Hotel advertising their restaurant is within range of baby monitors

[Teakind]

Hello,

I was looking at booking a short break in the UK and found a hotel along the south coast that offers 'baby breaks' as their rooms are close to the restaurant and so most baby monitors would work. AIBU to think this is odd and irresponsible?

I can see the argument that it's a small hotel and so the distance could be similar to being in your lounge and the baby being upstairs but it just doesn't sit comfortably with me. Any weirdo could also see parents sitting at a table with a baby monitor and know that there is a baby/child alone in a room somewhere.

Just interested to see what other people think and I do have a tendency to over worry!

Now knows perfectly well which room has an unsupervised child sleeping in it

You haven't added how they silently break in and carry the kid off without attracting any attention whatsoever?

How is it any different to someone knowing you have an unsupervised child sleeping in your home? Other than there are far less people in your home to see them do it?

Regardless of what you might read, babystealing is rare. It would be a reckless baby thief who walked into a hotel and broke into a locked room and removed an infant knowing that the monitor would pick this up and people would immediately be running towards the room. It isn’t a large place. Then there would be the fact it is not in the middle of a large town—no quick get away.

I was left in a pontins cabin every night with a patrol walking round ,who announced which numbers had babies crying in...on holiday I mean...I'm still here..but I certainly didn't do it with my children and they were pre madine mcan.

Though having just typed that there are a lot of posters who always say it's no different to leaving your child upstairs in your house, that depends on the size of the house!

I live in a fairly big house but I think it's different because we don't have strangers walking past the bedroom doors.
Another reason is I wouldn't have wanted my kids waking up in unfamiliar surroundings and being frightened because I'm not there.
No matter for how short a time. It's just not worth it.

I don't see an issue and would be pleased to learn this.

I stayed in a hotel like this, where they actually provided the baby monitors.

We were having a last minute spa break before DD2 arrived, and I think we were the only people at dinner without a baby monitor on the table! (DD1 was at home with Grandma). We discussed it at length, and I don't why, but it just doesn't sit right with me.

When we went to a wedding when DD1 was only 12weeks old, I'd planned to do this, but when it came down to it I just didn't feel comfortable. So she just slept in the pram in the corner of the of room where the disco was. I get that you can't really do this when they're older, and now we plan things around having DD1 with us if we're in a hotel. We either eat early all together and go to bed early, or we shift her schedule a bit and let her have a late afternoon nap so she eats later and stays up later. Or we book apartments so she can have her own bedroom, go to bed and we then have dinner in the apartment later together.

It's a personal thing, and I'm not judging anyone who chooses to do it. But I've accepted that couply dinners in hotel restaurants are few and far between these days! For me, it's a real babysitter or we're not doing it.

We booked a break when DS was 2. It was a very large house/mansion divided in to 5 holiday apartments. We took the baby monitor with us and dreamed of peaceful evenings in the sumptuous gardens while DS was asleep.

In reality, when we got there, neither of us felt comfortable. We enjoyed a glass of wine on the balcony instead. Other families there did go down to the garden. It's down to individual attitudes to risk, and parental anxiety. I've always been very anxious and protective towards DS, 5 years ttc and 2 rounds of IVF have taken their toll. Statistically, it's very unlikely anything would happen, but I know I literally could not carry on living with the guilt if something went wrong. It's personal choice.

How is it any different to someone knowing you have an unsupervised child sleeping in your home? Other than there are far less people in your home to see them do it? hmm

I know who has keys to my house. I don’t know who has keys to a hotel room, but I can guess that it probably includes housekeeping, reception, security, maintenance, etc.

Of course we always have to weigh up risks of doing something but part of that is about what the potential benefits of the risk are. I’m this case the potential benefits are that the parents get to enjoy a restaurant meal alone. I’m not sure that benefit really outweighs the risks in this situation.

How many sleeping babies are actually abducted by strangers in the Uk every year? Zero?

Being at home where your relatives have access is statistically way more risky.

How many sleeping babies are actually abducted by strangers in the Uk every year? Zero?

Abduction is hardly the only risk of leaving an infant unattended in a hotel room though.

I wonder if it’s a baby monitor with a camera/viewer? I might be happier to do it with an older child, not sure about a baby, if that was the type of monitor.

Very few people are just lurking about waiting to harm your children. They are st far more risk from you and your family than random strangers. What if there's a fire in your house between you and the child? It's nonsense!!

Forget randoms being able to get into the room - if the fire alarm goes off, are parents allowed back into the bedroom part of the hotel to collect their kids? Even a false alarm (I'm guessing this is far more likely than an actual fire) would probably be fairly scary for a baby or small child if no one comes to get them.

I don’t see the issue because you can literally hear your child through the monitor

Totally against it but

How would the criminal know which rooms to go to??

So parents sat having dinner watching a monitor all the criminal is going to see is just that? Not what rok. Number etc?

Room

It's actually really funny seeing the reactions of people who think mentioning the McCann case is ridiculous.
Now, here was an example of a child disappearing from an unsupervised room but hey, that doesn't count because .... well, it just doesn't. It looks like leaving your children in a hotel room and go to have a nice meal down to a restaurant or to a bar is OK.
It's not the same as being in a different room of your own house. You know how secure is your house, you know who has access. You don't know in a hotel. If you want to have a nice dinner with your DH or whoever else, get someone to mind your children.

It doesn’t count because it’s not the same. No locked doors. Not staying in the same actual premises. No baby monitors.

I've considered doing this before. What stopped me was knowing that hotels employ many staff with access to booking in systems and room keys. It's entirely different to leaving your child asleep on a different floor in your house, knowing exactly who has access. I wouldn't leave anything particularly valuable in a hotel room for this reason, so why would you leave a child?

mumblechum0
Is it bad that the first thing I thought was it was Unreasonable because I wouldn't want to hear other peoples' babies howling whilst I'm eating dinner

This

While there obviously are crazies who kidnap children (I doubt Madeleine was the first) they are very rare. More the issue is leaving a mobile child alone in a room where they might get up and wander off.

A baby that can't go anywhere is less of a risk.

Surely it depends on the size of the hotel? If it was a small hotel, similar in size to a b&b I can't see the harm. It is no different that leaving your baby to sleep upstairs while eating dinner downstairs.

There are lots of paedophiles though specialsubject who are very cunning and this hotel would be a huge draw, since they make such a big deal of it in their marketing. It's the proud advertising which is the nub of the issue imo.

I did this when my dd was about one. In a small hotel where the bar was below the floor of our room so was in range. At the time it was a great idea as we could have dinner and a drink and still hear her. The only thing that would concern me now would be the fire risk and not being able to get back in to get her...although dh is adamant that no one would dare stop him if he had to go and rescue his dd . The maddie reference is madness...similar to the people that think there's a peadophile on every street corner.