I suspect that may be the only ones that will stay in the Thomson programmes but the Crete and the Tenerife one's are FB plus so not quite AI , and it is true , I have just left Thomson TA's and we had a detailed briefing on it on Friday morning .

That must be a first Kerry. The travel agent not being last to have all the correct information

Watch the price rises.What is going to happen to the Adults Only AI and Gold program as you can upgrade to AI in some Gold Hotels or is Gold for the bin?????

As I was leaving that day (due to increasing commuting costs) I did nt get the full briefing as it was pointless as it was all happening after I had left , but it will be interesting to see which brochure some of the " multi boarded" properties ( I think I just invented a new word , lol !) will be in .

Its going to be an awfully thick brochure as 95% of the Thomson Turkey program is AI.

Yes but on that note , First Choice turkey programme is mostly BB and HB so they will move across , TBH I think its totally pointless , I think what they are trying to do is to make Thomson a more upmarket (can t think of a better word) programme as some budget AI can be pretty basic .

I don t know the reasoning behind to be honest , its strange , its like the no offers in their windows , stupid decision in my opinion .

Fully agree its like when you go online the "Hurry only 1 room left" must be a big room as hotels have this for weeks on end!!!!!

First Choice all inclusives: Is it profit over people?

TUI UK has hit back at suggestions that its new policy for First Choice to sell only all-inclusive holidays is against its sustainable tourism ethos.

First Choice announced on Friday that from summer 2012 it would dedicate itself to all-inclusive packages in response to an ever more budget conscious British public to a wave of approbation from ethical tourism campaigners.

Said Tourism Concern: "We are dismayed by the news that First Choice is making all their holidays all inclusive from 2012 and this really highlights how, despite all the tourism industry talk of becoming more sustainable, it still has a very long way to go."

"All inclusive resorts generally provide extremely limited benefits to local economies, beyond poorly paid jobs. Meanwhile, land prices and the cost of living for local people increases, and access to precious natural resources, such as water, can become compromised due to heavy consumption by resorts. Even the food is usually imported rather than sourced locally, while tourists are discouraged from leaving the resort apart from on specially organised excursions."

"We'd encourage any tourists going on all inclusive holidays to venture beyond the hotel walls, sample some local cuisine, try the local markets and engage with the local people and culture. That way their holiday is likely to have a more positive impact on local communities and they will certainly find it's more fun and interesting too."

Communications director for TUI UK and Ireland Christian Cull said: "It is a myth to suggest that people do not go out of the hotel, just because they're on an all-inclusive holiday.

"As a holiday company we encourage people to go on local excursions and explore all that the destination has to offer. We are doing a lot of work in this area to increase communications with customers whilst they're on holiday, encouraging them to use local services."

"For many of our flagship properties we are also setting up excursions that will enable customers to get a real taste for the destination they are visiting."

He said that two thirds of the holidays that First Choice sold were already all-inclusive, adding: "We are as committed now as ever to making our operations more sustainable."

He highlighted the operator's Holidays Forever commitments, which pledges to make sure 90% of its hotels meet strict ABTA-backed sustainability standards by 2014 and also said TUI UK was the first operator to launch such pledges.

He added: "All-inclusives also achieve better occupancy and are more in demand. We have also been working with experts to see how we can increase the benefits of all-inclusive to local communities and putting in practices to do this."

Said Tricia Barnet on Friday: "I was told by the hotels association in a busy Turkish resort that UK operators had bullied hoteliers into reluctantly turning themselves into all-inclusives. For this they were being paid the princely sum of €20 per night per person for the whole package."

"It doesn't take much thinking to realise what this does both to the local economy, the hospitality for which Turkey is famous and the consequent end result for the holidaymaker. The TUI group are supposed to be leading the pack in terms of responsible and sustainable tourism, so how do they justify this?"

Clearly TUI are now taking a rather more narrow definition of sustainability as their current standard whilst ‘working on" all inclusive tourism benefits for local communities.

As Simon Calder said: "From every point of view, except perhaps holiday company shareholders, all-inclusive resorts are the devil's work."

With permission from Travelmole

All inclusive are double edged swords , Christian Cull clearly does nt go on many all inclusives , virtually everyone at a property particularly in the Med will NOT go out of their complex .

Although I do all inclusive myself I always go out and have a look around , sample a few cafes and little bars but the majority don t .

Daughter is the same , when we went on a family holiday AI Greece [as you know not my thing] the only part of the islands she saw was the airport and the hotel [don't think she even looked out of the window of the taxi between the two]

"We'd encourage any tourists going on all inclusive holidays to venture beyond the hotel walls, sample some local cuisine, try the local markets and engage with the local people and culture"

Yes - by flogging their own excursions, same as they do for everyone, regardless of whether they are SC, B&B, HB, FB, or IA. So hardly a argument for AI.

We have usually only gone AI in the Caribbean - very little choice outside the complexes in a lot of of the islands.And where there is, (eg Barbados!) it is horrendously expensive.
Our "norm" is room only or B & B in Europe. However, the parlous state of the pound vs the Euro means that AI is becoming much more attractive.
A recent holiday in Rhodes at the end of last September is a case in point - I was shocked when I worked out how much we had spent on meals out and drinks - we had actually spent more £££s than the holiday had cost us in the first place!!!
I've been pricing up holidays with Thomson/First Choice for this June in Europe - I'm finding relatively basic B & B accommodation isn't appreciably cheaper than 4 or 5* AIs.

We were intending to take a winter holiday in Jan 2012 in Costa Rica. First Choice/Thomsons have large parts of their winter brochures dedicated to tours and hotels and the icing on the cake is the direct flight. However they have pulled the plug on the whole programme. No one seems to know why but lack of interest seems to be the best guess.

Hi all what sort of discount do first choice staff get for freinds and family..

Thanks for looking

You'd have to ask the family member that works for First Choice.

I've booked a holiday with FC for this December, only to find that it is no longer being offered by them. I take it they will honour my booking and still allow me to go to the hotel of my choice?

How did you find out it is no longer offered? Did an agent or FC inform you?

I heard a rumour, and did a search on their website, and it's not an option.

Both Thomson & First Choice are showing a big winter programme for Costa Rica but its been pulled, they just havn't updated their sites