'Sneaking' two extra children into hotel room booked for two adults and two children

It amazes me that so many here condone fraud and what they perceive to be low level crimes

I think this may be the main issue which will catch them out. When they arrive at their accommodation how are they planning to get past the reception staff? Are the older children going to leg it around a corner whilst staff are collecting their bags for them? Hotels are obliged to take passport info for each occupant and will look to do this. Too stressful for me and being dishonest and worrying about being caught out/getting the kids to act dishonestly would make the whole holiday stressful.

I wouldn't do this as it's dishonest but not because I'd be worried about a fire. The chances of a fire are teeny and the chances of firefighters checking guest lists and then not bothering trying to rescue two of the kids etc is ridiculously unlikely.

That’s incorrect. You get a wrist band that varies in colour depending on your package. No wrist band no access to pool.

Not all hotels use this system. Maybe ones with lots of CFs do :)

Look, every hotel is going to be different. There's a massive difference between a 600 room hotel with 24/7 reception and an all-night bar, and a small family-run hotel with 40 rooms. Some will have staff on all night, others won't. Some will have a wristband system, others won't. Some will have switched on staff who know what's going on, others will have staff who don't give a shit if you have 20 extra people in the room.

In Spain recently we have been asked to show passports of all adults when checking in, and give home address, credit card to be lodged against damage/expenses. That's standard.

We stayed on Mallorca last year and yes, ALL guests were given wristbands denoting whether they were all-inclusive, b&b, half board, under 18 whatever. Mostly because the hotel was not fenced off and you could just walk out of the grounds onto the local beach. We saw the bar staff chasing your Spanish version of the grabby cheeky fuckers out of the buffet area one lunchtime when they had just wandered off the beach and thought they'd just take some food they hadn't paid for.

“However, her boys are pretty loud when they're at home and so it's unlikely they won't draw attention to themselves on holiday and full of energy and excitement”

Euugh 😩 The picture you are painting of them is that they are one of those nightmare families you dread being next door to in a hotel or who rock up next to you at the beach/pool/ restaurant 😱

The hotel will have no qualms about calling the police and getting them kicked out. Tolerance and fear of bad reviews or not being “woke” is not a priority in Spain. They couldn’t give a shit 🥴

The parents will be in the bedroom. Two oldest top to tail on the sofa bed in living room with the two youngest on some type of inflatable bed also in the living room.
Slightly off in a tangent. Why do people top and tail? I do dint understand this. I don't want someone's feet near my face. And what's the big deal about sleeping next to someone anyway?

The hotel are going to make the connection very quickly when the occupants of room 200 for 4 people regularly turn up to pay for breakfast for 6.

Either way, sounds like hell to share that tightly and the 16 yo could easily have had another room with a younger sibling so that's just being tight. And dishonest.

None of your business though.

You can't have travelled much !
Other than my home country (UK), every hotel I've ever been to takes a copy of my passport.

Spot on @MrMucker

It's awful behaviour and a horrible situation to put her children in. My DH's parents used to do similar stuff when he was growing up, he is now his in early 40's and still recalls the embarrassment he felt as a child and teen in those situations! Why going on holidays abroad if they clearly can't afford to provide suitable accommodation for all their children? 6 people, including two adults and teens, in a room with a double bed and a sofa bed?

They might get away with it and they might not care, but it is theft, and as such it is taking from someone else without their say. In this case, just because a hotel is a service does not make it any less than theft. The two extra kids will contribute to wear and tear, use toileting and water, and increased footfall in the hotel and also overriding the hotel's intended plans for capacity. It's not just about insurance, it's about ensuring the place is not overcrowded for everybody's convenience, including staff. So yeah, they will cost the hotel to have them there.
I think if a friend of mine had this plan then I'd lose a lot of respect for their moral compass-it's freeloading and it's not an essential. I'd have more respect if they nicked essential stuff from a shop because they couldn't afford it. But stealing holiday accommodation for two people. Nah, icks me out. Buying most of a holiday and stealing the rest, it's cheapskate and selfish and makes her/ her family look like a chancy tightwad.

"Friend" is it you. Although I'm sure it will be fine it just sounds a miserable holiday. I don't understand why you didn't get a 2nd room or bigger one accommodation is the cheap part of the holiday when your paying separately. For a few hundred quid I'd rather just be comfortable and relaxed

I don't think that planning holiday accommodation with assumption of "sneaking 2 additional people against the rules" is a good idea.
There are surely options where you can officially move in without the need of playing these games.

Honestly the idea of being asked to confirm details like this sounds incredibly tacky. Hotels have always had a large open ground floor with all night concierge.
I’ve never experienced hotel locking the door.

I've never had to give my passport details to a hotel 🫤

That’s incorrect. You get a wrist band that varies in colour depending on your package. No wrist band no access to pool.

@Otherstories2002 You've just reminded me; the last two times I've been to Spain (one holiday and one business, different locations) I've had to wear a hotel wristband despite being B&B only.

I've never had to give my hotel address to anyone on a European break. I have in the US. Also I've never come back to a locked hotel reception area and had to give room details!

I've stayed in Greek hotels without pools and used other hotel pools in the area. That's not unusual, and buying food and drinks.

Presumably the hotel buildings/corridors/stairs are designed to be able to evacuate a certain number of people in a certain time. If just one room has extra people in it then maybe that's not such a problem, but if lots of them do then it's going to start to make an impact.

There's a fire limit in places like theatres for the same reason.

It happens frequently enough that when we go to Spain everyone who’s checked in is given a wrist band. No wrist band and no access to any of the facilities.

day guests or visitors to the hotel are given individual wrist bands that relate to a day entry but they have restricted access.

whether she gets away with it will depend on the type of hotel but she wouldn’t in the hotels we’ve been to lately unless she only plans to sleep there.

Gosh some of the replies on here! What sort of person contemplates this stupid fraud and then has the brass neck to burden their friends with the knowledge? At best they are a person who can’t keep a secret and will get caught; they are definitely the best example of entitled I’ve read on here. The OP is very polite about them in the circumstances

Agree that it is not standard in European countries to be asked about your accommodation. US immigration do ask this and in my direct experience get really grumpy if you only know the name of the hotel/resort and the town, rather than the full postal address, including zip code.

That doesn’t sound like a holiday- all those teenagers fighting over a sofa bed 😝😝😝😝😝😝😜😜

good god I bet it stinks in the morning

think I would stay at home

best of luck to her bahahahahaha

@Izzymoon You've never been asked to confirm your name or room number on arrival back to a hotel in the middle of the night? Just saunter in and straight into the lift? I wouldn't want to stay in any hotel with such lax security