We recently went to a lovely hotel for a special occasion family lunch. The hotel is local to our area, very smart with lovely food and decor. They do weddings and it’s the sort of place you’d go with family for special occasion meals like Mother’s Day etc. We’ve been before but never with children (my DD is the first baby in the family).
They advertise themselves as ‘family friendly’ but they have no baby change facilities at all. When I enquired about this, the manager said it’s not a legal requirement to have them (okay fair enough), but he did also say that there had been a number of complaints about the lack of baby change in the past but the hotel’s owners don’t want to put them in.
The only place they could offer me to change 6 month old DD was the freezing cold conference room on a small side table, next to the staff entrance to the kitchens with staff coming in and out.
What I don’t understand is the owner’s reluctance to not put a baby change table in one of the loos? The ladies toilets are massive at this place and there would be plenty of room for even a small fold-down table in one cubicle. It is a nice hotel but not one that’s really ultra modern or with a Michelin star where a small baby change table would ruin the aesthetics etc.
In low season this hotel would rely on local families coming to their restaurant to generate business so I’m quite surprised. In fact whilst we were there, there was a large family party in another room with several small children (about one to two years of age) who would also need nappy changes so I don’t know what they did. It’s unfortunate because the meal was lovely but we won’t be going back.
My question is am I being unreasonable for expecting a hotel advertised as family friendly to have baby change facilities?