Having kids is expensive.
Going on holiday is expensive too, especially with said kids, but thanks to TUI they are a little bit cheaper than they used to be. At least, they are if you pick one of their pre-selected locations and hotels.
That’s because the well known travel agent has a Free Kids Places promotion running: two adults can add a child to their booking without any additional payment, which means sun-seeking families are quids in.
This deal sounds too good to be true but I’ve looked into it and it’s genuine.
I’m surprised I haven’t heard about it before as they have been running the scheme for a few years now, but as far as I’m aware it hasn’t captured the sort of attention it should have done.
Or maybe that just shows how long it has been since my family have been away?
Whatever the reason, I know about it now, and I wanted to share the news with you lot because who couldn’t use a holiday with all the doom and gloom in the news? But who can afford it with the state of the economy?
Well, with TUI’s free kids places deal it just got a little bit more affordable.
It’s Not Really Free Is It?
Yes. Honestly, one kid goes free, for real.
This is a genuinely fantastic deal for families, especially if you only have one child.
You might think it’s just a free flight, or just a free hotel stay for them, but it’s everything:
- Free flight
- Free accommodation
- Free standard board food and drink
- Free transfers to and from the airport
You get one free child place for every two adults paying full price, which is why I say it’s an especially good deal for single child families. You’ll be going away for the same price you used to before you became parents, but with all the benefits of your son or daughter having tantrums in the heat, refusing to get out of the pool, and stopping you going out to get drunk in the evenings.
I’m kidding, they’re a joy and your holiday will be magic.
A family of four would still have to pay for one of their kids, but if Nana and Grandad were coming too you could maybe get another free child spot that way. I say ‘could’ because the offer is restricted to one free child’s place per hotel room, apartment or villa. If two sets of adults book for the same holiday and hotel, then you can get 2 free kids places, but if you book a villa you won’t be able to.
Anyway, stop being greedy.
All holidays come with ABTA and ATOL protection too.
I Need This In My Life – How Do I Book?
Sounds good, right?
The even better news is that there are loads of choices on their website, and finding them is really easy because they have built a user friendly interface to search for options.
If you head to the free child places page on their website you can enter a few details then browse all of the available hotels and locations they have included in the offer.
Once you have done this TUI will show you a list of options, with their own recommendations showing first.
However, there are a lot of filtering options to use now, such as destination, price, duration, UK airport, etc. You can use these to narrow down your search, and you will need to, because I searched for holidays a year in advance and there were 351 places to choose from.

You can see the free child place included in the price, and you can also create shortlists to help you narrow down where you want to go.
Once you’ve decided on your holiday, you’ll be able to customise the booking in terms of baggage, upgrading your board or adding additional insurance etc. There may be different options available depending on where you are trying to book.
It’s a painless experience whatever choice you make, and it could be quite fun browsing all the options with the whole family gathered around the laptop.
Where Can You Go and What Does it Cost?
TUI release the destinations and hotels that are included in the promotion well in advance, usually around 18 months ahead of time, so it’s not a last minute thing. Although it can be if there are places left.
If you want to go somewhere next month and it is available you can book it, but free kids places are limited, so expect fewer available options the longer you leave it.
There will be different locations available depending on the time you try and book, but after having a good look through here is a short selection of some destinations I saw:
- Bulgaria
- Tunisia
- Egypt
- Morocco
- Turkey
Before looking into it I assumed it would just be a bunch of all inclusives in Spain and maybe a few other nearby European countries like Italy, Greece and Portugal. Don’t get me wrong, there are more holidays included in Spain than anywhere else (it is the UK’s most popular holiday destination after all) but there are some farther flung locations in there as well.
They have even included holidays to Universal Studios in Florida in the past, so you never know what will come up.
Cost can obviously vary massively, from about £550 per person to well over £2,000 per person. That’s based on a week away, with factors like how far away your destination is, the quality of your hotel or resort, and whether you want self catering, half board or all inclusive explaining the huge contrast in price points.
At the cheaper end you’re looking at about the same price per person as the entire cost of a camping trip somewhere in the UK, and for the difference in quality of experience I would say this is well worth it.
TUI is a massive business too, so exploring the options available in the free kids places deal is akin to exploring all the destinations available at a smaller travel agent.
You might struggle to choose between all the options available but you certainly won’t struggle to find one.