to still book our DS (16) as a 15 year old at a Premier Inn?

[VioletOrange]

I’m probably going to get a flaming for this but here goes.

We only have DS, he can’t stay in a PI by himself until he’s 18. If we booked him in as an adult, as he’s classed as one now he’s 16, we’d have to pay for another room. So for now, while we can still just about get away with it, we book him in as a child stating he’s 15.

In one PI where we’ve stayed many times over the years, a couple of the regular staff are aware but they’re ok with this. He doesn’t get up for breakfast so doesn’t benefit from the ‘kids eat free’ deal.

AIBU to carry on doing this for as long as we can get away with it? Not that he’ll likely still want to come away with us in the next few years.

My personal opinion is that on the one hand they class 18+ as adults but want to charge a 16 year old adult prices.

I would have no problem with paying a bit extra. At other hotels we do book ds as an adult but we are still able to share a room. At Premier Inn the price is per room and the price doubles.

Carry on as you are. My DD is 16 but looks 14 so we’ll take advantage of her being in our room and the free breakfast for as long as we can get away with it.
I’m sure we’ve all done similar before. I know I was getting half fare on the bus till I was 18 as I looked younger.
All you with perfect morals stop being so self righteous

If I stuck to the rules then our 2 night stay, costing almost £300 would double in price and cost almost £600!

There is more than adequate room for 2 adults and 1 teen in a family room. There shouldn’t be a need to have to book a whole extra room to accommodate a 16 year old.

I am going to a premier inn in a couples of weeks and I just double checked my booking for me and my 15 year old because I couldn’t remember what I had booked.
It seems we have a twin room and I put it as 2 adults. If I remember it was because if I put her as child it (the online booking form) kept insisting on a family room rather than twin.
I hope they don’t get funny about it. She’s 15 but looks about 12 😂. We won’t be having the breakfast do I don’t have to worry about that.

It's dishonest in my opinion, even though I think that a hotel should accept two over 18s and one under in a family room.

Family rooms and twin rooms are exactly the same unless you have more than one child.

Travelodge state that you should NOT leave under 18s unattended, either in a room or public area. Sounds like leaving your unattended baggage at the airport! 😆

So they have a completely different view of under 18s.

I wonder who sits down and decides these rules and why it can vary so much between chains.

And yes, we should maybe decide to book at a Travelodge instead but we do like a PI bed.

At that age I wouldn’t want to share a small room with my parents and no privacy

@Comefromaway are they? I seem to remember when booking the family room was more expensive. I might be remembering wrong though. It does say it’s one double bed and one sofa bed so I suppose that is the same. I have been informed that I’m sleeping on the sofa bed 😂😂😂

Yes, I am aware of this as we use PI a lot. As I said, I am not judging, I just couldn't do it (even though I know there are pros of doing so). I think PI are maybe trying to promote the family image a bit and trying to discourage larger groups of adults for fear of noisy hen/stag parties etc. There should be some flexibility though, especially if the teenager is clearly part of a family group.

I wouldn't want to lie or steal personally, and I wouldn't want to teach my children that it's ok to do so.

Yes, we got this too. Me and DS (15) defaulted to family room with one proper double and one sofa bed. Me and DS (16) defaulted to two proper twins. For two people who are not a couple, or for one adult and one child, a twin is much comfier than a family room imho! Luckily last time when he was 15 the lady on the desk actually changed us to a twin (2 proper bed) instead of a family, when we went for the early check in option.

I’d just lie until I couldn’t get away with it anymore. Hardly the crime of the century.

It depends on the hotel but in our experience we have found:

Family room - double bed and sofa bed
Twin room - double separated into two twins/same set up as family room
Double room - just a double/same set up as family room but sofa not made up.

I think it can depend on the hotel how the twin/double room is set up, and might also depend on availability at the time. The hotel we have visited most in recent times (in our experience) has two proper beds in a twin room, and we much prefer that to one of us sleeping on the comfy bed and one on the harder sofa bed. I have also seen it say (at booking) something along the lines of 'this twin has a double bed and a sofa bed', for at least one of the other PI hotels we sometimes use (I forget which).

To clarify, this is all PI hotels, when I saw hotel I really mean location! Oops.

I have done it well beyond 16y as you can't book 3 adults into a room. Done it for a few years now.

Dd was 20y last time. We are usually only staying in a PI for one night, often before an early flight so I don't want to pay for two rooms when it's unnecessary.

No one checks and no one cares ime.

We don't go and have the free child's breakfast though.

I have stayed in many, many Premier Inns over the years and I also book them on behalf of a company. I have booked family rooms and twin rooms.

The majority of Premier Inn hotels state that the 2nd bed in a "twin room" is a sofa bed. There are only a handful that have proper twin beds.

In most Pi, ime, if you enter 3 or 4 adults it will only then offer you two rooms.
The family rooms only show for 2 adults plus children.

It's annoying as they obviously feel their sofa beds/second beds are adult friendly as if you book a twin room in some PIs you get a double and sofa bed, not two singles.

Just been booking hotels in the Florida keys and I love the fact that in most hotels there is a 2 double bed option and it's the norm to accept more than 2 adults in a room.

Dd may be an adult but she doesn't mind sharing and neither do we - and it halves the cost of an already expensive trip.

Yes, I have seen the twin set up with double/sofa but there is definitely one we go to which has (some) rooms which can be twins (and presumably a double) with two proper beds - we had one last week and in May (at the same hotel) and it's so much nicer than the sofa bed option! :)💤

That's fine when they are paying for themselves!

Sometimes Dd has had her own room and sometimes not. She's 21y and still chooses to come away with us (as well as her own holidays with friends.)

She knows that we aren't going to spend a fortune e on two rooms every time. We will instead choose hotels with a decent sized room and two beds (we try to avoid a sofa bed) so we have some space and all have a decent bed.

For our 21y Dd she chooses the extra holiday to the separate room.

Stop gatekeeping

This has been asked before on Mumsnet and I've seen threads really go west with posters claiming the OP is dishonest, stealing, breaking fire regs etc!

The PI rule really annoys me. Our youngest still shares a hotel room with us, they are over 16 and look it. Generally we book Travel Lodges now instead as their rules allow this. But I'd much prefer PI as Travelodges are hit and miss.