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 is not illegal in France to have more than 4 in a room. It depends on the size of the room, like in most countries. You can find dorms in hostels, they are perfectly legal as long as they respect the current legal requirements.

We have had problems in France. We stayed at a Novotel with DS (6) and two babies. We booked one (huge) room and they made us take another room too! Ironically, one of the cots they gave us was broken and they couldn't fix it so we ended up co-sleeping with one of the babies and all slept in the same room anyway.

Generally you don't need to 'sneak another child in'. If you read the small print most hotels will allow an extra child in free of charge and will provide a camp style bed.

Sprogs is just another word for children to me. I don't see it as derogatory. Sproglet is a small sprog, I think that's quite cute. Presume it depends on where you live as it sounds like an unfamiliar term to some. It's just a 1 night city break though not a major family holiday. When my kids/ sprogs were young 1 night city breaks with them just weren't worth the hassle.

As the OP hasn't bothered to reply for 24 hours she maybe feels it's not worth the hassle either, or just likes watching bun fights.

*What's wrong is hotels assuming 2+2 is standard and can't adjust for larger families.

Why can't they provide a larger room? *

because hotels are made of bricks n stuff, and usually can't be altered just for the odd holiday week! You cannot blame a hotel for maximising profit per square metre - most of the year business travellers travel alone and don't need family rooms!

"Is it unreasonable of me to steal a free night's accommodation for my child?" H'm.

I'm slightly rolling my eyes at the posters all concerned about fire safety etc since it is very very rare that I stay in a hotel that has compliant fire safety features. Very rare. And I stay in a LOT of hotels.

I'd say they only care about their insurance being invalidated, not about the actual fire safety of guests

People who do this - what would you do if you were discovered sneaking the extra person/people in, and the hotel threw you out and refused to refund your money?

We sleep 5 people in one room in premier inn. It's fine for us. im sure we will get another room when the dc are older though.

I normally book 2 adults 2 kids and a cot at premier inn. Not lying just being economical wit the truth. Youngest is 4 so may not get away with this much longer

Ignore the stupid insurance and fire answers, they are always trotted out and they are as wrong and as daft as they were the first time!

If one is a teeny tot, you might find it's okay anyway if you ask the hotel.

Personally I wouldn't feel entirely comfortable if I thought I could get kicked out of a hotel room but I appreciate in a Travelodge / Premier Inn situation it's probably unlikely. In a boutique hotel? Not so much. Many small hotels I've been in know exactly who is staying and where without prompting, so I doubt one would get away with sneaking in an extra person.

We stay in premier inns about once every 6 weeks, we have always been told 5 in a room is fine just as long as we are aware there are only beds for 4. If they allow 5 including a baby what difference does it make to the insurance what age the 5th person is? We have never had a problem or been asked to leave a premier inn.

Having worked with hotels overseas there are fire regulations and insurance reasons behind the limit of guests in a room. If you're prepared to be cheeky enough to avoid paying for a 2nd room you need to be prepared for anything that may happen that the hotel wouldn't accept responsibility for!

Sorry, I think YABU.
Consider the fire safety risk.
The building needs to know how many people they have to each room.
Perhaps just call a few and ask.

I totally see the temptation but it's not fair on the accommodation provider.
I have a small holiday cottage I rent out and if there are more than the max allowed people staying, our insurance is invalidated.....

We are a family of five, finding accommodation online proves impossible but when you call the hotel concerned they are very accommodating. We have been given a suite, a double room with separate room and even adjoining rooms. In Europe lots of hotels offer family rooms, Ibis Styles are particularly good.

I agree with phoning. I'm a single parent with 4 children. Hotels will often accommodate the 5th person in a 4 person room even if it's a put up bed 😁

What do you do logistically? Leave a child alone in the car while you check in, then go back later to sneak them in? Come and go in smaller groups incase someone sees you all together?
What about breakfast? Does one child stay in the room while everyone else has breakfast? Or do you all go out (in separate groups) for breakfast somewhere else? Sounds like a hassle

Consider the fire safety risk.The building needs to know how many people they have to each room

Yes, that's how it works. When a hotel goes on fire, someone goes around with a clipboard checking off the names of the expected guests. So what would happen is they would get 4 of the family out, and insist on leaving the 5th behind because its not on the list. I mean, its not as if anyone ever brings anyone back to their hotel with them, or people don't show, or anything ever happens to mean the expected guest list is wrong.

eh?! 🙄

righteous git

Another YHA fan here. Just got back from London Earl’s Court. There are 4 of us and I buy membership every year to reduce costs.

There may be an insurance issue for the hotel if there are more ppl than supposed to be in the room