to think booking a hotel with a baby shouldn't be so hard?

[Thefrogwife]

Just a moan about website functionality, really?

Have a five month old, quite fancy a trip somewhere before maternity leave ends.

When I use any big booking site (Booking.com, Hotels.com etc), and put in 2 adults and 1 child (under age 1), I'll immediately be given three bed options, usually with a sofa bed as third option, at a much higher rate. One hotel advised the best option was two separate studios as if my five month old fancies a bit of extra privacy.

Lots of hotels state "no cots available" on one website, and the opposite on another.

I just want a room with a cot! I thought technology was supposed to be so advanced all our jobs are at risk. Why is this so hard?

Any tips for what I'm doing wrong would be appreciated! Is my best bet to contact hotels directly?

Book directly with the hotel, you we probably get a better rate as well.

Google family friendly hotels

Contact hotels directly.

At that age, I just double checked that the hotel didn't have a policy excluding kids and just booked a double room (not specifying my child) and brought along my own travel cot. Never had any issues with the hotels when I did this, as it's not like my DS was using an extra hotel bed at that age.

Very few hotels provide travel cots. It's usually only very large hotels or large chains. If you put in a third child in booking.com or similar when searching, even if you click to specify that the child is under 1, it just returns family rooms with an extra third bed (which an under one year old can't use).

Book hotel direct and take your own travel cot.

Hotel travel cots are generally dreadful, you're far better off taking your own.
Most hotels will allow a cot in a double room. Check the websites directly, not through an aggregator.

I also have usually just booked a room for 2 adults and brought a travel cot. Hotel cots are often quite gross.

if you can, try to get a room with a walk in cupboard. Great place to put a travel cot. You’ll have to call the hotels though to find out if they have rooms like that.

If you can take your own travel cot then I would do that(my experience of hotel ones is pretty poor) and I would just find a hotel you like the look of and contact them directly.
We are a family of 5 and even in big cities it’s hard to find hotels to accommodate us in one room which is annoying!

I just looked at booking.com for your type of search and it is when you go in to the select room that it says "1 free cot available on request" - I suspect it shows family rooms as they are the ones with the space for a cot - so rather than a sofa bed they would leave that as a sofa and put in a cot

I have travelled extensively with my toddler and have never found this to be a problem.

all of the main hotel booking sites have an option to filter for ‘travel cot’

In my experience, booking.com (and similar sites like hotels.com) are not that sophisticated. They just return massive family rooms if you add a child to your search, regardless of age.

You don't need a huge room for a travel cot, and I have never booked a straightforward double room that didn't have space for one. If the rooms are really unsuitable for this, then the hotel's own page or booking.com description will say "our rooms are not suitable for cots" or similar.

Bring your own travel cot, you'll get great use from it and my kids one used to double up as a play pen when I was busy cooking etc.

We recently found the same when booking a long trip with several hotel stops via booking.com, Expedia etc. As all of the hotels had free cancellation we just booked for two people and messaged each one after to ask if it was ok for the baby to stay too. None of them had any issues with it or wanted any extra money. We'll take a travel cot as like you we found that not many offer cots (and you never know what condition they'll be in).

Never had issues finding suitable accommodation. If in doubt enquire direct. The big chains will be accustomed to having child guests. We've found Novotel very family friendly.

The problem with modern hotel rooms is they're so small you can't always get a cot open into the floor space. We got hit with that at a Premier Inn after spending ages scrutinising the confusing options and thinking we'd booked the right room we had to change the room at reception! So it's best to book a family room and then request a cot. The room costs more as it's bigger. Almost nowhere charges PP anymore.

On booking.con they will ‘ suggest room most suited’ at the top first. You can just scroll down and pick your own room type

Travelodges and Premier Inns have family rooms for no extra charge. Use their travel cot but bring your own mattress only because the default ones are usually like cardboard.

I’ve never found any issue with supply or quality of travel cots!

Never use a booking company for hotels, it’s often a myth that you get better deals via them anyway.

Trivago is good for finding hotels and Dan get you a good deal but you will probably need to talk specifics about travel cots

We have just booked with Radisson. I signed up for their app, and got the room £300 lesd for the week with members discount. So sign up for hotel newsletters etc before booking. You don't always get discount, some companies give loyalty points off future bookings.

Argh yes, i was getting confused with this. I was looking at family holidays and they say discount for one as its for families. I put in two under two and i cant find anything come up but two seperate rooms 😂 i think when the time comes i will go to a travel agent to do it.

Phone the hotel.

This is why we use AirBnB or Vrbo these days. Can't think of anything worse than being cooped up in a tiny hotel room with a small child.