There comes a point in every traveller’s life when they stare at the booking screen and hesitate. Do you pick the holiday home with its shiny little stove and the promise of farmers’ market breakfasts, or the hotel where the only decision is “pool or beach before lunch?” Self-catering holidays give you independence and a taste of local life, while all-inclusive holidays bring indulgence with zero admin. But the real question is which option gives you the break you want, and how to make the most of your Avios while you’re at it.
In this blog, we break down the pros and cons of each holiday type and show you how to spend Avios points with each. By the end, you’ll know whether your true holiday style is independence or indulgence, and how to pay for it in points instead of pounds.
What Are Self-Catering Holidays?
Self-catering is exactly what it sounds like: you look after yourself. Think of it as your everyday life with a better background. Instead of a hotel dining room and fixed meal times, you stay somewhere with a kitchen of your own and cook what you like, when you like. The set-up can be as simple as a compact studio with a two-ring hob or as lavish as a villa with a full oven, outdoor grill, and a pool waiting for the evening barbecue. Some flats come with just the basics for breakfast, while others are equipped like a small restaurant.
The appeal of self-catering is obvious: you get to slip into local life in a way hotels rarely let you. Your day and how you spend it are still yours. You can wake up at your own time, browse the morning market for tomatoes still warm from the sun, debate which cheese looks creamiest, and carry your haul back to a kitchen that’s yours for the week. It can be as frugal or as foodie as you like: a quick pasta supper one night, a feast of regional specialties the next. And because you control the menu, families with fussy eaters or travellers with dietary needs can relax knowing every meal is exactly what they want.
Unlike a “room only” hotel booking, which doesn’t include meals, self-catering gives you the tools to cook. There’s no daily maid service and no buffet waiting downstairs, but you gain something just as valuable: freedom. You decide when breakfast happens, how long lunch lasts, and whether dinner is a homemade picnic on the balcony or a restaurant you’ve been eyeing all week.
The Pros and Cons of Self-Catering Holidays
Choosing a self-catering holiday means renting a temporary life abroad. Instead of a single hotel room in a new place, you get to live your everyday life in a beautiful new location. That life has advantages and disadvantages; ultimately, it comes down to your preferences and the type of holiday you want.
Pros:
That independence brings plenty of rewards. You can sleep late and make breakfast when it suits you, pack a picnic for a day of exploring, or linger over a home-cooked dinner made with produce from the local market. For families and groups, it’s a chance to spread out and enjoy communal living rather than squeezing into adjoining hotel rooms.
It’s also easier on the wallet if you’re willing to cook. Buying groceries and eating in can save a small fortune compared to eating every meal in restaurants, and you can still splash out on the occasional dinner in town without worrying about “wasting” a pre-paid buffet. For travellers who love food, the fun of browsing local markets, testing unfamiliar ingredients and recreating regional dishes in your own kitchen is a holiday in itself.
Cons:
But freedom comes with responsibilities. Someone still needs to shop, cook, and wash up, even if the only thing on the menu is toast. Daily housekeeping is rare, so beds won’t make themselves, and you may need to empty the bins or sweep the floor.
If you’re flying rather than driving, you’ll need to think about basics like salt, oil, and tea bags, or pay supermarket prices for full-sized bottles you’ll never finish. Location can add another layer of complexity: villas and cottages are often outside main resort areas, which means you might need a car or be prepared for longer walks to the nearest café or grocery store.
What Are All-Inclusive Holidays?
An all-inclusive holiday is the opposite of doing it yourself. Almost everything you need is sorted from the moment you arrive. Your accommodation is covered, of course, but so are your meals, drinks, and a generous helping of extras, like entertainment, poolside snacks, and the odd beach activity. You can spend the entire week without once reaching for your wallet.
What’s included depends on the resort. At the simplest level, you’ll have three daily meals, soft drinks, and house cocktails. Higher-end properties might add à la carte restaurants, premium spirits, spa treatments, water sports or even airport transfers. The beauty of an all-inclusive holiday lies in the predictability. You know what you’ll spend before you step on the plane, which makes budgeting easy and allows you to settle into pure holiday mode. Families love it for the same reason: children can help themselves to ice cream without anyone calculating the cost of each cone.
The Pros and Cons of All-Inclusive Holidays
If self-catering is a choose-your-own-adventure, an all-inclusive holiday is the blissful opposite. Think of it as handing over the keys to your daily decisions. Once you arrive, everything you need, such as meals, drinks, activities, and often entertainment, is bundled neatly into one upfront price. For travellers who simply want to relax, this means the freedom to indulge without a single calculation.
Pros:
You know exactly how much your holiday will cost before you even step on the plane. Families don’t have to budget for second helpings, and couples can enjoy a steady stream of cocktails without tallying the bill. Resorts are often designed as miniature playgrounds: swimming pools, kids’ clubs, live music, themed dinners, yoga classes, even watersports, all right on the doorstep and, in many cases, included in the price. For sociable travellers, the communal atmosphere can be a bonus. You’re surrounded by other guests, so making friends over pool volleyball or a long dinner is part of the experience.
Cons:
While food and drink are technically “unlimited,” you may find that top-shelf spirits, à la carte restaurants, or certain activities come with extra charges hidden in the fine print. Buffets can feel repetitive after a few days, and if you’re a light eater or someone who prefers to explore local restaurants, you might end up paying for meals you rarely touch. All-inclusive resorts also have a way of creating their own little universe.
It’s easy to stay inside the bubble, enjoying the pool and nightly shows, and forget there’s a whole country outside the gates. For some, that feels like a missed opportunity to experience the destination’s culture and cuisine.
Here’s a side-by-side comparison of both types of holidays:
Self-Catering vs. All-Inclusive: Which Is Better for You?
Choosing between a self-catering stay and an all-inclusive escape boils down to how you want to live while you’re away. One promises independence and the freedom to follow your own routine, while the other brings the luxury of having everything handled. Both can be brilliant, but they deliver very different types of breaks.
So which suits you best? There’s no single winner here, just two very different ways to holiday. If you like your holidays with plenty of wiggle room, self-catering will work best for you. With self-catering, the trade-off is practical: someone still has to shop, cook, and tidy. If that sounds fine, this style pays you back with local flavour and genuine independence.
On the other hand, if the word “holiday” means slipping into a lounger and not making another decision until wheels-up on the flight home, a hotel break fits beautifully. With all-inclusive holidays, breakfast appears, sunbeds await, drinks circulate, and the evening’s entertainment turns up right on cue. Parents get kids’ clubs and easy mealtimes, solo travellers get a built-in social scene, and couples get the pure luxury of switching off. The price is upfront, the budgeting is simple, and you never have to hunt for a supermarket before your morning coffee.
The Best Destinations for Hotels or Resort Stays
Some destinations are better suited to hotels or resorts because of their luxury offerings or logistics. Beach-first destinations are built for hotel life, and many are geared towards all-inclusive holidays. For example, resorts are the default in Caribbean destinations such as Barbados, Antigua, Jamaica, and the Dominican Republic, with meals, drinks, and water sports all included in the stay, so you can step out of your room and straight into holiday mode.
It's a similar story on Mexico’s Caribbean coast. Along the Riviera Maya, through Cancún and Playa del Carmen, the resort footprint means pools, restaurants, and excursions are all on tap. The Maldives is another great example. Private-island hotels with overwater villas, calm lagoons, and dreamy spas are the norm, and self-catering is rare to non-existent. Mauritius and the Seychelles follow similar logic, where full-service hotels wrap diving, wellness, and dining into one polished package.
Major cities make another case for hotels. A centrally placed hotel trims commuting time in cities such as Paris, London, Rome, New York, or Tokyo, includes breakfast and concierge help, and makes a short break smoother. It rarely pays to source cookware and groceries for two to five nights when a keycard and an elevator will do.
The same goes for mountain escapes where convenience is king. Across the Alps and the Rockies, hotels can give you ski-in, ski-out access, arrange equipment, provide shuttle rides to the lifts, and take dinner off your to-do list. If you’re chasing a long stay, self-catering can still work, but for quick trips, the hotel life is hard to beat.
Why do hotels win in these places? They solve the little frictions at scale. Meals are sorted, rooms are serviced, the pool is sparkling, and someone else handles the logistics. On short stays, the ability to drop your bags and start your break is worth its weight in sanity. In remote or ultra-popular areas, the cost and effort of self-catering often outweigh the charm.
When Self-Catering Makes the Most Sense
There are times when self-catering holidays are the better fit. If you’re staying longer, travelling with a big group, or settling into a countryside retreat with easy markets and a car, the space and savings start to stack up.
You can eat well without eating out every meal, keep children happily fed on their favourites, and dip into local restaurants when the mood strikes. In destinations with straightforward supermarkets and transport, this style gives you comfort and culture on your terms.
How Avios Can Help You Decide
Sometimes the decision is not even yours as Avios can tilt the scales in either direction, depending on what feels most valuable to you. With BA Holidays, you can use Avios on hotels and flights together, reducing the cost of a complete package rather than just the seat. Here’s how to decide the best way to use them:
When It Makes Sense to Pay Fully with Avios:
- If you have a large balance and no urgent plans for another trip, covering most of a beach week in one go can feel wonderfully liberating.
- It’s handy for last-minute travel, when cash fares jump and the Avios contribution softens the blow.
- Short European breaks work well too. Reward Flight Saver keeps fees low if you’re the type who values a “paid already” feeling.
When Part Cash, Part Avios Makes Sense:
- In some cases, mixing a smaller amount of Avios with money can produce better value per point than emptying your account.
- Keeping some Avios back leaves room for bigger redemptions later. That gives you a holiday now and the possibility of a lie-flat seat next time.
When Cash Is the Smarter Choice:
- Long-haul economy redemptions can carry high taxes and fees, so you may spend a lot of Avios for little real saving. It’s better to spend cash instead.
- Flight plus hotel packages can offer weaker redemption value than flights alone.
- If cash fares are especially low during a sale, it’s often smarter to pay cash and save your balance for peak dates.
A simple rule of thumb helps: aim for a baseline of around one penny of value per Avios when you can, check both cash and Avios prices before you press book, and do not overlook upgrades.
