at an advert for a Scottish hotel that says "Children welcome, aged over 10"

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To me, that means children are not welcome. It was quite a surprise how many of the hotels did not want younger children in their hotels.

Why can't there be a 'nice' luxury hotel that is ALSO family friendly in the UK?

there is a strain of scottish hotels that relies entirely on coach fulls of old people being forcibly driven to their dusty tartan lined hell holes and fleeced of all their life savings in return for a crappy room with noisy pipes and no hot water. the owners of these hotels have no soul and the sight of children causes them to break out in boils as they cannot extract any cash from them.

chelstonmum we've stayed at the hydro in peebles here too actually, in February (at half term) with our 2, my sister's 2 and had a wonderful time - booked on the promise that DH would sit with the kids and I'd get at least one spa treatment! Worked a treat - best family holiday we've had in years (I hasten to add that DH got some childfree relaxation time too though, of course!)

I'm definitely on the side of the hotel (and I have children). There are loads of places that cater for families with young children - try the small luxury hotel group which owns Woolley Grange and quite a few others. I think it's perfectly reasonable to say over 10s only.

fgaaagh it is a real treat for all. we are looking forward to a few day's 'relaxation' in October.....with our 2 DC's and a new baby!

fgaaagh Just realised where your sister got married....my parents live in Ayrshire. Hope you managed a trip to Culzean Castle and country park, our kids love it there.

chelstonmum, we stayed there for the wedding a few years ago now, and unfortunately due to finances it's unlikely we'll make it back there any time soon! my sister is in Glasgow though, so when we do visit her we tend to take in a few day trips (depending on the length of the visit of course!)

Where is this hotel? Gimme number! (mother of a boisterous jolly toddler here).

Seriously though:

Why are people continually surprised that there are others who do not share the same view on children as themselves? It's PC gorn mad to think that a hotel can't have its own individual policy on the matter. At the end of the day it's a business. Presumably its customers are happy with their policy. I'm sure they would rethink if they had tumbleweed blowing through their rooms instead of guests. However that would be based on a commercial decision, not just pleasing parents of young children or older children or non-parents for the sake of it.

As a parent myself, there are times when I would like to get away to a nice hotel with my DH to have some child-free time. I think it great that there are hotels that cater for different requirements. Not everyone has children... wants children... wants to see/hear other people's children.. even those who HAVE children.

Personally, speaking as someone who works in Marketing for an Internationla Hotel Group I think it's a dodgy strapline to go with. Isolates a huge section of your market immediatley. BUT, if that is their USP that they don't have kids under 10 then good luck to them. I'd be interested to see their revenue per available room and occupancy figures for July & August.

We need the family business. Screaming kids and all

DrNortherner, if ALL hotels welcomed babies and young children, don't you think that would alienate a huge section of the market immediately and create a demand for child-friendly hotels?

Not everyone "needs the family business - screaming kids and all". There is room for all in the market. It's like comparing McDonalds with The Ivy. The existence of McDonalds does not affect The Ivy and vice versa.

Child-free hotels.

Yes sleepy that's why I said good luck to them. When I said WE need the family business I meant the company I work for, not we as in everyone.

Warner hotels specialise in adult only hotel breaks and seem to do alright out of it, but the family market is a lucrative business, one that the company I work for could not do without.

Ah - misinterpretation of "we" there

Agree the family market is a biggie but still glad there's room for all, or where else would we go to get away from the screaming delightfuls?

Their hotel - their rules. There must be a market for it or they wouldn't do it.

It might be a shocking revelation (hell it usually is when it comes to wedding invites on here) but not everyone WANTS to spend their time surrounded by other people's kids. Don't those people have any choice about going somewhere they're going to be happy (and not sending the evil eyes to people with kids grizzling a bit thus making all concerned unhappy) - or is it just like usual where those people have no rights whatsoever?

I'd pay to stay there if I wanted a nice peaceful weekend away - it would be a selling point in that case.

I agree with you that the hotel you described is not really family friendly, and it's not very clever of them to market themselves like that. Just go straight for 'no children' (dh and I went last year to a childfree hotel and it was utter bliss, just what we needed at that point in time).

However YABU if you think there are no luxury, family friendly hotels in the UK. There are loads!