Wednesday, 06 May 2009

• All Inclusive Resorts-All the Rave or Overrated?

  I have had experiences staying in all kinds of lodging while traveling. I have been in hostels, sketchy hotels or just plain crummy hotels (ice cold water showers are no fun no matter what country you're in), luxury hotels with private balconies and round the clock concierge service, condominiums, campsites,  and more, including one trip to the Jersey Shore where we lived out of and slept in my car (yes this was free, but we did get a ticket from the Stone Harbor Police Department. Apparently, it's illegal to sleep in your car in Jersey. Who knew?)
  
  On two of my vacations, one to Jamaica and the other to Cozumel, I have stayed at all-inclusive resorts. All-inclusive vacations can be great. The benefits can include paying one flat rate for your lodging, meals, drinks (usually including alcoholic beverages), and some activities, like snorkeling, games,  activities for kids, arts and crafts, entertainment at night, dance lessons, cooking demonstrations, and exercise classes. Other perks can include free transportation to and from the airport to your accommodations. Additionally, all-inclusive resorts usually bring high volumes of visitors to the country, while also providing jobs to the local community within the resort.
  
  However, all-inclusive resorts can also be detrimental to the local economy of the country you are visiting.  These resorts take away business from the local vendors who often rely on tourism for revenue. All-inclusive hotels are usually located far from the business centers, making it difficult for visitors to  access and patronize these local businesses. At both of the places where I stayed, small vendors selling crafts, t-shirts, and jewelry came to our hotels and set up tables for their merchandise to be seen and purchased. In Cozumel, taxi service was always available, and the downtown market was only  about ten minutes and seven dollars away. In Jamaica, however, we ventured out of the resort only once to visit Dunn's Fall, and on our journey, traveling via taxi, we were shocked at the visible poverty that has stricken the country. It can be a culture shock to venture from your seemingly beautiful and exuberant hotel to see what the country is actually like and how the local people live.
  
  For those of you that want to be more conscious when planning a trip but do enjoy the benefits that an all-inclusive package can provide, try contacting the resort prior to booking to find out the percentage of their employees that are from the local community. Other questions to ask can be where does the food served in the resort come from, i.e. local farmers or import; who owns the resort; what they contribute to the local economy; how far the resort is located from local business centers; and the gratuity etiquette. While the hotel may employee local community members, their salaries are often minimal, and what might seem like a modest tip to you could be seen as a generous source of additional income to the employee. All-inclusive vacations can be great but we should all do our part to make sure that our vacations are making both our lives and the lives of those people we meet while traveling better.

  Have you ever stayed at an all-inclusive resort?

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