To think hotels are very child unfriendly

I stayed in a hotel once with my family for one night and swore never again. For me it’s the lack of separate sleeping/living areas, which mean you effectively have to go to sleep when the youngest family member does.

I find Airbnb/ self catered apartments so much better, and more conducive to everyone having a fun time.

Good luck on your next trip, which I hope is better.

Long journey or not why would you let them run around screeching in that environment with no respect for others around you take them outside to wind down ?
To then be annoyed that a guest was probably rudely awoken by your children who obviously weren’t playing quietly at 7am because they wouldn’t of complained about kids playing quietly.
And then to be annoyed that staff followed the hotel rules which are obviously in place for a reason, I have kids but if I was in a hotel without my kids I wouldn’t want somebody else’s kids shouting and splashing at the pool in the adult hours there is nothing worse than other peoples kids when you are getting away from your own.

I don’t think you sound considerate at all and you come across as really entitled. The hotel wasn’t the problem your attitude was

OP this has to be a joke.

Of course children shouldn’t run around at check in, you can’t ask for adults only pool time to change the rules for your kids and I doubt that 1 quiet squeal resulted in a phone call from
reception.

I’d suggest you find a hotel better catered for children, but that also your children need to behave better in hotels.

We’ve traveled extensively and pick smarter hotels as we don’t enjoying ‘family friendly’ ones, we’ve never had a peep of complaint.

Err okay? You asked what it meant. That's what it meant.

Your children's behaviour caused 2 separate groups of people to leave the area / complain. That is NOT the hotel not being family friendly, they have no control over other people's reaction to your children. Perhaps you need to step back and consider what the situation was like for an outsider.

With regards to the pool, it doesn't seem unreasonable to have a short period dedicated to child-free users. Hotels probably have far more trade from business trips and accommodating those who want an early morning swim before heading off to work makes sense. You might find that later in the day there are times when children take over (e.g. toddler swimming lessons) - should adults complain that it is not adult friendly when the swimming pool is out of use for swimming lessons?

I have had some terrible experiences over the years. We once stopped in a nice hotel in Dorset. They banned us from using the restaurant. No rules in advance, nothing on the website just sorry no children when we got there.

That being said it is not unreasonable to have an adult only swimming session. There are health clubs I have been too which turn into chaos at 11.00 on a Saturday when the adult session is over. If an exception is made for you then one would need to be made for everyone.

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.

Here the OP is being told off for not booking a family friendly hotel, told that all hotels are adults only unless it’s a Premier Inn, and that no noise from kids can ever be allowed to interfere with adult guests’ experience.

MN just likes to argue for the sake of it, basically.

(YABU OP. Just as the previous OP was NBU.)

Two of these things were relating to other guests, rather than the hotel, and were both regarding your children being noisy/disruptive (I v much doubt someone is complaining to reception over one small noise), so not sure you can blame anyone else for those.

And it's pretty reasonable for the hotel to have adults-only swim sessions, not sure why you feel the rules didn't apply to you?

Basically YABU, yeah.

We tended to stay in apartments when DDs were little, apart from Premier Inns perhaps which are quite family friendly.

We stayed in a small B&B with them once for a family event but they had to be on their best behaviour!

Timely reminder of why I never stay in hotels without my stock supply of earplugs. (And yes, I do have a child).

There might be a family like this in the room next door.

Nothing of the sort, it just means they don't exclude kids.
I'd object to brats running around in the lobby, & making a noise when I'm trying to sleep.

It's quite usual to have adults only time in a pool - who can swim with kids jumping all over the place ?

This is an interesting one.

I have a 2 year old, who at this current age is incredibly difficult to control (not a case of bad parenting), and of course they get up really early. So i understand your point of view Op that it sucks that he couldn’t get up early but also couldn’t go swimming.

If a hotel accepts children, then surely people can’t be outraged if there is some noise? That’s why adult only hotels exist when you go on holiday.

On the other hand, yes if i managed to get a break in a hotel with my DH and was still woken up super early, i’d be upset lol.

It’s tricky isn’t it. I would love to take my little boy to Bournemouth for the weekend, but I’d be terrified of even staying in a Premier Inn with him. And then i’d need to look at more expensive options which makes the trip not financially worth it.

Why on earth would you let your children run around in the hotel lobby? 🙄

The room complaint wouldnt bother me. Children should be allowed to play and i would have told them that on the phone.

And of course he cant let you in the pool if its adults only at a certain time. 🤦🏻‍♀️

The pool is open to adults only between 7.30 and 9. That is their rule and not open to negotiation or argument.

The place where my kid runs around and lets of steam is outside. I'd have got up and moved, too.

If the hotel rang at 7am to say they had a complaint then the complaint came in earlier than 7am, ergo the noise probably started well before that.

In general, I've found UK hotels aren't as family-friendly as European hotels; but your examples aren't illustrating that the hotel is particularly unwelcoming towards familes/kids.

Letting your kids run around in reception was wrong. If I was sitting in reception, I would be annoyed by their behaviour too. If they can't behave, then one of you should check in while the other waits outside with the kids.

Look at your second example from the perspective of another guest. Someone in a neighbouring room felt the noise from your room was so loud that they were woken up at 7am. How long were the kids being loud before the person complained? Now some people are impatient and expect complete silece around them, which is unreasonable, but perhaps you were louder than you think?

As for the pool, why should they break rules that are in place for the benefit of all guests just for you? I would definitely take advantage of adult only swim times and would not be happy if two young children joined the session.

You need to find a way to amuse your children without expecting others to bend around your needs.

That said I do agree that the UK is far less friendly to kids than any hotel in mainland Europe. People often glare at a child talking in a normal conversational tone but ignore the loud shouty drunk golfers/rugby types

Some hotels aren’t family friendly, some are, but no hotels are happy with children running around reception. If they need to blow off steam then one parent takes them outside to the garden / playground while the other checks in, or you simply tell them to stay still. If there is no garden/playground then probably you’re in the wrong hotel.

All hotels with pools have an adult only session, usually first thing. This must have been your first time but next time you’ll know to check.

When they wake up if they’re bouncy, you take them outside or to breakfast, straight away. If after 8am or so I do let mine run up and down the hotel corridors, but mine only giggle they never scream, and so they make less corridor noise than most adults.

People in this country (assume UK) aren't particularly tolerant of children. I have noticed in pubs that if children make any noise you'll see lots of obvious negative body language but if you get a very loud group of people no-one bats an eyelid.

However, I don't think it would have been fair for them to break the rules and let you into the pool especially as there was a couple in there already.

Obviously dc shouldn't be running around a hotel reception or making loud noises at 7am.

Lots of places that are appropriate for dc to be still expect certain levels of behaviour.

Self catering is the way to go with little ones, unless it's a hotel specifically aimed at young families. It's so much less stressful for exactly the reasons your experience shows.

@takealettermsjones so we are off to a family friendly hotel in Devon next week & our hotel "room" is an interconnected space made up of 2 separate bedrooms with 2 separate bathrooms & then a lounge. Obviously it's not cheap but just making the point that it's pretty normal to stay in a hotel & not be confined to one room.

I've got 3DC & we've never stayed in a hotel for a holiday. It's always been a family friendly caravan site (parkdean, Haven etc) or an apartment abroad full of other families.

So no, I wouldn't and have never taken my kids to a hotel - its not set up for them and i would have hated trying to keep them occupied quietly - that's no holiday for me either!

vibecheck
I thought so. There's loads of threads like this at the moment.

It's the summer holidays though 🤷‍♀️

This has to be a joke post off the back of the recent conversations about people being intolerant of children. Surely no one could actually think that any of those examples put the hotel in the wrong?