Suddenly we need to book two rooms as DS is 13?

[deltapips]

I was browsing booking.com earlier for May half term breaks. My eldest is now 13 so the options that came up defaulted to two rooms rather than one which obviously doubles the price, argh!
There's a hotel in Dorset that we've been to twice. The first time our room had a double bed and bunk bed. The second time we were allocated a two bedroom apartment with a double bed and two singles. Both perfectly adequate for my family now. But I can't book that now.
I know I call them directly but I'm not sure I'd get the "free cancellation" option that I really like.
AIBU to be annoyed or should I just suck it up?

Surprised at people that are surprised at families room sharing on holiday. It's hardly unusual or that big of a deal for a few nights. I used to have to share a hotel room with my younger DB and both my parents until I was about 18. It never really bothered any of us too much.

I'm wondering if it won't let you book it because one or more of the beds are like bunk beds/trundle beds/not full singles or something like that designed for children? As I've stayed in a few holiday cottages recently that had that kind of set up so you couldn't book an adult/teen in for one of those beds.

That's a different issue though isn't it? Once he starts to refuse to share then we will have to reduce the number of trips we go on. Right now he's totally fine with us all being together!

I guess I’m an outlier here. I would absolutely not have shared a room with my parents as a teenager!

What’s wrong with that??

They can change in the bathroom. Hotels cost a fortune. A second room doubles the price.

DS and I had twin beds when he was 15, and when I was looking to book recently now he is 16 we were going to share a room. It's a room not a bed.

I wonder if it's a the couple plus child that makes it default to two rooms?

So what would you have done if your parents couldn’t afford double the cost of a holiday?

not gone and missed out?

until mine can contribute to pay for a room on their own they have limited choice in the matter.

last time we went away I did say budget hotel and having to watch pennies, self cater etc, and have 2 rooms. Or share a room in a nice hotel with pool and be able to eat out, have extra spends etc. they chose to share.

we are doing a “big” holiday in 2024. They share or don’t go. Guess what, they are sharing.

We did a three week family holiday to California just before covid. DD had just finished a levels and DS GCSEs. Sometimes we all shared - huge rooms with three beds - and sometimes the siblings shared with each other. No issues at all - and I did genuinely check. They knew more rooms would cut down the number of stops we could manage but it didn't cause any issues. We were only in the rooms to sleep. Might be different if it was a more chilled break with downtime in their rooms I guess.

I did one holiday when was 12 alone with my parents as my siblings were elsewhere. I still had my own room. I don’t know why you’d want to all be on top of each other. I didn’t have to refuse I was just given my own room.

Can’t you book interconnecting rooms ? That’s what we did with ours when we travelled as a family of four.

Because your parents could afford it though! Not sure why that’s so difficult to understand. I’d much prefer to have more rooms, but that would restrict how often we could go away.

Just book a family room.

Watch out for the detail of the third bed tho, in case the rollaway is the size of a toddler bed. Better to book direct with the hotel or at least inspect the room photos.
I usually search for 3 adults as a starting point

I just booked a Premier inn room for me and my 18 year old. its only a couple of nights, we will be out all day, its just somewhere to sleep so it fine, and I’m not paying for a second room. I just put in one adult and child and get either a twin or family room. I book breakfast separately and pay for two adults.

If we are away on a holiday, most flats/ cottages are two bedrooms so we both get a room.

i would thing most people would choose not to share is they had the funds to pay for it.

most of us have to compromise though. If you have a holiday budget then more than one room means you may not be able to go to a desired destination, or pay for sightseeing trips etc.

we prefer to share a room and have a bigger budget for the holiday, than spends the same budget on two rooms and have to severely compromise on the holiday.

nice that your parents could afford it though.

At double the price? Fuck that. If he doesn’t care, lie. Save money.

Love the people outraged at teenagers sharing rooms with either each other or parents! My 3 bunk up in a room together, 2 teens of opposite sex and a pre teen. Strangely i can't really afford to book 4 bedroom holiday places. The dc would of course rather have their own rooms of they could but oddly when it comes to going on holiday or not going holiday they choose to share. Sometimes 2 of them share a double bed. I shall await my call from social services.

Op ring the hotel direct. I'm sure you'll be able to book a family room.

As a genuine question, those who say book interconnecting rooms, where do you find places with that option? I can never find it and would love to, for example with booking a Premier Inn type place for a night away we no longer fit in a family room (we used to sneak the youngest child in) but would much, much rather have interconnecting than 2 fully separate rooms.

I’m 28 and I shared a room with my parents on our last holiday!

I always went to a Premier Inn with mine, still do sometimes with GC, Premier Inn don't seem to care.

@OakleyStreetisnotinChelsea

I’ve had rooms in Premier Inn with interconnecting doors. I just booked on the website as usual and then phoned the hotel direct to ask for interconnecting rooms

Surely if it's a toddler bed then you'd need a younger age filter than 12!?

My brother and I shared a room when holiday with our parents till our 20s. No issue at all!

There is really not much difference. A few times I have checked there was just over 20 pound difference between having 1 double room with a sofa bed or 2 rooms (see photos -2 rooms would have been £186 vs £164 for a room with a sofa bed). I actually contacted a hotel to ask why was this and they ignored me 😂...

Yes I find that as well. There sometimes an extra charge for only having one adult in the room with two children.

Nothing wrong in sharing a room with a teenage child. The last holiday I went on with my son was when he was 19. We had a twin bedded room, didn't give it another thought, nor did he.

I wouldn't feel comfortable in a strange hotel with my 13 year old child sleeping next door. Unless it's a room attached to your own which some do have. I've got two with SEN and never came across this problem.