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?

Many teens have no problem sharing with parents and don't see it as different.

I’m glad mine never even considered it.

@CurlyhairedAssassin I don’t think enjoying others’ company or sharing daytime activities has anything to do with it. There are plenty of people whose company I enjoy that I don’t particularly want to share a room with for 2 weeks.

I can understand why 1 kid wouldn’t want to sleep in a tent on their own. But there were 4 of us, 2 kids in each tent, our parents in another.

This isn't just about your family though. You were saying there are other options to sharing a room, like a cheaper hotel. If you already book the one room at the cheap hotel then the next step down is camping. If you would share if camping then you may as well share the hotel room.

I'm glad DS is perfectly happy to share with me, we couldn't afford a holiday otherwise.

Yes we used to do that

If you read the thread, that point has already been covered. You can go for a cheaper hotel, B&B, flat, cheaper area etc

What if the cheaper hotel is already the top of your budget? Or, in our case, you want to go to a better hotel, but can't stretch to two rooms? Luckily for us, we are all happy to share. I'm sure we would all rather have two rooms, but my kids know that if they want they want to come on holiday with us, we are room sharing. We have done apartments, cottages, camping etc in the past, but for the 'big' holidays, they need to be in with us to be able to go at all.

Our youngest two are 11 and 13 and all four is us still share. Zero issues and it saves money.

If you're all happy in one room, good for you. There's no need to be snide or insinuate that others have worse relationships with their children/parents if they don't like sharing though.

As an aside, it's baffling to me that the Mumsnet consensus is that it's perfectly normal to stay in a hotel because you can't bear staying with your ILs but four people to a hotel room is perfectly fine

On Booking.com you can set how many rooms you want. I have an older teenager and still use it to book one room. Not all hotel let you of course, but loads do

When we go to the Caribbean with our 5 the baby is in with us. 2 middle ones are B/G and share a room aged 7/9 then the older two B/G share aged 14/16. A three bedroom suite at a hotel is expensive enough! It would never occur to any of mine to ask for their own room! Good grief.

I guess if it was just the 4 of us we might have done it that way, although probably not. My mum and I clash.

But with the small children in the mix this was the best option.

Actually just checked with both DC, they'd choose to split the rooms the way we did anyway!

ILs are different to a person you have married/committed to and your own children. A hotel room, being a neutral space, is different to staying in someone else's home.

Is there anything that can’t be made into a competition here?!

Who is making what into a competition? Someone always brings up a competition, I think half the time it's imagined!

And it’s not just about yours. Some families with an only child take a friend or cousin for their entertainment.

It’s true that if you’re going to share a tent you might as well share a hotel room but both are a bit grim tbh.

I'm not saying it's about mine. Just that your 'go cheaper' solution doesn't work for those who are already doing a holiday on a budget. What on earth is 'grim' about family sleeping in the same room?

😂 Fair point

What's "grim" about sharing a room?

So you were a brat then 😁 your pre at privacy had a true holiday without you

That is very weird. Even more so when under 18s usually cannot stay in a separate room in a hotel due to insurance. We would still share with DS15 now if it was the difference in affording a holiday or not. Last year I shared a room with DS with DH next door due to snoring. It wasn't any bother and we both had our privacy for getting changed.

Our son is 15 and still shares with us sure if he gets older and gets a girlfriend different but I shared with my parents and dh would with his and we are adults

On long holidays we try and get 2 bedrooms but that is more for we can watch things on our devices seperatley rather than the sleep bit

The cheaper solution works perfectly well for people with more than one child. It only didn’t work for you because your son wouldn’t want to sleep in a tent alone.

If sharing with a 13 year old boy is your idea of a great holiday, good for you. Not sure he will enjoy it as much as you, I’d much rather have gone with kids my own age at that point. Will he still want to do it when he’s 16? Maybe not.