What's the Catch with All-Inclusive Vacations?

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Hey traveler, welcome back to Talk Travel to Me.

I'm your host Kristy Ouellette and this week I'm answering the question, what's the catch with all-inclusive vacations?

Let's talk about it.

So let's start by defining what an all-inclusive is and what it's not.

And the best way to do that in my opinion is to start with, how do we even get all-inclusives to begin with?

So they got started in the 1950s with Club Med.

They are definitely considered the pioneer for this kind of travel.

And they originally started as a non-profit designed to offer affordable, relaxing escapes to Europeans after World War II.

Guests stayed in surplus army tents, ate meals together in the mess, and they traded plastic beads instead of money to buy drinks at the bar.

So these quote unquote resorts, they started in Mallorca, Spain and.

Corsica, France, spread a little bit across Europe and eventually to Tahiti.

In the 70s and 80s, around that time, Jamaica decided to adopt the concept, minus the tents thank God, and turned it into a romantic tropical idea.

Super clubs opened in the late 70s and then in 1981, Gordon Butch Stewart opened the first Sandals Resort, Sandals Montego Bay in Jamaica.

It's been called the world's first couples-only luxury all-inclusive.

But then now as we sit here in 2026, there are over 80 distinct all-inclusive resort brands operating.

Sandals and their family brand Beaches is still very much a major player in the market.

Lots of people will say it is the premier opportunity, most popular one.

But we've also got Palladium, Karisma, Barcello, Excellence, and big brands like Marriott and Hyatt have also very much gotten into the market.

And at their core, all-inclusives offer vacations that include a hotel stay, your food and drink, and some activities for an upfront price.

That is really what we're talking about when it comes to all-inclusives and how they work.

So if you take anything from the episode, let it be this.

All-inclusive does not mean the same thing.

across all 80 plus brands.

In fact, even within the brands themselves, there are different levels and nuances that bring more inclusions or dramatically less.

So the catch comes in here.

It's the levels.

We're going to look at the Sandals brand because they are arguably the powerhouse in the industry.

But make no mistake, almost every single brand uses levels to control crowds, quality, and, quite frankly, line their own pockets.

So for all guests who choose a Sandals resort, you get food and drink, including top shelf liquors.

You get land and water sports like tennis, pickleball, golf with a caveat, scuba diving, water skiing, wakeboarding, tubing, sailing.

You also get airport ground transfers, Wi-Fi, gratuities with a caveat, and resort exchange privileges, which that's a big one.

At least for me, I have honeymoon clients headed to Sandals Halcyon Beach in St.

Lucia in the beginning of September.

We chose that particular property because the vibe fits more what they're looking for.

But by staying there, they actually have the ability to visit the other two properties that Sandal operates in St.

Lucia.

There's a complimentary shuttle.

They're allowed to go back and forth as much or.

as little as they want and take advantage of all of the opportunities at all three of the resorts.

That's a big deal and a big perk for Sandals if you're going to one of their locations that has multiple resorts.

But Sandals divides its accommodations into three distinct service tiers, keeping those core amenities that I just mentioned identical for all guests, while gating the room locations, the dining conveniences, and personal services behind the higher tiered paywalls.

The three levels at Sandals are luxury level, club level, and the butler elite level.

So luxury level is that entry level point, the least expensive rooms on the resort property.

These are going to be ones that are offered in less than ideal locations.

You'll never find a luxury room with a view of anything other than the parking lot and maybe a stray flower here and there.

They are in buildings that are further away from the main campus.

They are a walk to the beach, to the pools, all that sort of thing.

In the luxury level, you do still have full access to all the resort amenities, all of the restaurants, the bars, the water sports, the.

scuba diving, airport transfers, and the standard gratuities.

You have a mini bar in your room that's stocked with water, juice, soda, wine, and local beer.

There is no room service if you are staying in a luxury level accommodation.

You check in in the main lobby.

You stand in line if there is a line there.

And you manage all of your own dining and activity bookings.

And what that really means is, let's say you want to go scuba diving at the resort.

You're staying in a luxury entry level category.

You're going to need to go up to the excursions desk and plan the time for your scuba diving.

If you're staying in other categories, someone does that for you.

So this is just something to keep in mind.

It is an entry point.

It's like, get you there.

And that's when you see the lead in prices on advertising.

It says, go to Sandals St.

Lucia starting at $400 a night or whatever.

So that gets you in the door.

The club level now is that middle tier.

And it gives you a lot more access and more conveniences.

You get access to the club Sandals.

Lounge.

It's open 24-7.

When you check in at the resort, you're brought into that lounge.

You're given a glass of champagne.

And you are going to sit and talk with somebody in there.

There's also snacks and all kinds of stuff that goes on in there.

You get upgraded room locations and views.

You can find ocean views.

There are a limited number of them.

But you can find them in that club level tier.

They're in buildings and locations that are a little closer to the main activities that we're going on.

And you also get a dedicated concierge team to handle your restaurant and your tour reservations.

You also get upgraded minibar experience.

And you get the small-sized bottles of local and standard spirits.

So you might get a spiced rum in Jamaica.

But it's not going to be a brand necessarily that you are aware of.

They're kind of like that middle tier, I guess.

Full disclosure, I am not someone that partakes in much of the adult beverages that are offered.

So I don't... I sound kind of silly when I say like, I don't know the brand, but that's why.

So there are some.

limitations in this club level tier.

You do get room service, but the service cuts off usually by 10 p.m You're sharing concierge staff across all club level guests.

And one of the most impactful things, I think, is that they don't help reserve pool or beach seating for you.

So there's some limitations to what they're going to be offering for you.

Now, when you go Butler Elite, as the name implies, there is a lot of benefits here, including private in-suite check-in.

My husband and I did this for our, I believe it was our 20th wedding anniversary.

We stayed at Sandals Royal Caribbean in a Butler suite.

And when we got there and we said our names, the butler appeared.

And they took us to our room to talk about all of the check-in things.

It includes 24-hour room service, fully stocked in-room bars that you can customize.

And they give you full-size premium liquor bottles.

Yes, they do.

And you can ask for just about any kind of brand and liquor that you're looking for.

And they'll have a full-size bottle of it in your room.

Access to signature suites like those overwater bungalows with the.

sky pools, like, oh, my gosh, and luxury transfers at select resorts.

Now, the nuance with the butler, I didn't realize before I went, which is, heck, that's why I travel as much as I do, so that I can figure these things out and share it with my listeners and my clients.

But you're actually assigned a team of like two to three rotating butlers who cover the shifts throughout the day.

Because obviously your one butler doesn't work your entire seven days that you're there on vacation 24-7.

And you contact them via a dedicated mobile device.

Some of the resorts have like a light you turn on outside your room.

There's a way to kind of get in touch with them.

They handle your luggage.

They reserve prime beach pool loungers daily, serve meals and cocktails directly to your lounger or your room.

This was something that I was unexpected and I loved.

But every evening when they were either walking us to dinner or we were checking in after dinner, they asked us tomorrow morning, would you like to start at the pool at the beach?

What are you looking for?

And then they would go.

and get chairs for us there so that in the morning, whenever we emerged from our room, we could go to that spot to find our name.

There was a cooler with ice water because that was really the biggest thing that we asked for.

So you weren't up at the crack of dawn running to try to save towels, save chairs wherever you're going to be, right?

That was a huge help.

And it's a joke for a reason.

People talk about resorts and cruise ships, about what a crazy situation it is finding chairs at the resort.

So this was a perk that was super helpful, although it seems strange to quantify it in that way.

So when I mentioned before that gratuities were included, one of the caveats to that is that your gratuities at Sandals are all included except for your butlers.

And then if you have treatments down at Red Lane Spa, you tip separately for that.

And the butlers, you really are expected to tip each of the butlers that you have.

Now, we had two in our seven nights stay that were the main.

We saw a couple other random people sometimes, but like that.

we had two.

So you were expected to tip both of them.

And that gets to be a lot.

But also, when you look at what they do for you, I felt like it was a reasonable amount considering we didn't do tipping like every day.

Like we weren't like, hey, man, thanks for getting us the best seat on the beach.

Here's 20 bucks.

We did it all at the end.

But Sandals is one of those resorts that leans really heavily in their marketing into like everything's included.

Well, it is, but until it's not.

So just to kind of clarify that a little bit.

So if we look at the Sandals model and then put it up against something like the Hyatt Inclusive Collection, which includes brands like Secrets, Dreams and Breathless, which are very popular, they take a fundamentally different approach to inclusions in the tiering than Sandals.

So all guests that they're saying at the resorts of the Hyatt Inclusive Collection, they get no wristbands or paper passes.

You never have to wear plastic or fabric wristbands to identify yourself, which is a big part of their marketing.

And every time I see it, I kind of laugh because, yes, you are not expected to wear any physical bracelets that identify you, but they still identify you and put you into buckets based on your room number.

So every single person you meet is going to ask you for your room number before they offer you any kind of service.

They also don't have dining reservations required at the majority of their restaurants because they do an a la carte specialty restaurant operating on first come, first serve basis, and that way you don't have any of that like check-in scramble, I guess.

But also you do have a wait because if everybody decides they want to go to the Italian restaurant that night, reality just tells you that like not everybody can go in one spot.

So they do have top shelf liquor, daily replenished mini bars, pool and beach wait service so you can get your like frozen mudslide while you're sitting at the beach, and included room service.

Typically it's 24-7, but exact hours can vary, of course, by the property and the brand vintage, like the older resorts that they have in their collection.

Hyatt's been just collecting resorts, and that's kind of how this has worked.

Each brand within the Hyatt collection has their own spin.

But then they have their own tiers, right?

They have a standard versus preferred club.

So the standard guests get full access to all of the restaurants, the main pool areas, and the entertainment and beach zones.

The preferred club guests though, that unlocks physical VIP zones across the resort.

So they have access to preferred only pools.

They have dedicated beach sections with upgraded loungers.

And when I tell you, the fascinating thing about this is like, it is like a real life representation between the haves and the have-nots.

The dirty chairs and the ones that have no support and no comfort to them, those are the ones that you get at the standard level.

If you're staying in the preferred club, you're as like a brand new chair with a, you know, what do you call those, like memory foam covers and like all that.

Like you look at it and you're like, eek, right?

You also have a private lounge, an exclusive a la carte restaurant reserved only for you during breakfast and lunch.

So like there's definitely.

like they make it up there.

There's tears even though they're not going to push it out there.

And you know, hey, the marketing about no wristbands.

Sorry.

And I'm not dogging on them because some of them are absolutely stunningly beautiful resorts that are a great option.

I'm not saying that, but when you are looking at kind of like what the catch is, there's a reason why most of them are going to come in less expensive than, let's say, a sandals.

And I personally, although I completely understand that in the world there are levels for everything, I'm the kind of traveler that like I want to pay my all inclusive fare up front and then I don't want to walk by and say like, oh, wow, there's a gated off area that I can't go into or that chair looks really comfortable.

Not for me.

Everybody's different, but that's something that just sets me off a little bit.

There's enough of that in the real world.

If you know what I'm saying.

So the the Hyatt versus sandals, they basically do that thing where they're just gating your standard guests out of the prime areas.

And then Sandal says like, hey, here are our 53 pools and the extensive beach area.

You can have use of it no matter who you are, no matter what room category you're staying in.

They also, by the way, don't have wristbands.

The Hyatt eliminates the reservations completely so you can just walk up to restaurants.

Sandals, like I mentioned, like they heavily rely on dining reservations at night, especially.

And if you're staying in a Butler level category, you've been able to have those reservations made on your behalf before you even landed on the island.

So you're definitely getting an upgraded experience.

You're getting the times that you want.

You're not having to wait with the masses and try to figure out what's left.

I will also say one of the big things that comes into play with timeshares also comes up now.

And that is the timeshare pitches.

Sandals doesn't have timeshare, so you don't get that.

But Hyatt frequently applies high pressure pitches so that you'll join their ultimate vacation club.

All right.

So let's talk about that a little bit.

So what these vacation clubs or VIP memberships are, are timeshares.

And there's no other.

way around it.

They're going to pitch you to buy into a multi-year timeshare contract with them.

But they don't call it a timeshare.

They call it a vacation club, which, by the way, Disney does as well.

But you don't get the pitch the same way.

And VIP memberships, they're typically disguised as a mandatory concierge check-in or a welcome orientation.

A lot of them also will say like, oh, we need you to attend a quick meeting to get your free resort credits.

Hard Rock is really, really bad with that one.

So there there are several chains that have active vacation club pitches.

The Hyatt Inclusive Collection, they have the Unlimited Vacation Club.

And typically with those resorts, immediately after your front desk check-in, you're walked right over to the VIP concierge who offers you spa coupons or bottle upgrades in exchange for attending a 90 minute breakfast presentation.

Palace Resorts has Palace Elite.

They are notoriously aggressive, high pressure, and they use massive promises of resort credits as the hook starting right on day one.

Charisma, which is El Dorado, Azul, Margaritaville, Island Reserve.

They have the Exotic Prestige Travelers Club.

So I could go on.

because there are a lot of them.

Brands that do not have timeshare pitches.

There's three of them really in the major area.

Sandals and Beaches, they do not have a timeshare or vacation club sales team.

So there's nothing for them to force you into a special presentation.

And Couples Resorts in Jamaica also has zero timeshares on property.

Club Med, our original granddaddy of all-inclusive resorts.

They also operate on a standard model, so there is no VIP membership or anything like that.

Now, how to spot the pitch?

It's really hard to miss, but if anyone walks up to you and says, Hey, I want to invite you to a welcome breakfast or have you sit down with a member specialist, or they walk you to a separate desk to activate your resort credits, you are being funneled into a vacation club presentation.

End of story.

That's what you're getting.

If you're into that, fine.

If you want to pay thousands of dollars for your vacation and then sit in a 90-minute presentation where they try to force-feed you into a multi-year contract to go back there, okay, it's your vacation.

You do what you like.

But my struggle with some of these properties is that polite, firm, no thank you, we aren't interested in buying a membership, rarely stops the relentless pitches.

And part of that is because they have so many people walking around, offering things to you, and they all work on commissions.

So, you know, if you buy your vacation club on day one after that simple concierge check-in, that person is getting the money.

If it happens to be a bartender that's like, wow, isn't this a great resort?

You know, is there handing you your drinks?

And you're like, yeah, yeah, it's beautiful.

Like, well, did you know you could be here every year if you just signed up?

That's the game that they play.

What I will say is one thing that does seem to work, and the word does seem to spread, which thankfully is this, and you are welcome to take this tip and use it at any of these resorts if you'd like.

The first time they offer you, say, oh, wow, that's really interesting, but I'm actually a travel agent, so a timeshare doesn't make any sense for me, but thank you.

That stops most of.

them, if not all of them, immediately in their tracks.

They know you are going to be somebody that's going to multiple different vacation spots and that you understand how these timeshares work and the pitfalls, and they'll leave you alone.

So just a little tip there.

So after all of that, what is the catch with all-inclusive vacations?

Well, it's not that you're getting scammed or that the food is secretly evil, although there are definitely resorts that are not known for their culinary masterpieces.

The catch is that all-inclusive is a shape-shifting marketing term.

What included actually means and how many hoops you have to jump through just to get a margarita by the water depends entirely on the brand, the resort, and the tiny font on page four of your booking confirmation.

And look, if you spend your days as an accountant surviving the absolute horror show of the US tax code while simultaneously trying to raise tiny humans or terrific teens in today's world, you shouldn't also have to spend your weekends and nights decoding the difference between luxury, ultimate luxury, concierge, preferred club, like it's a government cipher.

And you should definitely not have to.

guess what those terms mean in real life, not just what looks dreamy in Condé Nast Traveler or those staged, heavily filtered influencer reels showing a serene sunset cocktail, but conveniently ending out the tour or wait for a dinner table or the velvet rope keeping you away from the good pool.

Because how you vacation is deeply personal.

Maybe you'd rather walk on hot coals than have a bottler unpack your luggage.

Because let's be honest, nobody needs a stranger folding their unmentionables.

Like, there's a reason they're called unmentionables, friends.

But maybe you do want an over-the-water bungalow with a private plunge pool and a dedicated human whose sole job is to guard your lounge chair from early bird towel savers.

It's me.

Hi.

I'm the problem.

It's me.

I love working at a tailor-referenced episodes, just so you know.

That's why you shouldn't carry the weight of this research by yourself.

This is where working with a trusted travel professional takes the headache completely off your shoulders.

We talk to you about what it is that you want, the experiences that are important to you, and then we can look far past the highlight reels and glossy.

buzzwords.

We handle the fine print, the logistics, and the resort politics.

So all you have to do is show up, hand over your passport, and drink something cold right out of a coconut.

I mean, can I do that now?

I wonder how quickly I could get on a flight today.

Oh, I need it.

All right, friends, until next week.

I wish you well surviving the adulting godspeed on the back-to-school hustle.

And when you're ready to trade it all for a lounge chair, come Talk Travel to Me.

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