To not want to pay £9.50 to take baby on hols

[tegan]

I booked a sun holiday when ds was 6 wks old (12 wks now) when booking i could only book for adults and children not infants so he wasn't included. I have now received my confirmation and rang the holiday park to ask if i could hire a cot as i will have a baby, after being to i could upfrade for £75 (not gonna happen) they have asked that i pay £9.50 to take ds and that i will have to pay for extra passes for him when i arrive.

Surely this is taking the piss, ds will be nearly 5 months old when we go, so we won't be doing the entertainment anyway and surely paying £9.50 to take him with us is rediculous.

I feel much better now i have had a rant !!

Well, I can understand that if you're on a tight budget and have managed to get the money together according to certain information, then it must be very frustrating to find out that there are additional costs.

The extra £9.50 is fair enough.

The passes are unfair.

I don't understand why you think you shouldn't have to pay for him. Do you think your children should be able to go free?

We went on a Cunard ship with my nieces who were 4 and about 20 months. The deal we got meant that children went free (usually pay full fare FFS!) but we were still charged $11 per day each for tips etc. I thought that was a cheek but, ok they didn't stuff their faces in the restaurants or go to the talks or the theatre etc, but they went to the children's club, slept in the room, used the water etc.

£9.50 seems very very reasonable to me.

it is not an extra, you are paying for him to go

can you explain why you feel he should go free?

I think that £9.50 is very reasonable-why did you think he would be free?

I'm going on a flight in April which is costing £25 for me (incl. taxes) and £30 for my 9 month old baby who will be sat on my lap! Go figure that

I don't know about parkdean, but haven charge £15 for a cot, non refundable - you are not paying a deposit, you are paying to hire the item - so £9.50 seems reasonable.
I know you say he won't be using the facilities - but if they allowed this argument holiay companies would find people quibbling over all sorts of things - ie I want to book the caravan, but I won't be using the swimming pool, so I want a discount - they have to establish a pricing structure, aftr all they are a business! I think less than a tenner is pretty good value, and I am pretty stingy!!

at haven you can bring your own bedlinen to avoid the linen charge. and you only have to have the passes if you want to use the onsite pool/restaurants. I do sympathise about being frustrated if you are strapped for cash then end up finding out there are hidden costs.

you do have to pay the £9.50 regardless of age but you shouldn't have to pay for a pass under the age of 5. I've booked with Park Resprts through the Sun and you're able to take your own linen so can take the charge off, and you don't have to pay for passes. The service charge is mandatory but payable per night not per person. Can't you take your own cot?

If you didn't include him in the original booking, but have added him later, I don't see why you're surprised that there's an additional charge

I think cot hire for Haven is £10, the same for highchairs. Luckily we have a travel cot, so won't need to hire one. I wouls say that most places do charge for hire of cots, highchairs, bed rails even microwaves (which i'll be enquiring about for our Sun hol, although they charge £20 a week for that). I think we can maybe go the weekend without a microwave maybe.

oh for goodness sake, it is just £9.50.

and it will include the hire of the cot in that.

I have done many of these holidays, many with at least one of mine under 6mths. they are cheap and fun, and you are pissing about for the sake of £9.50.

The Sun offer is £9.50 per person and from what I remember of the form you have to put each persons name and age down, so can't see how you couldn't put infants down? The accommodation allocated to you may not be big enough for a cot, hence them saying it would be £75 to upgrade. The £9.50 would just be what should have been paid in the first place, iykwim.

oh, and maybe he won;t be using the evening facilities (ie bar etc), but you will surely be taking him swimming (so use of the pool), and into the entertainment complex (so taking up room in the pushchair).

it all needs accounting for, and £9.50 is not much to pay for that privalage!

It's only £9.50.
I took DD a few years ago and had to pay for 4 people even though there were only two of us.
Yes, it's annoying but it was still a cheap holiday.
I don't think you have to buy passes and the service charge is per night, not per person, although the linen hire is per person you can save that and take your own.

BexieID, I have a small microwave that I brought in Asda for £19.99 that I take on every holiday with me - I've even snuck it into the Holiday Inn.

My friend was pregnant and booed a sun holiday realising it was possible the baby might arrive just before the holiday they paid £9.50 for a baby that wasnt yet born - he was born a week before they went tho.

And mine. I don't own a microwave!
(although I have considered buying one to make the cake on here)

We went for a last minute weekend away with Park last year.As you walked into the entertainments complex they only wanted to see one entertainment pass.

OP - YABU
no fun to be stung with an unexpected charge
but unreasonable to expect free holidays

[boggles at wtf you could need a microwave for in a Holiday Inn]

I'm sure we can manage without a microwave for the weekend. It's just easier to heat some milk up for Toms breakfast. It would be cheaper to get a cheap one in Asda on the way though. The problem with caravans is you need to make sure you don't get a too high a watt one (I know someone who has their own static one and bought too high a watt microwave).