beach or pool or food things
like that
so next for reviews is youtube so make
sure you're searching the resort that
you're looking to book on youtube and
watch the videos on it they can really
tell you things like the condition of
the resort the vibe you can see if
people are having a good time what the
layout is what the rooms look like in
fact that's why i created this channel
because i wanted more reviews like i'm
doing sometimes it can be hard to find
good reviews on resorts so i'm always
taking suggestions if you have any place
you want me to go just drop them in the
comments below and of course other
social media platforms like instagram
facebook you can put in the hashtag with
the resort's name
for facebook you could go to your town's
page and actually ask for a
recommendation or ask if anyone's been
to that particular resort and see what
comments come up
and number four is the size of the
resort i wish i had thought about what
the size of the resort was before
booking my vacation
i knew that most all-inclusive resorts
were rather large but i didn't know that
some of them were immense and just to
get back to the lobby or certain areas
of the resort you had to take golf carts
and it took time so i actually prefer
some of the smaller resorts unless i'm
traveling with my children i like the
larger resorts because there's more to
do
or maybe you're traveling with older
people and it's hard for them to
navigate the larger resorts so i
remember the first time i came back from
one of the resorts and i was exhausted
from walking so much so now i prefer a
more walkable resort i like to be able
to walk from the lobby to the beach in
just a few
minutes and number five is the time of
year and none of us can ever predict
mother nature but there are certain
times of the year that are better to
travel to the caribbean where most of
the all-inclusive resorts are than other
time so i would say hurricane season is
the absolute worst time to go to an
all-inclusive resort since most of them
are in the caribbean hurricane season is
usually august through early november
now you can usually get really really
good rates and there's lots of times
during hurricane season when they have
beautiful beautiful weather so you can
take your chances but sometimes the
stress is just too much like if you
really are it's your only vacation
you're relying on it to be beautiful
beautiful weather try to stay away from
hurricane season also during holidays
like christmas president's weekend
things like that the prices are going to
be way up and it's going to be super
overcrowded
and again there is no guarantee of
anything when it comes to weather when
you're going on vacation so it just
happens it's going to rain it's in the
caribbean so things like that happen i
think every vacation that i've been on
we've had some type of rain but usually
i try to go between january and april
which the prices are a little bit higher
but then i could be guaranteed really
nice weather for most of the time number
six is transportation from the airport
and really just transportation in
general for instance are you going to
rent a car are you going to take an uber
how are you going to get from the
airport to where you're going so for
instance the first time i traveled to
cancun i didn't really put a lot of
research into it i figured it was just
like here you go to the airport there's
tons of different taxis to get
and we did end up getting taken
advantage of which is why i now use
nacho tours every single time that i go
but if i'm not traveling to cancun now i
know i really take the time to research
about the transportation whether i need
a car and if i don't need a car exactly
how i'm going to get from the airport to
where i'm going so that i can get there
in the safest way
and the most affordable and reliable way
as well and there's a ton of information
out there on youtube again which is why
i made this channel so just make sure
you're always doing your research for
every aspect of your trip
a few final tips on transportation is
don't always go for the most affordable
option because sometimes it can cost you
more time and more money in the long run
for instance renting a car sometimes the
resorts charge a very large
daily fee just to park the car so you
have to add that in
also the public transportation or shared
rides things like that they may cost
less but it's going to take you a much
longer time to get to the resort i've
even seen comments where people have had
to wait hours and hours
at the airport waiting for everyone to
get there or the bus didn't arrive
things like that so if i'm not renting a
car i go for the private transfer
because even though it costs a little
bit more it gets me to my destination
quicker with much less stress and number
seven is the proximity to the airport
and i know it sounds silly but i'm just
gonna be honest on one of my first trips
that i booked i didn't even think about
looking how close the resort was to the
airport so after i booked and started
doing more planning i realized it was
over an hour and i was traveling with my
kids
and you know they were already going to
be on a plane for three or four hours so
it did add some stress to the um to the
trip but it also added more money so now
i really look into seeing how close it
is to the airport especially if i'm
traveling only for three days and trace
notches i want something as close as
possible maybe you that's not something
that's important to you but i figured i
would mention it because it can add some
stress and a lot of time onto your trip
and number eight is the beach and if you
follow this channel you know i'm a huge
beach person it's a big priority when i
go on vacation and yes we can never
control mother nature so i do get a lot
of comments about that however you are
paying a lot of money to go on vacation
and if the beach is the priority you
want to make sure that you're going to
go to a resort that has a beautiful
beach and yes beach conditions can
change but there are some resorts out
there
that the beach is always horrible
and the beach conditions don't change
so make sure you do your research ahead
of time if that's a top priority to you
and also go back to that time of year
and make sure that if that's what you
really are looking for that you're
trying to travel
during the ideal situations knowing that
it is mother nature and that we can't
always control it
okay almost done keep watching you
definitely want to see these last few so
number nine is room placement so where
your room is located in the resort and i
wish i knew before going
to um an all-inclusive resort that
sometimes your room placement can
actually make or break your vacation
i mean maybe that's a little dramatic
but it can add some stress to your
vacation for instance we had one that
was really far from the lobby there were
no golf carts so i was exhausted walking
back and forth
from the room the other thing is maybe
you're in front of a noisy pool
and you like to relax in your room in
the afternoon and then that doesn't
become an option so there are different
factors and most resorts are going to
tell you that they cannot guarantee
where your room is placed however this
is a tip inside of a tip
call the resort before you go anytime
you book a vacation call the resort
one
you know request a special room
let them know that you're having you
know a special occasion or something
like that see what the upgrade options
are you know maybe there's a great up
upgrade and it's not that expensive you
know also just getting all the details
about the resort in general and like i
said you can never guarantee a perfect
vacation and you are at a resort there's
going to be noises you know i've never
been in a room where i don't have a
perfectly quiet room however
you can take precautions before going to
try to make sure that you get the best
room possible for what you paid for
and number 10 although there is a bonus
one after this is about the spa
and excursion so i wish i knew before
booking my all-inclusive trip that these
often sell out by the time that you get
there so a few times i went on vacation
when i got there i went into book spot
um massages and they were booked a
couple of the excursion we wanted to go
on were books so now i always book in
advance if they allow it so again you
just have to check with the resort
call the resort
and make sure you set those up ahead of
time now in regards to the spa i
actually don't even go to the spa
anymore when i'm on vacation because
it's usually so overpriced so a massage
can be
200 plus
and you know it's just usually
ridiculous so i don't spend a lot of
time at the spa anymore but if it's
something that's important to you and
something you really want to do on your
vacation my recommendation would be to
book it before going
okay but one last one which is a quick
bonus tip and that is
is it truly all-inclusive so make sure
you know about any hidden fees like if
there's resort fees
also tipping is usually not included so
you want to factor that in i think
sandals and beach is the only resort
i've ever been in where tipping's been
included
and also what upgrades um are available
because lots of times if you're just
doing the basic level you don't get the
premium liquors sometimes at restaurants
you can't order certain dishes
you can't use certain areas of the
resort so just make sure you know
what all inclusive truly means
do you have to pay extra for water
sports or for chairs and cabanas and
things like that in my experience
usually in cancun and dominican republic
it's pretty all-inclusive
and usually i will upgrade
to the next level so i can get the
premium liquors i can get a little bit
extra perks but again i had no idea
about this before
going to an all-inclusive resort so
again just make sure that before you
book you know
what really is all included
so i hope you found these 10 things well
actually 11 things i wish i knew before
booking my first all-inclusive resort
helpful in fact there's probably even
more
tips and tricks in my other videos so
make sure you spend some time checking
out the other reviews that we did and if
you did find this useful please like and
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and trace notes while we keep bringing
you real honest information that you can
use to book your next vacation
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