Would we get away with this at the hotel?

[HOTD7383]

We are going to Lapland UK in November, it’s 1-2 hours away and we’ve got a really early entry time so we are staying near there the night before - the Legoland hotel as it’s got more child friendly facilities (soft play, a pool, crazy golf, a sensory area) and my DD (8) struggles with a normal hotel with nothing to do.

DD has autism and needs a lot of help and support therefore there is 3 of us adults going as her carers. The family rooms have 4 beds in them, therefore enough sleeping space for everyone, however the rule limits it to 2 adults only per room (despite allowing 3 children per room so it’s not for lack of space). This would mean booking 2 rooms at nearly £150 each, and £300 just for one night is extortionate (all nearby hotels are similar priced due to taking advantage of people staying there for the same purpose as us).

Would we get away with just 2 adults checking in and then us letting the 3rd adult into the room a little while later? Surely people are walking in and out of the hotel and their rooms all of the time and they don’t check where every single one of them are going if they’ve already got their hotel card etc?

I think a lot of that comes from a position of being dim.

It's easy for them work out that if you steal something physical there is a loss, but their thinking ability doesn't extend to working out that there's a loss incurred in this example.

One of them will probably reply to this demanding I explain what the loss is. 😂

How is it deception?

OP has booked a room that sleeps four people and is using it to sleep four people.

The hotel isn’t missing out on anything. They’re charging the same amount of money for the room regardless of how many people stay in it.

I wouldn't have given it a second thought personally. You've paid for 4 people, so I wouldn't give a fig whether that was 3 adults and a kid, or 2 adults and 2 kids.
The hotel won't even notice, and if you're only there for one night, housekeeping won't even have a chance to notice.

Hotels are full of people wandering in and out. They won't have a clue who is in each room.

The whole "what about a fire?" is nonsense. In your entire life, how many stories of entire hotels burning down in this country can you remember? I think I can remember ONE. The likelihood of a) a fire and b) them needing to rescue you is infinitesimally small. You're much more likely to die on the drive there, than you are burn to death in a hotel fire.

Some hotels don’t charge for young children but charge per adult. So if you are putting 3 adults in a family room but only putting 2 adults on the booking form that would be deception

But I'm agreeing it should carry a custodial sentence and IOP and all the occupants (adults), should have a criminal record.

Honestly, it's the start of money laundering or bank heists!

@CantFindTheBeat what's the loss, I'm so dim I cannot work it out.

Please help.

@Noyesnoyes if children go free and you are pretending that one adult is a child, can you work out the loss? If you pay per adult not per room and you have 2 people staying but only pay for one adult can you work out the loss?

Well, that's on the hotel for not charging appropriately for their rooms then.

I’m sure many single adults/parents quite like a room charge per person rather than per room

No I'm just to dim, what's the loss?

Can you try and e plain it again?

They wouldn't be booking a room for four though, would they? 🤔

If there are 3 adult guests that should be 2 rooms sold, as per the hotel's rules on room occupancy.

If the the 3 adults scam them by only booking 1 room, they don't get paid for the second room.

Assuming the hotel doesn't run at full occupancy - and realistically none do - they are losing the revenue of 1 room for each day of the stay.

@CagneyAndLazy no still doesn't make sense..... I'm really that dim!!

If a room sleeps four people, why does it matter whether those people are eight, eighteen or eighty, though? It doesn't, really.

If the hotel don't want to miss out financially, they should change their pricing structure to charging per occupant, regardless of age.

@CagneyAndLazy and @CantFindTheBeat did you know they've taken the word gullible out of the dictionary?

Probably unpopular but we do this every year when we go to Alton towers, we take my little brother who is 17 with me, my husband and 2 kids…

"Faints"

No different to charges for seats on flights or trains etc. Children take up the same space as adults but there is a concession for children.

So why not buy a child ticket for adults travelling by train?

If 3 adults are staying at this hotel, the hotel expects to get the revenue for 2 rooms, not 1 room. It's not complicated.

Just to add, if I was running the hotel in OP's case I'd bend over backwards to help make it as comfortable as possible for her and her family if they're needing to have 3 adults in 1 room due to her DD's disability.

People just blatantly scamming the hotel out of a night's room revenue is a different matter.

Have you booked breakfast? They might query why it’s three adults for your room number rather than two.

We has a similar issue a few years ago as there were 3 adults ( me and 2 adult daughters) and 1 child. We booked 2 adults 2 children and told my younger daughter (20 at the time) to say she was 14 if asked - we weren't.

I suspect many people would buy themselves a child ticket if they thought they could get away with it, tbh.

And lots of parents do lie about their childrens' ages to get discounts at attractions, or soft play, or the bus etc. I don't see this as being any different to that.

If the hotel/train company/attraction are that bothered, they're free to change their pricing structure.

OP, there are many things in life that I get myself worked up about and this is not one of them. Hope you and your family have a great time.

@fieldsofbutterflies but why do people feel that is acceptable but they wouldn’t steal from the gift shop in either hotel/attraction?

Because stealing from a gift shop is taking something tangible.

Booking a room for four and using it to sleep four people is not even remotely comparable, and tbh if the hotels were that bothered, they would make sure every occupant had ID with them on booking. But they don't.