'I booked TUI all-inclusive holiday for £965 to find out if it's worth the money'

Are 'all-inclusive' holiday deals a good buy, or a rip-off? YouTube Ed Chapman set out to fins out the truth, and discovered how one type of person will get the best out of them

An all-inclusive holiday looks like a tempting option – but it’s hard to tell whether you could have spent a little less on a “pay as you go” holiday, and ended up better off.

YouTuber Ed Chapman decided to test the theory by booking himself into an all-inclusive resort in Turkey and keeping a running total of everything that he ate and drank to see whether he could “turn a profit” on the trip.

It wasn’t until the fifth day of his five-day break that Ed managed to “go into profit” on the deal. But, he says, how much value you get out of an all-inclusive holiday depends on what kind of person you are.

Ed paid £965 for his Tui holiday. He made a couple of adjustments to the total straight away and explained: “We need to knock off about £165 for the return flights to Turkey with checked luggage and then maybe like another £500 for five nights in the hotel. That leaves us with roughly £300 paid for the ‘all inclusiveness’.”

He launched into his challenge straight away, finding himself a sandwich and the first of several strawberry daiquiris. He then stumbled into a silent disco where, strangely, everyone was dancing to different music.

Ed explained that there were three DJs spinning simultaneously, and dancers were able to tune into the music of their choice by selecting a different channel on their headphones. He explained: "You can change between the different channels …just weird to be trying to dance just dance with yourself. This is the first time I've ever done a resort holiday by myself, so this is going to obviously be a bit weird for us all.”

But Ed quickly buckled down to the serious business of chipping away at his budget – enjoying a Turkish-inspired fry-up for breakfast before headline out to one of the complex’s numerous pools.

He pointed out that there was one way of getting an even better deal out the all-inclusive resort, as long as you have no scruples. He continued: “One thing I do like about this hotel is that there's no wristbands or anything like that. Sometimes, in these places, you get really annoying wristbands that are fiddly and scratchy, but there’s nothing like that here. They don't even ask your name at breakfast or at dinner or anything, so you could in theory just waltz in [and eat what you like].”

But even sticking to the rules, Ed found it easy to make solid inroads into his original £300 – enjoying regular drinks and snacks and even taking advantage of the resort’s gym and spa, for which he deducted an extra £15 for the week.

He was fairly blessed with the weather, with temperatures holding at a fairly steady 27C throughout his stay, barring one apocalyptic thunderstorm. The run of warm weather meant he got plenty of value out of the pool, and in particular the water-slide.

Ed finally used up his notional £300 early on the fifth day, enabling him to enjoy his lunch and a few “last day” drinks as pure profit. In the final analysis, he says, booking this particular all-inclusive holiday was a good deal and could be an even better deal off you’re more of a boozer.

He explained: “We have managed to make a profit, and let's face it I'm not a massive drinker. If you're a bigger drinker than me and you had five, six seven or eight alcoholic drinks a day you could easily add another £150 onto that total.

“So, the reality is if you've got the money to be able to do all-inclusive, and you are somebody that drinks quite a lot it's absolutely worth it. If you’re somebody that drinks not too much, like me, it's still probably worth it if you've got the money.”

While some people look down their noses at all-inclusive holidays, Ed says the whole experience as “pretty decent actually.”