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?

I’m very much of the “family friendly spaces are families welcome, not for families” mindset but who in their goddamn right mind would go to Wacky Warehouse without kids? It’s like going to soft play!

Me too. Surely nobody is this stupid?

The pool is perfectly normal a large proportion of hotels make money out of gym and pool membership for locals - those hours are therefore kept for those who want to use the pool for swimming as it is before office hours. I suspect the two who were in there were not guests but gym members.

Other children doesn’t mean family friendly it just means that it is not an adult only hotel.

that said recently went to Disneyland Paris and my god the walls were thin. Was just me and my daughter in our room so we could be quieter and we were with a large group and knew the people next door but it was embarrassing to be able to here the entire argument between mother and daughter!

Premier Inn walls were much better

I think when you have children you need to develop a thick skin, some people are so impatient and hotels and public transport are where you'll find them! They don't think 'there is a frazzled mum who's been sat in a car for 4 hours and just needs to check in'. They think 'why can't they control their kids/mine were perfect'. It's why I go to caravan parks now!

You probably need to develop a slightly thicker skin as a parent. My own children are older but even I found them annoying at times and would feel exasperated by them. I imagine if you were on a childfree break you might chose to get up and move somewhere quieter. If you know your kids weren't out of control or misbehaving then I would just ignore that sort of thing.

This is why we book adult only hotels 😂

Dito

There are lots that don't or if they do they have one or two suites that might be booked for when you're going.

It cannot be news to you that most hotel rooms are doubles

@Allsweep - well yes, but you can’t book a double room if you have 4 people can you. The hotel amply won’t let you unless baby in cot. So generally people with 3 and 6 year olds are booking a suite to accommodate everyone.

1- They can run around outside, people don’t move for no reason. They could have just had surgery and been terrified of being knocked/made to jump even if not run into and caused them pain.

2- people don’t call reception for one excites squeal.

3- if I was an adult getting up early to use the pool with no kids I would have made more trouble for the hotel than you using it. Also your language that you would “try” and keep them in the shallow end makes you sound like you don’t give a shit and are entitled.

We got complained about so much recently. 2 y o dd is autistic and a bad sleeper plus we were in an unfamiliar place and she was screaming at night 😵‍💫 the hotel wanted to move us after 2 nights but she was just getting used to the too. So we couldn’t switch so they had to move the people both sides of us one of whom was very vocal about how we shouldn’t be taking ‘THAT sort of child!’ To hotels etc etc 😭

I think you’d be better booking different accommodation while they are little eg holiday caravan or air b & b.
Any running in lobby isn’t appropriate - if they need to let off steam one parent outside while other checks in. You don’t all need to be there.
One shriek at 7am was probably enough to wake them. It’s very early to be woken.
Pool hours would be advertised, I know it’s frustrating but they try and ensure everyone has time.

*the room

It’s unlikely the other guests made a noise complaint on the basis of one squeal

Exactly - the folk next door might well have said "Oh god I hope we've not got shriekers" to each other, but it would take an unusual personality to call the desk on the back of a single one-off noise

This is why Center Parcs and similar places exist. Some places are very obviously family friendly - ie Crieff Hydro in Scotland and others are just tolerant of families. Personally I would pick genuinely family friendly so I wasn't stressing about noise all the time.

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.

Have to say I agree with this. Look - whatever the rights or wrongs of it, you have to accept that you disturbed other people to the point that they felt moved to complain. That’s worth bearing in mind even if you decide they were unreasonable people, or too easily upset or whatever. It’s helpful to know that when thinking about things to do in future.

A reception area is not a place for anyone to be letting off steam. When in a hotel noise carries'whether frim an adult or child.i would think air bnb would be your best bet.

I’ve stayed in hotels with and without children (not my own, don’t have any!). Marriott, Premier Inn and Hilton are good so far for families.

There’s a good reason why relatives with children on the whole use air b n b now.

I wouldn’t be happy with kids running and shrieking in a lobby, kids in the pool during adult time or kids screaming at 7am and yes I would tell reception.

The attendant of the pool can’t ensure your kids will stay in the shallow end and also not shriek and splash so of course he didn’t let you in.

I have children, I avoid family friendly hotels because of people like you who let their kids run wild and wake up others and expect their kids to be allowed in an adult only swim. My kids don’t run around in hotel lobbies, or screech before 7am (a baby crying can’t always be helped). I don’t think it’s the hotel’s issue…

You're unaware of how much noise your children make.
I've just come back from a holiday where a family had two children around the same age as yours. The parents expected everyone to work around their children as the most important people in the room. Very noisy and disruptive to everyone else.

I wouldn't have let them run about in the lobby, and the swimming thing is what it is - I think businesspeople trying to get in laps before work plus children splashing in shallow end is a disaster waiting to happen. I'd have taken them to the nearest park, or to any garden that the hotel had. But the noise thing I see very differently. Hotels are often noisy. I used to stay away for work a lot and rarely got the peaceful night I was hoping for - mostly because of drunk adults late at night/early morning, which I found considerably more disruptive than a couple of kids squealing with laughter next door at 7am. It's the summer. Hotel guests can't expect that there won't be any children next door.

You'll do better research next time and have a better stay, OP

Honestly this. I definitely think it was much more than you think. I can't imagine one squeal and playing softly could be heard firstly and then enough to complain.

You sound like an absolute nightmare! You refused to move rooms so 2 other parties had to have even more disruption to their stay? Jesus talk about having no self awareness.

We mostly book Airbnbs as do most people we know with kids in this age range but in my experience, more hotels have family rooms than full on suites with totally separate rooms.

This kind of thing - https://www.thebelfry.com/stay/our-rooms/woodlands-family-room/

I think you need to choose a different type of accommodation in future.

You don't seem to have a lot of consideration for other guests.