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?

Maybe the other children know how to behave.

I think hotels are hard work with kids that age. My kids are 8 and 5 and we only stay in a travelodge or premier inn. I wouldn't let them run around a lobby. Not sure why you think they should bend the rules for the swimming pool

I stay at 'cheapie' Premier Inns and would be pissed off if noisy kids ruined my stay.

Can we please not mix up ‘family friendly hotel’ with ‘a hotel that ignores children’s bad behaviour’. There’s a pool kids can go in at a very reasonable time - sounds family friendly to me

Small children letting off steam after a long car journey is inevitable, so the best thing is to plan for it. Stop at a playground before you reach your destination. Or one of you take them to the nearest outdoor space while the other does the check-in.

I think often when you see kids behaving badly in a restaurant (particularly when it's clearly a meet-up with friends/family), it's because they've just had a long car journey, and now they're being expected to sit still again. Plan in some exercise.

Says it all.

1. The people reading the newspapers were guests and therefore not a reflection of the hotel or its policies. That said I don’t think running around in the lobby is appropriate or safe.

2. I take it they had been up and playing for a while if you got a call at 7am? But either they’re ridiculously loud and you’re so used to it you’ve gone deaf to it. Or the hotel has shit soundproofing- a TV at regular volume or an enthusiastic shagging session is typically as loud as 2 kids playing normally. Possibly a combination of both.

3. Restrictions on kids in the pool is really common in spa hotels and is always the very first thing I check when booking that sort of hotel. Seems like a massive oversight on your part and asking them to bend the rules for you was unreasonable. Even if no one was in the pool someone could have arrived at any point expecting the advertised adults only time. Also, there’s a dedicated kids pool as well as the main one then it’s the no.1 sign that a hotel is not going to be particularly family friendly.

Sounds like you made a bad choice of hotel, shame you didn’t have a good break but chalk it up to experience and do more research next time. If you want recommendations the Four Season in Hampshire is hands down the best family break we’ve ever had!

Going against the grain I've stayed in lots of family friendly hotels & seen the odd dc running/mucking about in the lobby which isn't the end of the world. The hotels i've stayed in don't have people lounging in though, they are in a separate area. I've often heard crying baby walking through corridors but again babies cry. The walls must be incredibly thin to be heard next door.

Running around in the lobby is not acceptable. Other guests shouldn't be disturbed because someone can't control their children.

And yes completely normal to have adult only swim seasons but ime in a family friendly hotel
it's no more than an hour or two.

Op, I understand your frustration. Online is becoming more child unfriendly. If a hotel accepts children and their carers payments. Then it is reasonable for them to accept normal child noise. Excessive noise is not acceptable. I wasn't there to judge.

I have also seen this spill into rl. A woman on the bus asked my dc to be quiet, while a man was speaking on his phone much louder than they were. In a rude and loud tone. People see children as a soft target.

I'm a person who don't mind other people telling my dc to quite as long as it is done in a respectful manner.

Maybe those children had been taught to behave appropriately.

We stayed in many hotels with our young children, they were never allowed to run around in public areas or make early morning noise. Hotels often have adults only time in the pool in the morning so that people can swim rather than play.

Running around in the lobby is not acceptable. Other guests shouldn't be disturbed because someone can't control their children.

I thinks it's a bit odd to sit in a hotel lobby & not be disturbed by chat, people coming & going, suitcases etc it's a busy part of the hotel!

Children shouldn't be running around in hotel lobbys and they must have been making a significant amount of noise in the room to elicit a complaint.

The problem here isn't the hotel OP.

Keep your kids quiet or don't go at all.

These things are all fine. Children running around to ‘let of steam’ is not. That’s selfish and out of order

Someone's children were letting off steam in the baggage reclaim area at Manchester Airport the other week. That was fun for those of actually trying to get our suitcases.

My two are teens now, but they wouldn't have dreamt of running about in places where, usually people don't run about. But then, I've brought my kids up to be aware that we all share space.

What's the big deal about running in a hotel lobby?

Obviously assuming that they aren't running into other people. It's not a library

That doesn’t make a hotel family friendly, that just means other people booked that hotel and brought their kids.

There really are plenty of hotels specifically geared towards families with young kids. It doesn’t sound like you booked one of those.

I don’t think you can tar all hotels with the same brush of “not being family friendly” just because of this one experience. It sounds like there were adults there trying to enjoy their break and your kids were disturbing them.

Don't you remember being annoyed by kids before you had them? These guys are YOUR project - you can't expect the rest of the world to embrace them too.

Hotels aren’t selfish people friendly one would hope. If you stay at one then you need to be aware of other people around you not wanting to hear your noise.

uour children shouldn’t be allowed to run around in the lobby nor should they be allowed to be so noisy they disturb others at 7am. That’s on you

These things are all fine. Children running around to ‘let of steam’ is not. That’s selfish and out of order

We are all different, a child running around a lobby wouldn't disturb me and i don't see the problem if they are not getting in the way of staff.

Keep your kids quiet or don't go at all.

🙄

I don't think its unusual to hear noise from an adjacent hotel room or the corridor. However I would be annoyed by unnecessary noise before 7am, and I think many people would be, especially if I was on holiday rather than on a work trip.

I haven't been to many with kids, but there was nothing that would help to entertain the children. I visited Sweden recently and stayed in two budget hotels, which surprisingly had a great play area with climbing wall and other old has a few lovely toys under the stairs. I believe it's quite common to have such th

YABU.

If your children were running around 'letting off steam' in the reception area and playing loudly enough to wake other residents in their room at 7am, I would suggest that the problem is not that hotels aren't child-friendly, but that your children aren't hotel-friendly.

It's a hotel. You and your children are not the only guests. Staying in a hotel involves having some consideration for others. That includes not letting kids run riot in shared spaces and not making a noise at 7am. You are deluded if you think someone phoned reception to complain over a single squeal from your child - their noise was obviously carrying a lot more than you thought. If they really were 'playing quietly' then other guests wouldn't have heard them, would they?

Perfectly reasonable to have adults-only swimming first thing in the morning. It's an hour and a half out of the day when people can swim peacefully without distraction, and they even scheduled that hour and a half at a time which isn't typically popular for people with children.