Aibu Unapproiate places to take your DC with friends

[Stardust160]

www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/boutique-hotel-tells-mum-gave-8015817?ICID=FB_mirror_main

Mum and her friends ( 6 prams ) complain about being denied access to this boutique hotel lobby and post their annoyance on the hotels social media page. Hotel responses rarely abruptly. What are people's thoughts? Personally I have 3DC and would never think this is an approiate place to take my children to.

Penguin "So are women with babies only allowed to go to places that are specifically designed for children?"

Well, yes, as far as the clientele in the aforementioned establishment are concerned - and me, babies are children but just a bit smaller and not yet very mobile. They don't fit in a persons pocket like a packet of fags or a phone and are a lot more noisy.

I think the hotel needs to be commended for taking a stand against those to stupid to know how to use the word Myself correctly.

Too bloody right they should have been asked to leave.

I understand why they wouldn't be welcome in a fancy hotel, but now we're saying they should keep to the likes of soft play places, thats a whole different thing. It's all a bit, women; know your place, keep your babies out of the way of people far more important than you, you're not welcome. Anywhere, unless its brightly coloured, plastic, and sticky.
It's a bit depressing.

Sorry Hissy couldn't resist too stupid. But I agree.

They could've taken them to soft play or some sort of coffee shop that doesn't intrude on people who don't wish to listen to crying and noisy youngsters.

Penguin at least four of us have mentioned establishments other than soft play. Apparently there's a giant Wetherspoons next door a child friendly pub. I fail to see what is depressing.

Yes, and as I've said, the places you've said they can go to (coffee shop chains etc) have all featured in OTHER threads complaining about them being there. Hence my point.

Depressing that you seem to have cordoned off a section of society that is "child-friendly" and then want to order people to stay in that section. I didn't think that was the point of it really.

But like I said, doesn't affect me. I take my quiet baby and small pram all over the place and have never been thrown out of anywhere or been made to feel unwelcome just for existing.

No Penguin, just not those places that are really unsuitable for lots of babies.

I think that because most of us on here have been in the situation of having small babies, and having to use our judgement about things like that, we're not so sympathetic to people who don't. It's not hard.

I take my baby, mahoosive all terrain pram and unruly cocker to the boutique hotel in my village everyday, it's the only coffee stop for miles (misses point of thread)

What people (I think) are saying penguin is that groups of parents with children should maybe stick to places designed for children, and there are plenty of places most coffee shops, most chain restaurants etc etc that are suitable for a group.

Because even if you adore all children, six buggies and six small children will be disruptive and actually ruin someone else's enjoyment and actually there are very few places you can go that are child free or not overrun by buggies during the day.

I avoid Costa and those type of places during the day in my local town because it is swamped with small children and that is my idea of screechy hell, children are loud and messy and sometimes a bit smelly and when I am on my own and trying to have some peace and quiet I don't want to have to deal with that.

and if the hotel had allowed the six to stay next week it would be 12 as buggies seem to follow each other :) by Christmas they would be out of business

I used to live near there and almost took a job working for the admin at the hotel. I wouldn't describe it as "boutique" and its sister hotel a mile away "the antoinette" has a few conference rooms and much more parking (and is also not boutique).

But what you're saying penguin is that everywhere should welcome large groups of mothers regardless of the needs of their other customers. The world is made up of lots of different people, with lots of different needs. And there are different places for different times. So a time and a place for enough peace for business meetings, a time and a place for kids running about and a time and a place for stag and hen parties.

If people show a bit of sense and consideration there's no reason why all those different kinds of customers shouldn't have a place to go. Your attitude seems to be that if a large group of mothers wants to turn somewhere entirely inappropriate into a crèche then everybody else has to suck it up.

Like somebody else said earlier in the thread, it's like a businessperson going into Costa and telling everyone to shut up because he's writing an important email, or a stag night going to a soft play centre and downing pints and mooning everybody.

That hotel looks ghastly, not my idea of boutique or luxury.

Misses point of thread.

I always ordered a lot more than a coffee and cleared up after myself and baby. I never had a problem in any establishment - cafe or otherwise. It's all about respect for the business owner. I've seen some mummies nursing coffees for hours and leaving a ton of food waste on the floor - these are the people businesses loathe. DD was a food thrower for a time so I used to only go out if I had to at that stage and always with a plastic sheet to protect carpet.

While we are at it, I hate it when a business person sits at their laptop hogging a 4 seater booth in McDonalds at a busy period for far too long while nursing a coffee. Meanwhile people having bought actual food are around standing waiting for a free seat. The arrangements are probably based on a 15 minute seated period - not an hour plus!

Actually I live in a University town and it used to do my nut when every table in Costa was taken up by a student nursing a flat white for two hours for the free wifi when I wanted to have a sandwich with baby DS.

What's a 'boutique hotel' when it's at home?

In my local Costa it's not the mums who are the problem is the students/freelancers with laptops. They buy a bottle of water between four and sit at the best tables all morning on the free Wifi. Thankfully I had to go cold turkey on Brownies and Caramel Stackers as I was getting fat so I don't go there much anymore!

Yes, the time I most preferred hotels and cafes that were not full of children and babies was when I had a small child and a baby myself. Apart from possibly a pub garden in the summer it is hell trying to enjoy coffee or lunch when your little one might start crying being fractious or fill its nappy at any time. My NCT friends used to circulate around our respective houses for lunch, not go out.

But what you're saying penguin is that everywhere should welcome large groups of mothers regardless of the needs of their other customers

Actually I'm not. At all. I didn't say the hotel should welcome them, I didn't say anywhere should. All I did was ask a few questions and said that you don't have to pen everyone with a kid into "child-friendly" places and only those. It's weird to expect people to not want to go to a variety of places just because they have a baby with them. It's not weird for businesses to make whatever rules suit them.
Surely there is plenty of room in between the 2 extremes?

(And actually my main point was that the language used was weird and denigrating: all babies are screaming, all prams are massive, all mothers sit with one coffee for hours, nattering....its just a load of stereotypes)

A missed business opportunity - the mums clearly wanted to be there originally, it wasn't being used at the time. The mums were probably spending money on coffee and lunch

I doubt it. Unless there is loads of unused space for the prams in the restaurant, 6 parents with prams will probably use up as much table space as 18 adults. The babies won't be knocking back the Americanos and the mothers will probably only have a coffee or two if it's a quick NCT meet up. So the restaurant is looking at £12-24 gross. That is probably breaking even at best. The equivalent space used for 18 adults would earn £36-72 for coffees only and at least some would probably eat as well. And that's without factoring the deterrent effect of potential customers clocking 6 prams and deciding to have breakfast elsewhere.

The problem is that the mother with a pram takes up the space of at least 2 people and spends only as much as 1. If my experience is anything to go my, they also often have something very loud and messy with them!

Shiny exactly what I was thinking - but £2.50 a coffee and £15 - running at a loss.

What's a 'boutique hotel' when it's at home?

It's a small, possibly slightly cramped, hotel which is not part of a chain (though it might have one, or not more than two, 'sister' hotels). It will however have employed an interior designer for the bedrooms and the bar.

Havent RTFT but how were there 4 women and 6 prams. It's been a while since ours were in prams but how do you push 2 at the same time?

I also love the term mumtitlement.