4 of us in a Hotel F1 triple room in France

[BonApp]

I need an overnight stopover en route to the south of france. All of the Hotel F1's that I'm looking at are max 3 people which is no good for me, DH and 2 small DC (5 and 3).

WIBU to book a triple room regardless? DH can have the bunk and me and the DC can go in the double bed...

We will be arriving late at night so I'm guessing there will be that automatic check-in thing rather than a person...

The bunk is v v small. You should book double rooms and have a child in each. They are v small and quite claustrophobic inside.

YWBU and they may not let you stay. You will have to either book two rooms or try a different hotel. The maximum occupancy cannot be exceeded by law.

We tried this once and the extra occupant was 4 weeks old, but the hotel was clear that we could not stay in the room together. They were very nice and gave us an extra room free but there's no guarantee the hotel would do that.

B&B Hotels are very good and have rooms for four. Would that be an option?

The double beds in f1's are generally small ones you'd struggle to get three of you in one, even if they are small

Missed the bit about self check in but still wouldn't risk it.

Could be wrong but sometimes the bunk has a weight/height limit!

My experience of a F1 was hellish but it was at least clean. But yes, the rooms and the beds are small. If you have a long drive the next day and need a decent night's sleep it's probably not the best solution.

Try premiere classe or campanile.

We did something similar... me and 3 DC's older than yours... I slept on the floor which was terrible! We arrived late but there was someone on reception but we went in and out to get bags etc so it wasn't a problem.

F1 was a bit on the grotty side and full of noisy families who stayed up running around really late.

I would be tempted to try one of the other budget chains next time and splash an extra 15Euro. Premiere Classe, Ibis Budget, Appart'City. They all tend to be located in the same area. (I must remember to make note of the ones that look good next time too!!)

Have a look for a chambre d'hotel in the area you want, they often have family rooms for four or five.

These have studios for 4. Cheap and cheerful.

www.sejours-affaires.com/uk/

We are a family of 5 and we booked a room for 4 as our youngest two were in travel cots - they cancelled our booking (different chain) and made us book another room so I am not sure I would risk it.

F1 with small kids?? Never again! Seriously shitty. Well worth the extra 20 Euro a night or whatever to go to a Campanile - or find an independent family hotel.

Ibis styles are fab

It's an insurance thing, if they do catch you they will not accept you, they cannot take the risk. Imagine if there's a fire and they only recorded 3 guests for that room.

I really would not do it.

Have stayed in these many many times

www.hotelbb.com

They have family rooms

God when we were kids my parents used to check the said amount of us in and then pass extra child through the bedroom window. Don't know how they managed to get ground floor every time
We've just returned from France using formula 1 on way down and premiere classe on way back.

Both awful. I suppose at least you have a toilet in the latter.

Doing it again next year and I might up the budget a bit but it does add up when paying for 3 rooms. 3 x 17 year olds in one, 2 adults and 3 kids spread across the other two.

I Second hotel b&b cheap and cheerful. Breakfasts not bad either. Lovely cute packs of Nutella... I may one or 4 on my baguette

• may have had one! The have mezzanine rooms which are good, also you can arrive anytime and get a code for your room

I second Ibis Styles. The family rooms are for 4.

I've just booked two 4* Novotels in France to break up ur journey. Less than £70 for 4 of us. Look quite nice. The F1s just looked too cheap to be decent.....

Hotel B&B and Ibis budget much the best chains.

F1 just too cheap and nasty and you really want the ensuite rather than loo down the corridor with kids. Campanile are overpriced and no better than the 1ere Classe type places.

Ibis are quite nice and often good values as well.

I stayed in an F1 hotel last summer with my two children.
Never again! Seriously - it's one thing not to have a toilet in the room, but the toilet down the corridor didn't even have a washbasin in it!

It was undoubtedly very cheap, but my main reason for choosing the hotel was that there was not much else in the area. I also thought, how bad can it be?

I really would try to find somewhere else if you can...

Ibis Styles here too. We stayed in a fab 4-person room in Munich. €70 incl breakfast for 4. Hard to beat.

I third the hotel B&B.. on a par with a travel lodge, but proper beds for the sprogs, normally a single next to double and a bunk over the top of the beds.

Book a Novotel instead.