That an adults only resort should mean that!

[hotelheartbreak]

DH and I have been to Hell and back with IVF and have finally started to accept we won’t be able to have a baby. As part of that journey we decided to treat ourselves to an amazing holiday, to grieve and accept our new normal. We have been careful to plan to stay at adults only resorts and we’ve just checked into our first one, and there are kids everywhere! Apparently you need to be 18 to stay in the resort, but not to meet the minimum spend at the beach club pool bar and there are kids everywhere. Surely this defeats the point?

I’m confused. Where are these children sleeping, and if they aren’t staying in your hotel, why are they allowed to use the amenities?

YANBU at all OP. I’d also be annoyed about it being more crowded than it would have been if only residents were allowed in. Complain.

Very sorry to hear about your IVF too 😢

This happened to us years ago in Spain.
We booked an adults only hotel, but the place was full of European families with children. We couldn't get near the pool for kids.
Apparently the 'adults only' was only a thing in the UK brochures.
Usually it wouldn't have bothered me too much but l'd recently lost my dad and just wanted some peace and quiet.

the adults only restriction should apply to all visitors and residents! That isn’t acceptable Op. Have you spoken to the hotel about it?

OP says the children are at the 'beach club' - presumably people staying in other hotels can use the beach club (as long as they commit to a minimum spend).

It's clear profiteering from the hotel. Hook guests in and probably charge a premium for being 'adults only' but cash in on anyone and everyone roundabouts who might want to use the bar and pool.

I'd assume you have to pay a certain amount to use the resort during the day and all ages can do that, including families with children. But only adults can stay overnight

OP, I'm surprised reviews didn't highlight this

Sorry you have been through this OP, me too. But things will get better I promise.

I can recommend adult only cruises if that would appeal to you.

Do come over to the Mumsnetters without children forum.

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/childfree-mumsnetters

It says childfree Mumsnetters iin this link but it’s actually for anyone without children.

this Would really piss me off too, OP

That’d annoy me too!
Any reason you’ve gone in the school holidays though? You’ll find a lot less of the little blighters about next week!

OP, if I were you I'd take some landscape type pictures from an appropriate distance showing the general scene with children everywhere and use them to make a complaint. I'd be asking for a reduction on what you paid for this holiday, 20% off absolute minimum would be reasonable because your enjoyment has been significantly impaired - you've actually been caused distress.

Presumably the OP didn't think school holidays were relevant as it's supposed to be adults only!

Thank goodness it's not just me lol

I'd complain yeah. Someone advertised that to you as adult only, and it evidently isn't.

For the future, I'd also be meticulous about researching reviews because resorts pull stunts like this all the time. I don't mean claiming to be childfree specifically, but not mentioning things that might be inconvenient.

Teachers can only go away in school holidays - may or may not be applicable to the OP/her husband, but that's what I'd assume.

Quite. It's harder than you might think to dodge school holidays because schools overseas don't have the same weeks as the UK, and it can seem that you're only just past the summer holiday when 'half term' starts kicking in somewhere or other. Plus 'children' includes those who are pre-school age anyway!

I’ve seen adults only hotels with small print that says something along the lines of they reserve the right to take guests of any age depending on occupancy. I’m sorry this has happened to you. Who did you book with?

YANBU, that would really spoil my holiday. It sounds like you're staying at more than one hotel on this trip so I hope you're not at this one too long and the next one lives up to expectations. Sorry about your IVF challenges too, that's heartbreaking.

That’s so bad, OP! Absolutely shocking. Complain and if they don’t sort it, leave them a really bad review. People deserve to know they’re liars.

Which is fair enough, revenue for the resort etc. but they should restrict it to adult day guests.

I stayed at a very expensive spa once where for some reason a member of staff was living on the premises with three children, sort of little teens, they were given free run of the place and it was bloody annoying, even though ,to be fair, they were polite and well behaved.

If you booked with a travel agent in the UK, and they have advertised somewhere as adults only, is that not a matter of false advertising?

Sorry to hear that you have been unable to have children.

I’d be gutted too OP, definitely complain and document what’s happened. Can you ask to be moved to another hotel, if you booked through a tour operator?

Oh that would piss me off if it was advertised as adult only, it should mean that. Not having them in rooms but every where else is not child free at all.

Firstly, I’m really sorry that your IVF journey hasn’t worked out for you.

Totally agree about the “Adults Only” thing in hotels. We regularly go to one in Spain - they told us last year that due to “discrimination laws” in the EU, they can no longer advertise as “Adults Only” - they can only say that they do not cater for young children with their facilities. I’ve noticed when looking at holidays in Europe that there seems to be less places now advertising specifically in this category. Agree with what some others have said about complaining - either to your hotel or travel company. I hope the rest of your holiday is more peaceful.

That 'discrimination laws in the EU' excuse sounds like complete bollocks to me. It's true I haven't visited very recently but I very much doubt that, in Spain nowadays, bars, nightclubs, etc. are full of children!

Why should people without children avoid the school holidays? Some of us might want to go on holiday in August. You can hardly expect us to avoid late June (Scotland and kids post-GCSEs) to early September.