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?

I didn't realise baby listening services still existed!!!

Nobody tells you this but hotel rooms are easily broken into. Case in point - someone pretended to be my bf to get a key card into my room while I was at a conference (must have seen my room number at breakfast). No ID requested by the reception. This was a posh hotel. Stole my ipad and a bit of money. Shudder to think what might happen to a child left alone.

Normal and sensible IMO. I wouldn't do it. What if the monitor fails or something happens, like a fire or a bomb scare?

We just order room service and eat in the room. Or get 2 rooms with an adjoining door so you don't need to be quiet. Or put baby to sleep in pram and take him down to the restaurant with you?

An 8-12 year old can walk down the 10 stairs in the event of a fire alarm. They have them at school. Makes more sense for the two year olds but I still think it is a bit over strict in the situation you describe.

'Baby listening' sounds like something from holiday camps of the 50's

How old is the child?

I must live on a different planet.

No way would I consider leaving a child alone in a hotel bedroom while I went too to have dinner.

Not a chance in hell.

We have had plenty great family holidays- the children were not left alone for a moment.

I agree it's a sensible policy especially from a fire safety POV.

I would also imagine part of it is from a "covering their backs" POV so if a child is injured or damages something when left unsupervised they will - rightly so - not take any responsibility.

Kate and Gerry McCann is that you?

Why on gods green earth would you leave a child alone in a hotel bedroom?

As poster above said Maddie McCanns parents could see the room from where they were eating, that made a massive difference to her sorry fate didn't it.

Why don't people learn!

Ffs if a quiet meal is more important than the safety of your child maybe you shouldn't have had any.

I've never come across this. Depending on size/layout/location of hotel we've left DS whilst eating dinner and never had an issue raised.

Perfectly sensible policy for all the reasons listed by others. I wish this kind of policy had been in effect years ago when I was forced by my ex's family to leave our two DC (then just 3 years and 18 months) in our hotel room while we were at his sister's wedding party downstairs. I was perfectly willing to forego the party and sit with the children but the suggestion was met with such incredulity and taunts of being, "ridiculously over protective", a "killjoy" and just plain, "stupid" that I capitulated and spent a miserable couple of hours, sneaking out every 10 - 15 minutes to run upstairs and check on them. By the time I went to check and found that the three year old, on trying to exit the room it turns out, had managed to lock herself and her baby brother inside I was so wound up I completely freaked which did nothing for my reputation as a, "problem" with my controlling ex and his hedonistic relations.

Seems sensible to me, it wouldn't occur to me to leave DS(10) alone in a hotel room.

Fire issues are catastrophic when it's a large hotel but I'm talking about a hotel with 10 rooms which is tiny therefore easy to run to rooms.

No one can run faster than a fire.

How old is he?

This is one of the reasons I always stay self catering. We eat in, or when dc were little we ate out earlier to suit them. That way, after they'd gone to bed, we'd have a living room /veranda /patio to sit on and relax. No way would I ever have left mine in a hotel room, I just couldn't do it.

The Mccanns couldn't see their apartment from the restaurant, it's hidden by bushes and trees.

Usual, IMO. Even a Travelodge wouldn't let us book just children into the room - had to be 1 adult + dc's in each.

We had adjoining rooms, called a family room in a quite posh hotel - but I wouldn't have left the dc alone in there, for all the reasons above.

metalmum- there are other options. We always go all inclusive, villa style.
Mean we can eat early with kids, then go back to villa with a carafe of wine, some food from the restaurant, cheese, olives, salad, sit on the verandah and have a little adult supper while the children are asleep within earshot.

OP the fact that it's a tiny hotel and the rooms are seconds away from the dining room is irrelevant.

If you were sat in the restaurant and evacuated when the alarm went off, you wouldn't be allowed anywhere near your rooms! You'd be ushered straight outside - no way would the staff let you faff around going upstairs!

I thought, as PP have said, it's for health and safety (and probably insurance reasons).

Still no age of child???

OP are you avoiding this question?

Running the wrong way ( back to a room) during a fire alarm is crazy and selfish.
You would be hindering the exit of other people, and potentially putting members of staff at risk, who would be waiting for the evacuation to be complete.

But then a child free dinner is so important isn't it.

Alot of hotels will find that tgeir insurance wont cover them now. Its changed quite alot in the last 10-15 years.

Sensible hotels wont offer a listening service. Its pointless. And staff often get distracted checking people in etc. Most people dont want to risk a daily mail sad face about how their pfb hurt themseleves while using a hotel listening service.

Hotels dont take responsibility for peoples cars. Why would they want to take any responsibility for your kids.

I think it is to do with fire. School age kids do fire drills at school, but there is always someone to tell them what to do. In a hotel room, on their own, possibly waking up to hearing an alarm going off, it would not be unusual for kids to instinctively call for their parents, because they would not know what was going on. They may call for them for quite a while before getting out of bed and trying to go and find them. By then the room may well be full of smoke and the fire escapes blocked. Meanwhile the parents would be downstairs frantically trying to get to them, and causing problems for the hotel staff trying to evacuate.
I know it seems unlikely to you that this would happen but recent events show that fires can happen and evacuations don't always go to plan. The hotel has made this decision for the safety of all the guests. Please respect it.

Seems a bit OTT to say you can't leave an 11 year old by themselves.

Most kids of that age are walking themselves to secondary school.