Premium economy or 5 star resort?

[RDP]

Which would you choose, if you could only pick one? Business class flights or a 5 star resort.

 

[adamandkate]

The way i'd look at it is... your on the plan 9 hours, your in your hotel every day for 2 weeks (or more if your lucky).

If your the sort of person who can handle sitting on a cramped plane for that long.... then go for the hotel. But i do understand that the plane is important to most people as it can potentially be the most unplesant part of your trip, and you cant get out. But dont like your hotel room and you can go to the parks.

 

[ChipnDaleRule]

Absolute no brainer, 5 star resort all the way.Look at this this way, 8 hours of a little more leg room or 2 weeks of sheer luxury

 

[paulh]

hotel no prob
Paul

 

[brer rabbit 28]

Definitely the hotel.

I hate flying but I can deal with economy at the thought of 2 weeks in Orlando - and if its 5 star...

 

[wayneg]

Everyone will be different on this one, I have done both. Business class is fantastic, your hoiday starts from leaving the UK to landing back here.
Hotel, I just can't get to grips with 5 star hotels, they charge OTT, charge you to use the internet, park a car.............

Couple of years back we stayed a night at Country Inn & suites LBV (now Fairfield Inn) £30/nt incl breakfast, wifi, fantastic beds, fridge, microwave. Stayed there 3 or 4 times now we like it so much, we then moved to RPR at Universal, £130/nt with all the add ons. 100% no more enjoyment than the CI&Suites.

With hotel I think its how you use it, we use it to sleep and out, we don't use pool, fitness rooms, spa's, bars etc its a bed for the night, others make the hotel as part of the holiday so I can see then it matters.

If I was to stay 5 star it would have to be at the right price, like I posted earlier today, somewhere like this 5star at £54/nt, done are my days of paying £150/nt, they are not worth it to me. http://www.rosenshinglecreek.com/

Back the the flights, again I would only do it at the right price, we paid £1170pp for August when economy was £800-900pp

End of the day its all down to cost for me, if I think either are worth the price then yes, if not I would spend the money on a cruise instead, far more enjoyable than either option.

 

[dixonsontour]

Can I say neither and save the money for another trip (just to be awkward!)

Only time i've flown business was when we got a free upgrade.

Only 5 star i've ever stayed at was in UK (celtic manor resort a few times) - nice enough but rooms are only same as OKW.

I'd rather try and do two 2 week family holidays for the money rather than one luxury.

 

[nobodies36]

I would have to also go for hotel upgrade over flight upgrade any day. You spend less time on the flight than you will in your room.

 

[TheFram4]

Like many my initial thought would be take the 5* room however on thinking about it and despite the fact I am a sucker for luxury (AKL concierge on points tho) I think I would go for the flight upgrade.

Although I am not particularly tall at 5'8" I have freakish out of proportion legs around 35" inside which can make flights particularly uncomfortable. I have had some really uncomfortable journeys in economy and and upgrade makes the world of difference to my flight. It does not help that I have some minor mobility issues having shattered my tib and fib a few years ago.
I would only pay PE at the right price and this august we paid £702 m+m with return PE. Unfortunately it was going to cost an extra £940 for the four of us to upgrade on the way out and that was just too much and I will have to suffer.
Unfortunately my husband does not share my opinion on upgrading but his legs are around 5" shorter

As far as the hotel room we spend so little time in it I think as long as it is comfortable, in a decent location, and not a flea pit it would not have to be 5*

 

[Kath2003]

Hotel - would never pay for PE

 

[zippy99]

To answer the question - I would go hotel...

However, if I am honest, I would be more like Dixonsontour - save the money for spends when out there. But it all depends on budgets - If money was no object I'd be in upperclass - but reality is the flights are a means to an end for us and DH and I are 5'7 and 5'3 so comfortable enough in economy.

 

[chmurf]

Can I say neither and save the money for another trip (just to be awkward!)

words of wisdom.

Flight goes by so quickly I hardly see the need to pay more than the most discounted economy fare I can find.
Well, TBH DW and I are quite short. I'm 5'4" and DW is 5'6". so we don't need extra leg room. Actually there is plenty of leg room for us on standard pitch economy seat.
Although I understand that taller people feel like sardines in a can, I can only answer for myself and say that there is no way I'd pay more for a seat on a plane (not even using miles)

Hotel ... well, we only use our hotel for the very basic things. We come back to the room at night, crash in front of the TV and leave in the morning after a quick shower. What would we do of fancy ammenities ? That would pin us down at the resort when we should be hitting the parks or other florida attractions.
The excess we would pay for a 5 star resort could get us a full year in a beauty institute or gym and many more things. If I had to spend the kind of money required for a 5 stars I'd get myself the same benefits at home, not just for 2 weeks.
I guess it depends on your priority when you're on vacations. We go to florida to see the parks. If we were after a full service resort and ammenities we probably wouldn't go to florida.
We're very pleased with POP and actually DW and I had this conversation 2 or 3 months ago when we considered going either to POP or to OKW, and DW told me she would feel out of place at OKW, and even if she was in awe at Poly and AKL we just consider that those places are "not for us".

So if I had the money to get either a first class ticket or a deluxe or other 5 stars, I think I'll try to make it 2 trips at values flying economy

If I had to really choose, like it was a gift and I HAD to choose, then I guess I would go for the hotel as it's the hotel that gives you the most bang for your bucks. But I guess we would not enjoy our vacations that much.
I used to be a CEO and I enjoyed all the luxury you can imagine on business trips. Now I've come back to a much simpler life (partly do to disability preventing me from working) and I must say that all that luxury is quite overrated.

 

[scottishgirl87]

Hotel for me too! I would rather have 2 weeks in a nice hotel than have 10 hours in a bigger seat on the plane.

I'll turn it the other way - can I just win the lottery and do both?!

 

[mrtoffee]

Has to be the hotel for me to, go for the 5 star option and see if oyu can get a cheap upgrade to premium on the day for your flight

 

[london75]

Going to go against the flow here but we'd much rather have a reasonably priced villa with it's own pool and the best flights.

I wouldn't choose a 2 star hotel plus best flights but if it was only an upgrade from 4 to 5 star and economy seats, flight upgrade every time.

Our first economy flight to Florida is this October, we've only ever flown Virgin PE, paid for extra legroom so hoping that's "enough" as we've been getting more and more miffed with Virgin screwing us for every penny. Sorry, I'll stop ranting.

 

[ChipnDaleRule]

Has to be the hotel for me to, go for the 5 star option and see if oyu can get a cheap upgrade to premium on the day for your flight

We thought of doing this back in May.When we got to the airport it was £250pp one way to upgrade,cheaper than i had been quoted over the phone,but not cheap enough for us. The lowest i've seen it in the past is £175pp.

 

[igk]

I must say that all that luxury is quite overrated.

Well said.

I think it depends on the circumstances - with my kids I'd not pay for PE/Business Class, as it would set the wrong precedent - do it once and then economy will never be good enough - as an old colleague of mine used to say 'the back of the plane gets there the same time as the front'.

Faced with the choice as asked though, I'd go for the hotel, but the third option, save the money for an extra trip, is very appealing

 

[ford family]

We thought of doing this back in May.When we got to the airport it was £250pp one way to upgrade,cheaper than i had been quoted over the phone,but not cheap enough for us. The lowest i've seen it in the past is £175pp.

We came back from Florida last week, BA Tampa to Gatwick. We upgraded to World Traveller Plus on line at check in for £159 each and we thought it was good value. BA have certainly improved their premium economy "experience" since last time we tried it, probably as a result of having to compete with the Virgin Atlantic offering.

ford family

 

[disneyholic family]

i'm reconsidering my answer....

more than a few times, i've flown business class and stayed at the pop century....so i guess that's my answer...

but i should add that my flight is longer than yours i think.....

and i should also add that i only fly the international leg business class.....from new york to orlando, i'm with the regular cattle...

but still, that 12 hour flight upstairs in business class is a very civilized way to travel....

and i don't mind the pop century...

but i've also stayed at all the deluxe resorts (GF, WL, CR, Poly, AKL, YC, BC and BWI) and i've enjoyed all of them..

so it's not as if on principle i have to stay at the pop century...

i guess my answer is, whatever you think you'll enjoy most..

 

[peachiepie]

I'd have to go for the 5 star hotel over the flight, working on the basis it's two weeks at the hotel v 10 hours each way on the plane. However I'm only 5"2 so I have plenty of leg room on economy flights...I guess if I was quite a bit taller my answer might change!