To think hotels are very child unfriendly

Say you've got 2 kids aged 8 and 13
Say you started going when youngest was a baby.
Perfectly reasonable to say you've been doing it for years

Maybe your kids are not ready for a hotel yet, stick to a self catering holiday cottage or chalet.
…….you don’t let kids run around a hotel lobby irritating other people for a start, teach them some inside voices and manners.

Labelling all hotels with the some logic is wrong.

Pmsl at ‘we’ve been staying at hotels for many years with young dc’ do these children never get older? 🤡😂

This kind of behavior is why I try to avoid family friendly hotels even when traveling with my child. I’m on edge the whole time making sure that she behaves, but I don’t want to deal with other people not bothering to worry about their children’s behavior or their own.

Hotels = sharing space with people you would not ordinarily, and who you have not chosen to share that space with or who share the same view of the world as you.

This is why my family holidays for 18years were in self catering. It is a nicer environment for a family with more flexibility.

Even guests in family friendly hotels would expect not to be woken early by noisy children or have children running indoors. The same goes for a noisy adult party late at night or a overly loud guest etc.

It is all give and take - but at the end of the day, in a hotel you are sharing space with a lot of people.

@WouldJustlikeaLatte that sounds like a horrendously stressful experience for you and I am sorry for the flak you are getting here. Your situation is very different from that described by the Op.

Even as a person without children of my own, I would have been understanding to your situation if I was next door and happily moved if I found it impossible to sleep.

In reality I agree with you that your solution was the least disruptive in the circumstances you have described.

Same here. No running around in lobbies - absolutely never.

Good point at @DrCoconut

First of all each to their own. But why would you put your kids to bed at 7:30 and sit in the dark? That's a really strange thing to do on holiday, especially in the summer when it's light until later and things are open. Even if being out is not for you don't you get a takeaway or a drink and watch TV or something?

I do think it’s quite funny that an OP essentially posted the opposite of this thread recently and got told off for not booking an adults only hotel, told that all hotels other than adults only are family friendly, and that noise from kids on summer holidays is completely acceptable even if it interferes with adult guests’ experience at the “spa-like” hotel

A lot depends on the points being made.

Someone posting that they've had to be sat in a room where there's a family enjoying a reasonable family dinner with well-behaved children is probably going to be told that if they want to guarantee zero children/they're going to moan about the existence of children they need an adult only venue.

Equally someone allowing their children to be loud and disruptive in a hotel is going to be told that's not acceptable.

Being family friendly does not equal a place where it's acceptable for parents to allow their children to run wild.

The problem is that some parents seem to think that going on holiday is a holiday from basic parenting.

Choose a family hotel.

You're used to the noise & the mucking about. Other people can't be expected to have the same tolerance especially in shared public space, or at 7am when they're on holidays. It's pretty clear how noisy your DC were of another guest could hear them from a nearby room - being woken at 7am when on holiday by someone else's DC must be very irritating!

Just as a previous thread here where the OP was complaining about being splashed by children when sitting by a hotel pool was told that next time she should go to an adults-only hotel, so you should go to a clearly advertised family holiday hotel.

@Scottishskifun Gleneagles is an obvious one. I can think of the Blakeney in Norfolk & they definitely aren't just in the south but yes they are not cheap. Just saying they exist.

It was the Village that I stayed in.
Room was lovely and quiet but the lobby was a nightmare. The breakfast area was open plan next to table football or something like that

Another PP has said it by why didn't you find and stop off at a park nearby and let them run around before you got to the hotel? Of course you can't take them into the pool when it is only adults either, I would have been so cross if I was one of those adults. You know it was more than one squeal in the morning for the neighbouring people to call reception to complain don't you?

The Village chain are good for this. They're purpose built and put the families in one wing and the business travellers in another! They're self check in too with massive open plan lobbies with a Starbucks, a bar etc and usually sport on telly - no-one hears your kids. They do have family hours in the pool - at least the ones I've stayed in did (N.B. most hotels with pools subsidise them with a membership club hence adult only hours for lane swimming etc).

www.village-hotels.co.uk/?gclid=Cj0KCQjwoeemBhCfARIsADR2QCtyFD0Sa0Qu_yqONyKzPV7hXY22fCBtpZhkvpvVHkgVOdF3Jb7VQ30aAiVdEALw_wcB

This actually doesn't mean it was meant to be family friendly. It means other families chose to not so their research and bring their kids to the same hotel as you. When I want a couple break away, I don't go to family friendly hotels. When I want a family break, I don't go to hotels not aimed at children. A swimming pool doesn't automatically mean the hotel is geared toward families.

Although I can see why the people in adjacent rooms were upset it must have been a really shit time for you and it sounds as though your daughter was very distressed.

Nothing like the entitlement exhibited by the OP.

YABU. Adding myself to the chorus of people who have had/do have young children and holiday in suitable places! DS is teen now and we've really enjoyed a few hotel breaks - but only when he reached an age where he could respect the other guests in what is often an incredibly expensive treat for most people.
Self catering/holiday parks etc were the way forward until about 7/8 as was Weatherspoons and not posh restaurants (again expensive treat for most people).
(Some) people do seem to be a lot more self entitled these days (sod everyone else's right to enjoyment) which is a real shame.

Hotel reception is not a playground.
No one calls to complain about one squeal.
Adult swimming is just that! The kids can go at family time.
I stayed at a hotel last year which was clearly family friendly. For me the noise and the layout was more like a primary school. Maybe look for somewhere like that. I'll be avoiding it. If I'm paying a couple of hundred pounds for a relaxing weekend i want them to stick to that one or two hours where the kids are not allowed in the pool because i will plan my day round it.

Did you book a family room? I don't usually stay in hotels with children. It's definitely a more business kind of place.

The worst I've ever been disturbed in a hotel was drunk adults who made noise and thought it would be funny to set off the fire alarm at 2am. It's much more forgivable when a child makes a bit of noise.

When I use the leisure facilities in a hotel during adults only time I don’t expect small children to be there.

Abso-fucking-lutely.

I used to have a (very expensive) membership of a health club that was part of a hotel. The pool was open to children if they were hotel guests from 9-12 and 2-5 (or something like that, you get the gist).

The AMOUNT of times people would try to insist that it wasn’t fair that little Tabitha and Giles couldn’t use the pool in the adults only time was unbelievable. Occasionally the hotel would relent and let them in, except that was the time that the “serious swimmer” adult swimmers came so the parents complained that there wasn’t enough space for the children to have eleventy billion pool noodles and inflatables and/or they were getting mown down by people doing lengths.

And you could guarantee that those parents were the ones who were so immersed in their phones that they wouldn’t notice if their child was drowning or - on one memorable occasion - actually left the poolside, assuming that all the adult swimmers would keep an eye out, except that they hadn’t noticed (what with having our heads under the water etc) and the child got into difficulties. Fortunately the parent got back in time to hoick their child out, but not without a lot of huffing about everyone else’s failings.

So yeah, combine that attitude with the “only letting off steam” and “playing so quietly that people complained about the noise” and I should imagine OP is one of the parents everyone dreads being around.

It’s ok honestly just was a really shit time. We haven’t gone to a hotel before or after that and really do avoid situations that will be triggering for dd as her meltdowns are so loud it was just the one time we had no other options I think she picked up on my stress on top of everything too

Think I've read it all now. You're grudging adult swimmers their measly 90 minutes a day of being able to do actual laps?! You do realize the pandemonium most hotels pools become later on in the day, and you're also aware of their tiny sizes?

How to convey parental overentitlement without ever saying "I'm entitled."