To ask is this Hotel policy usual?

[IsThisStrangeOrNot]

Children under 12 not allowed to be alone in bedrooms. Small posh hotel recently refurbished. I can understand why they might not want toddlers running riot in the bedrooms but when DS is asleep and we're watching him on the baby monitor that's still not acceptable. Bedroom is up the stairs and we would be eating dinner in restaurant at foot of stairs, less than 5 seconds to get back to bedroom. It's in an isolated location with nothing nearby so can't imagine policy is for the security of children.
Their hotel, their rules - which we respect but first time I've heard this policy. Anyone else heard such a policy for kids under 12?

Not RTFT but maybe Michael Gove is a regular guest so they wanted to make sure?

Just a heads up to PP who have said they use babysitters at hotels... (and I realise this was a one-off incident, but still, it happened!)

We had our first (and last) experience of a hotel babysitter last NYE. She was CRB checked and worked in the hotel's creche. Our 3 DSs were 5, 2 and 7 months old. We had a buzzer on us for if the babysitter needed to contact us for any reason. We left the room at 8pm and got back at 12.30pm, buzzer remained quiet all night.

Following morning DS3 awoke and I picked him up. Noticed something on his grobag... only turned out to be blinking Calpol! On closer inspection it was around his mouth and back of neck. Needless to say we were FUMING. To cut a long story short, the hotel did their own investigation, contacted local authorities/social services, but because it was our word against hers, they decided they couldn't come to a satisfactory conclusion and she is therefore still working at the hotel!!!! (Oh and basically the management accused one of our other children of administering it by saying that while they didn't believe my DH or I had given it, there were 4 people in the room that night with access to it) God only knows the outcome if he'd have been allergic to it or had already been dosed up before we left.

That one and only time we left our children in a hotel room (albeit with a babysitter)... all I can say is, never again

Sorry, 12.30am

I can't even believe I am reading this post. If you want to go to hotels and sit eating romantic meals as a couple, DON'T HAVE CHILDREN. You have to make sacrifices when you decide to have children, that means you have to put them first. May be you should have thought about that before booking the hotel. Totally agree with the McCann comment, have people learnt nothing and still think it won't happen to them.

What santina said. Please do not tell the hotel a "lil white lie" .

Oh dear God do chill out and stop telling other people how to live their wonderful crazy exciting romantic lives! It really is none of your business

Wonderful crazy exciting romantic lives... because they like to leave their young toddler alone in a hotel room while they have a meal in a hotel restaurant... I'm a bit sad for you if you think that is wonderful, crazy, exciting or romantic tbh.

Although some people might say "crazy", but not in the way you mean, I expect.

Yes I am crazy apparently! But do you know what, I am very happy and my children who are no longer toddlers are also very happy so I must be doing something right!

I'm making no comment on you personally my dear. You were the one waxing lyrical about how fab-u-lous the lives of those who do this must be, as if you knew. Unlike you, I don't claim to know the first thing about how wonderful or romantic the op's life is. I tend to stick to the point of the actual thread HTH.

Decaff missing my point completely. I have no idea about the ops life either, I am merely making the point that these people's actions do not affect you. Leave them be.

I have no idea about the ops life either

Good good! Glad we cleared that up.

Decaff, eh?

Your posts aren't making much sense to me either tbh, so perhaps we just leave it there .

God there are so many hand wringers on Mumsnet.

I think it's a stupid policy and it should be entirely up to you if you want to leave your DS alone in the room to enjoy a quiet adult meal after bedtime.

I'm pretty risk averse when it comes to my kids, more than most. But even so I think that leaving a sleeping 18 month old in a cot they can't get out of, with a video monitor trained on them in a very small hotel where you are one flight of stairs and a short dash away, is not a situation that results in a significant risk profile.

What MrsNuckyThompson at 18 fucking months? Are you congenitally stupid?

Are you congenitally stupid?

You would be amazed at how many people are.........

I just think that it is for parents to decide this sort of thing, not a hotel. I leave my 6 month old baby at the top of a flight of stairs with a monitor in my house every night.

If this hotel is as the OP describes, a small hotel effectively in a house with the room at the top of the stairs and a dining room at the bottom with a monitor which reaches I see no reason on earth a parent shouldn't let their child sleep while they enjoy a quiet meal.

Parents get to decide in their own house, but the hotel can set the rules it chooses to and if people don't like them, perhaps they should stay elsewhere.

You can think of no reason on earth? Have you read the thread MrsNucky?

I honestly cba to reiterate the reasons people, including some who work in the hotel industry, listed towards the beginning of the thread. But some brief examples; insurance, fire, security. You just know some fuckwit parent will be the one to leave their toddler in a travel cot which they aren't used to, they'll manage to climb out, injure themselves on landing and said fuckwit parent say will blame the hotel. What would happen in a fire if parents are trying to get up to retrieve their offspring while the hotel are trying to evacuate?

Security? Can't you think of a single reason they would be worried about security? High turnover of staff, some of whom have access to master keys.

Fair enough, if you've considered all of that and thought, "what the fuck. I want to have my meal in peace. I'll risk it", fine, your problem. But the hotel's policy is absolutely not stupid imo. It's completely understandable.

This thread is going in circles now I think, (possibly because people are joining without reading the start of the thread)?

I completely agree that it's up to the hotel. If a hotel specifically stated that we couldn't then we either wouldn't or we'd stay elsewhere. The places we normally go to don't have these sorts of restrictions though. I would expect a large hotel/chain to do so.

Excuse typos btw. I'm on my shit phone.

Are you congenitally stupid?

Oh the irony!

I think it is normal (and sensible) for a large hotel but for any small hotel labelled 'family friendly' it's ridiculous. We went to a number of small hotels with kids tea at 5 pm and adult dinner at 8pm; fire evacuation plan included kids being left in rooms. This worked for us until our son was 6. Those referencing the McCanns situation- they'd were in separate building some distance away not down a corridor as close as home. If everyone is comfortable you don't need to be welded to your children