To book a family room for 4 when there are 5 of us?

[CollectingCoins]

Planning a one night city trip in UK. Finding it impossible to get a family room for 2 adults and 3 kids. Seems we will need an extra room no matter where we stay. Is it totally unreasonable to book one for 2 adults and 2 kids and sneak the extra kid in?

It would be against their insurance.

Is it not sort of stealing - you are paying for a service for 4 people but using it for 5? You could sneak 5 into the cinema and only pay for 4 tickets and have one sitting on you knee by the same reasoning?

Beneath the rug/carpet was an oubliette (scary dungeon thing).

There's your solution, assuming the spike has been removed, take a rope ladder and the smallest child can sleep there.

Travelling as a family of 5 is hard as so many places seem to expect a max of 2 children. I agree with youth hostels as being a good solution, also phoning up - found a lovely family room for 4 this summer that way and we asked them to add a bed which wasn't a problem as it was huge!

Premier Inns often have adjoining rooms with a connecting door. We once stayed in one where the door was accidentally left unlocked - the kids tried it and found themselves in someone else's room (luckily there were out)!

There’s a website called sleeps5 which lists hotels which have family rooms which accommodate 5 people. It’s not a booking site so it just gives you the info, then you can book direct with the hotel, we’ve used it several times.

Travelodge terms and conditions state you can have 2 adults, 2 kids plus a cot with an under 2 in one room. So if one of the children is a baby you'll be fine and above board.

Personally we just suck it up and get 2 rooms now mine are past that stage. Bigger families are always going to be more costly - it's just one of those things you have to accept. As others have said, youth hostels are a good bet. And we have stayed in some hotels offering rooms for five ( there used to be a website called Rooms For 5 set up to address this very same quandary but I don't think it's functioning anymore) but they are often more expensive than getting 2 cheap Travelodge/Premier Inn Rooms. Where are you going?

How old are the dc

We've got three kids too and when they were little we found that the Premier Inn / Travel lodge places were happy to allow another one in. DH and I took the main bed, all three kids cuddled up in the sofa bed.

Now that they're older- the youngest is 10 - they're just too big so we book two rooms.

It’s not against their insurance. How can you know that without seeing their insurance policy? It’s also not stealing ffs. Pious uninformed Mn strikes again

We have done this several times with Premier Inn - ds will be booked in as +cot, but I phone and explain that ds isn't a baby, but sleeps in with us. They have always been fine with it.

We always do it and have actively been encouraged to do so by Premier In staff at almost every hotel we’ve stayed at where, for whatever reason, we’ve had to book two rooms. They always tell us just to squeeze in one room next time.

The fire brigade (husband is firefighter) would search every occupied room manually as per their rigorous training and would never, ever rely on a check-in list to do their search in.

Insurance is not done per room, it’s done per hotel occupancy rate (I have worked in this area, and also as a student in hotel chambermaiding and on reception)

If you’re worried, then one adult check in and other people walk in at different times. Premier inns are normally so busy that they’d never notice who is in each room.

We've stayed at Novotel a few times and they often do a buy one room get another free type deal (interconnecting rooms). Worth looking into. Xx

@notangelinajolie

Just do it.

Premier Inn big family room lovely receptionist told us to do it but suggested we don't tell her manager. Totally her suggestion but we didn't argue

If this actually even remotely true, (which I very seriously doubt because they wouldn't SAY that, as they know it violates health and safety rules,) I hope the receptionist gets the sack if she is found out.

I also hope if one of your children is missing and not found (because they are not registered as being there,) that you blame no-one else but yourself.

I second phoning and asking. I strongly suspect you can't book these things online as they are wary of people taking the piss and putting five adults into one room to save money. I wanted to stay in a particular hotel with our 2 DC and couldn't book s family room on the internet at all; one phone call with a conversation about the ages of the children and the configuration and it was no problem at all.

It’s not against their insurance.

ahem, yes it is. There are strict rules and regulations about room occupancy, and the amount of clients acceptable per room, the number of fire exit available per amount of guests etc.. you cannot just crowd as many people as you want in a room, it doesn't quite work like that for hotel.

I am amazed how many people think it's ok to be dishonest and steal because "otherwise they couldn't afford it". I might try this argument in Tiffany's or Claridges

It's different to have a chat with the hotel directly, if they can accommodate, they will.

No it’s not. Have you seen their insurance policy? Insurance doesn’t work like that.

Let me get this right- you think the policy is such that if a hotel resident slips another guest in (for a sneaky bonk say) and the hotel burns down, their insurance compan will refuse to pay out due to sneaky bonk partner?

Really?

Agree with ringing up and asking what they suggest.
Was a little aggrieved recently paying an extra £60 for 3rd under 2 child in a family room. But they did upgrade us to a suite and had a lovely stay.
We generally try to book hotels with lodges or apartment type accommodation on their grounds.

We have stayed in lots of premier inns as a family of 5, and booked one child as an infant. I also emailed the travelodge to ask if it was ok to have 3 small children and they said yes. I’d just email or phone now mine are a bit bigger and take a ready bed for the smallest if they said we could have 3 kids in the room. No one has said no yet.

Premier inns vary quite a lot. Some have massive family rooms and will easily pop another bed in; some struggle to accommodate even the two children they advertise. Best bet is really to ring them direct.

We have stayed in at least 10 different Premier Inns since having a third child and book a cot and tell them we don't need a cot as the youngest shares with us. Never had any trouble. I'm going to look at hiltin hotels now

no, you are right Cherrycokewinning, who cares about the fire and safety rules and regulations, who cares about any of this.

Stop being passive aggressive and make your mind up whether you’re talking about health and safety or insurance

Not that you have a point with either