To think hotels are very child unfriendly

[Ontheclifftop]

We've just come back from a weekend away in a hotel with dd aged 5 and ds aged 3. Three incidents really made me realise how unwelcoming hotels are to young families:

1. When we were checking in after a long drive the kids were letting off a bit of steam. I know how that sounds, but they were just running around a bit, not getting in anyone's way or anything. Two people who were sitting on couches reading newspapers got up and left, one sighing heavily and one giving us a dirty look.
2. At about 7ish the following morning we got a call from reception to say the people in the next room were complaining about the noise. Again I know how that sounds, but dd and ds were playing quietly with some teddies. DS let out one squeal of excited laughing but other than that they were perfectly fine.
3. Following that call I said I'd take them down to the swimming pool as I knew it opened early. When I got down the attendant said it was adult only between 7.30 and 9.00. I explained about the phone call and pointed out there were only 2 people in the pool and I'd do my best to ensure we'd stay down at the shallow end and not get in their way. But he refused to let us in.

The whole thing really pissed me off. What are you supposed to do with young children in a hotel? If they play quietly in the room someone complains. If you try to use the facilities to keep them occupied, you're told you can't.

AIBU to feel hotels are just totally unwelcoming to young families nowadays?

Sounds very similar to me when I take DS out. We always try for a table where he can bounce without being in anyone’s way, if we can’t I will take him out for as long as he needs and then we will come back in.

i think most parents of children with additional needs get used to planning for everything so it becomes second nature. You’re always trying to get the right balance so everyone can enjoy themselves. (Maybe even sometimes the parents!)

If after 8am or so I do let mine run up and down the hotel corridors, but mine only giggle they never scream, and so they make less corridor noise than most adults.

Crikey, I hope I'm never in the same hotel as your family @Typz This is really unreasonable & irresponsible.

If after 8am or so I do let mine run up and down the hotel corridors, but mine only giggle they never scream, and so they make less corridor noise than most adults

Christ Almighty. WHO in their right mind thinks this is ok.

Child unfriendly or just not tolerant of children that can't behave?

If after 8am or so I do let mine run up and down the hotel corridors, but mine only giggle they never scream, and so they make less corridor noise than most adults.

Jesus wept.

Even if children have Sen parents know what they will and won't tolerate, they still need to be brought up with rules ect so they can function when their parents are no longer around.

I missed that gem

It does explain why so many adults seem to not know how to behave when in hotels if they are raised to believe it’s fine to run up and down corridors!

Well from what you've said ld agree the hotel wasn't really geared up for families with young children.....which is why most people wouldn't choose to stay at such a place if they had kids.
That's a bit like saying the pub isn't geared up for kids or the soft play isn't geared up for adults! There are places to stay that are suitable for children. Choose one of those or control your kids.

Was it? Maybe it was friendly to anyone who wasn't a nuisance

With kids you're better off booking an air b&b.

I am a mother myself and I would not allow my children to “let of steam” in a hotel reception I have stayed in hotels with my children and never received a noise complaint.
I recently stayed in a hotel in the U.K. i went down for breakfast and it was busy and there was several children who were running riot and the staff were trying to calm them down and get them sat down with their parents as a lot of people were leaving including myself as I was not prepared to tolerate other peoples children when I wouldn’t tolerate it from my own.
Maybe I’m getting old but it seems parents these days seem to think that their Children are the Center of the universe and how dare other people expect them to follow rules and be told NO.

I say this as a parent of 2 young children, it is not ok to let your children run around the reception area of a hotel, it is not ok to allow your child to be squealing at 7am in a morning whilst staying in a hotel room and I’m sure they weren’t being as quiet as you say they were if someone has complained. The hotel has rules regarding the swimming hours, they are not going to change them just for you because your children are up earlier.

One of you wait in the car with the kids whilst the other checks in if you can’t control your children in the reception area. If you can’t keep your children quiet at an unreasonable time in the hotel room then go on Google maps and find a nearby park and take them there.

This is very true!

So has the OP flounced then?

Other adults don’t want to check into fancy/luxury hotels only to be inconvenienced by someone’s kids. Hence the pool rules and filthy looks in reception.

Same here.

Fully bet the parents are sleeping soundly whilst their kids wake the floor up!

It does explain why so many adults seem to not know how to behave when in hotels if they are raised to believe it’s fine to run up and down corridors!
Too true.

It also explains why some adults are stuck with their volume switch on loud and in turn have loud families. Someone along the way missed the memo about appropriate volumes for different situations.

Family friendly is when hotels offer sleeping arrangements that benefit families, ie cots in rooms etc, offer childrens meals, maybe have a bit of childrens entertainment. But these days, when parents say ‘family friendly’, they often mean that the hotel should allow lots of running around, shrieking shouting, crawling round the floor between tables ‘playing’, their needs more important than adults staying there. YABVU op.

The UK isn't child friendly, let alone just the hotels

Gonna take a wild guess that their spirited children were not squealing and running around the reception, squealing in rooms or entitled to the point that they want to ruin a swimmer’s exercise slot.

do the world a favour and stay home in future

Being brutally honest, I’ve just come to the end of 18 years of taking my own children on holiday, I don’t want to spent time listening to other people’s children squawking and fussing.

I’m polite, but I do now ask to be seated away from families with young children in restaurants if possible (not ones like Pizza Hut, ones which aren’t deliberately family orientated) . I will ask not to be put in a room next to the kids’ football club on tour. I had both of these situations whilst away last week!

Probably I sound like a grumpy cow, but if I’m paying £120 for a hotel room for the night I want to enjoy it. I worked bloody hard for that holiday!

If I was swimming and it was advertised as no children allowed at that time and then children came in I would complain- whether they are kept in the shallow end or not!

UK hotels are fine when children behave.

As other posters have said, some parents today think that everyone else should put up with their kids with a smile on their faces. I would never expect others to put up with mine being a nuisance.

Most people book a hotel for a quiet break (especially if they're getting a break from their own kids). Having it ruined by children running riot is no fun.

Exactly this. I would never let my children behave like this in an adult environment. Just because we’ve decided to reproduce, why does that make you feel entitled enough to ruin someone else’s break they have paid good money for because you haven’t taught your children when and how it is appropriate to ‘let off steam’. If you didn’t bring enough activities to cater to their needs and occupy them it isn’t the facilities/rules of the hotel that are the problem. I’d have left the lobby and complained if I was in the next room/pool too. Opt for ‘family friendly’ or self-catered and you won’t experience these issues because you’ll be the type of family that fit their target market. You likely also won’t be as stressed, as much like the other guests I bet you didn’t particularly enjoy your stay either.