To think hotels are very child unfriendly

1 they clearly were getting in people's way - it's enough for them to have to leave
2 obviously they were making enough noise to merit a compliant
3 the pool is adults only during that short window - your DC aren't adults

You seem deluded and entitled. You're not the only guests at the hotel. If you want your DC to be able to do run around, making noise, swimming when they like, rent a private place just for you and your family or something that is specifically for families with young DC who think it's OK to arrive and start annoying other guests the minute they step inside the place.

Jesus christ 😆😆

@jolaylasofia: if you have a nervy dog then i probably wouldn't use a hotel at all. you are just as likely to get noisy grown men or women on a night out.

Congratulations. You clearly didn't read a single word of what I wrote.

I don't have a nervous dog. I have a quiet, social happy dog who loves children very much. His favourite thing is to walk past schools and listen to children scream and laugh and he loves when they run over and engage with him. He actually loves meeting people outside cafes on late evening walks who might have had a few drinks and who desperately want to give him a cuddle. He doesn't bat an eye when people hear music next door Saturday night or watch the telly at 2 AM because they come in late. He sleeps through fireworks and thunderstorms.

The only thing that startles him is when small children throw their toys/shoes/themselves against the door in the evening, because some parents think a hotel corridor is a playroom.

He is not the problem.
Entitled parents who don't set boundaries is.

I don’t stay at a hotel to be woken up at 7 in the morning, have kids running anywhere. Hotels unless otherwise stated like a theme hotel are adult places where adults spend lots of money to get away from things like that.

🙄

Well said

They really do. Oddly (to me) LOADS of parents do. I have no idea why - it is my idea of hell on earth, but so many parents do.
Probably the same people who think A&E is a family outing.

I remember being taken into town most weekends to browse the shops as a child and there's a lot of people who do that. I don't understand dragging young children round adult clothing stores and then letting them run wild. Apparently browsing the shops is some people's idea of fun.

SOunds like you might be oblivious to the behaviour of your own kids... the 7am one - perhaps you weren't as quiet as you thought, or did the kids make a racket the night before and they thought your squealing was them?
As for the hotel pool - adults need some time too, kids can take over a hotel pool... the hotel isn't going to shift a whole policy just for you.
When we stayed at hotels when the kids were little in a city - ie not one with out door space, outdoor pool, kids pool or garden - we would pick one near a park or green space.
Many times one of us was up and out with the kids at 6/7am at the local park because of course they'll get bored in a room.

You probably need to choose accommodation more carefully. And as for hotels where you can hear other guests - I've been woken up more by drunken adults or people coming and going really late, or getting up early to leave tan I ever have by kids! Hotels are like that.

You are completely agreeing though that hotels aren’t particularly child friendly.

What you describe is what I found with young children and it wasn’t relaxing for anyone. It’s why a lot of people choose self catering/ camping etc.

I'm sorry that sounds stressful but it sounds like you chose the wrong hotel. Next time choose a child friendly hotel, they definitely exist.

I recently came across the expression to "match your energy to your surroundings", which I found helpful to assess my kids' behaviour in public. Although for them I tend to phrase it as matching their volume.

Reading the room is not innate to all of us (my entire extended family are probably ND) so we're adopting the habit of occasionally pausing and checking new surroundings.

It helps, if you can't tell whether you're being appropriate.

Over the years we’ve spent hundreds of nights in hotels with our five children and never had complaints that we were disturbing anyone. We’ve never allowed our children to “let off steam” in the lobby and have never had a call to our room. Even when our kids were babies and toddlers. We have planned appropriate ways to wind our kids down that don’t make people leave off reading in the lobby and have chosen our accommodations to give us the greatest chance of a successful vacation.

Usually, one of us would go inside to check us in and take our stuff up to the room while the other waits in the car with the kids. When finished, we all go somewhere for the kids to unwind/burn off excess energy before returning to the hotel for bedtime. We research and plan before the trip so we know if the hotel has a play area or we need to find a park and we know pool hours in advance so we don’t interrupt adults’ lap swim time.

I tend to keep a “quiet” house, so I am more sensitive to louder child noises than a lot of people. A lot of our friends and relatives have louder households than what we are used to. They don’t consider themselves loud because they are used to it. Most likely, the OP is used to her children being loud at home, so what she considered quiet play was actually disturbing to their neighbors. There is no other reason for someone to place an early morning call to the front desk complaining about the noise.

At this point, I don’t know if the OP is coming back or still reading. Just in case she is, allowing your children to disturb other guests in a hotel is unreasonable. As parents, we might not find our children annoying, but other adults may. We need to ensure that our children behave in a way that is appropriate to the environment they are in. While there is always a chance of running into a grump who doesn’t believe children should be in public no matter how well they behave, this isn’t one of those instances. In the future, better planning and choices will ensure that you have a lovely vacation without having to field complaints and dirty looks related to your parenting.

Ultimately it just comes down to being considerate of other members of society

This sums up the whole thread really.
I love the phrase 'situational awareness' - that is the whole point. Whether we are talking about hotels, supermarkets, train stations, or any other situation. It is about being aware of others around you and not being so damned selfish as to think the whole of the rest of the world revolves around you, and your situation.

You're being unreasonable here OP.

To be fair if I went away I'd be annoyed if kids were making noise next door at 7am. 11pm-9am should be quiet as others need to sleep.

Also when you said they were 'letting off steam' were they running around during check in? Kids shouldn't be running around inside, especially a hotel. Could you or your partner not have taken them to a park while other filled in the check in forms? If you did a long car journey I would have stopped at a play park just over half way there so they can let off steam. I find this works best for us.

Most swimming pools are open for adults only in the morning. They probably advertised it for adults only so people could do some laps. They will be quite strict on this as they probably need more lifeguards working for when it's child friendly hours.

As I mam myself, I've started avoiding hotels and we book self catering caravans or pods. I find it a lot less stressful for me and my daughter as I don't have to worry about her annoying anyone else but me.

I work at a hotel myself and I can almost guarantee if children were making noise before 8am people would be ringing up reception complaining and leaving bad reviews on the internet.

No one chooses to spend their time with 3 children under 6 in a blood shopping centre for the fun of it.

They really do. Oddly (to me) LOADS of parents do. I have no idea why - it is my idea of hell on earth, but so many parents do.

Totally off topic, but god I love Jumbo!

Oh come on. Just hand over an ipad at 7am on holiday

dont be a hero and go swimming at the crack of dawn

@HarrietJet ...having worked in reception in a few well known chain hotels i can confirm they indeed do and also do much worse things

MrsChilliHeeler
That's great. One of my late relatives would have appreciated that option as they were living alone and liked to chat.
Some cafes did chat/company coffee mornings too for the same reason.

Because the adult is trying to make a connection but the toddler is just faffing about?

https://www.grocerydive.com/news/aisles-abroad-dutch-grocer-jumbo-slow-chat-checkouts/645702/

they've introduced them in some supermarkets in the Netherlands. Sounds great

I think the test of if it’s multiple people complaining/huffing it’s probably you is a good one.
Op had only been in hotel about 15 hours and 3 separate people had been disturbed by their behaviour, that’s a big pointer that it’s you/your children out of step with what is appropriate behaviour.
Same with bananas/kids trolley in supermarket. If it’s one person in 6 months huffing then it’s not worth thinking about if it’s every week then either everyone in your town is a child hater or the more likely explanation is you are being oblivious to people around you
I totally agree with you.

I think as others have said 2 of the examples I think that you could of avoided. We tended to break up long journeys with stops in National Trust property's so they could run off steam.

We have stayed in lots of hotels with our children and not had any one complain. We have taken some board type games for the early riser 6 am at his best or gone for short walks.

We have recently stayed in a hotel this weekend and children and our pet dog were welcomed very much by the hotel staff there was a check in area for the kids with crayons for them to use if needed.

This