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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to us a baby monitor in a hotel

100 replies

frekkles · 02/02/2010 12:45

Sure that this has been done before.

Me and tother half and 9 month old son are staying in a small (15 bedroom) family run hotel for a weekend later in the month. They have a lovely restaurant. They are very child friendly, and they advertise themselves as offering baby monitors. They said on the phone that they could give us a room with a baby monitor so that we could have a meal in the restaurant at night. They said people did it all the time and it worked fine.

The wee boy goes to bed about 7 and always sleeps soundly till atleast midnight. We'd be downstairs (the room's on the first floor) a few hours tops with a monitor. I don't think I'd be comfortable doing this in a large hotel with loads of guests and staff, but this seems different.

What do you think?

OP posts:
ravenAK · 05/02/2010 21:15

I have done this & would again, no problem.

Like an earlier poster, we're rapidly approaching the point where we'd be handing the key card to the eldest & making sure he knows how to find the bar (he should be able to home in on it mind you, if he's any son of mine! ).

I wouldn't do it in a big hotel, or if we'd be more than a few minutes away, but I think it's fine in a small place.

catherinemummy · 06/02/2010 20:48

Can anyone say which hotels they have done this at? Just for those of us who would like to know where it's possible? (The baby monitors within range rather than the baby listening service). Cheers!

penguin73 · 06/02/2010 21:54

I would never do this in a hotel for the same reason I wont leave valuables in the room - you have no idea of who else has access to the room. Maybe slightly paranoid but hotel staff are not subject to security checks and nobody ever thinks it will happen to them.....

rainbowinthesky · 06/02/2010 21:58

I personally wouldnt do it but rationally I can see no reason why not.

DrNortherner · 06/02/2010 21:58

I work in the hotel industry....I would not leave my passport or laptop in a room unattended never mind my child.

rainbowinthesky · 06/02/2010 22:01

DrNortherner has now given me a rational reason! Nah, I wouldnt do it.

seeker · 06/02/2010 22:01

DON|T DO IT _ THE ALIENS WILL ABDUCT HIM!!!!!!

Seriously, of COURSE this is fine. Lots of people (not me, I hasten to add) have houses this big!

Pop up between courses if it makes you feel happier, but DON?T be sucked in by the what-if brigade.

Have a lovely time.

beeny · 06/02/2010 22:06

What do you know about hotel industry drnortherner

DrNortherner · 06/02/2010 22:12

You can not seriously compare a large private house to a hotel, that is ridiculous. A house is private. A hotel is a PUBLIC place. Locking your hotel room means nothing - many people have access to your room - maintenence men/porters/receptionists/Duty Manager's/housekeeping staff etc etc.

I now work for a head office of a hotel group and have worked in the industry since I was 17 and have come accross MANY situations of room break ins. Granted, never have I known a sleeping child being stolen, however, I did one work on reception in a hotel where a couple left their 2 year old asleep whilst they ate dinner and when returning to their room they had been burgled (inside job it seemed...) it sticks in my mind how horrified and hysterical the mother was that her child was alone in the room at the time......

lovechoc · 06/02/2010 22:12

Personally I wouldn't do it.

beeny · 06/02/2010 22:15

I see your point.Thanks for info

seeker · 06/02/2010 22:15

So you have worked in the hotel industry since you were 17 - which I assume is at least 10 years. In that time you have not known a baby to be snatched and you have known of one case of a room being burgled. It is bonkers scare mongering to suggest that on the strength of this people should not leave their sleeping baby in a room with a baby monitor.

lovechoc · 06/02/2010 22:19

there's nothing wrong with being a bit cynical though. I wouldn't leave personal belongings in a hotel room, let alone a baby. Call me paranoid

DrNortherner · 06/02/2010 22:24

God no, I've experienced room break ins o a weekly basis, sometimes more! Only once with a baby in the room.....

TheCrackFox · 06/02/2010 22:28

I worked in hotels for 15 yrs and sadly what DrNortherner said is true. I wouldn't leave anything valuable in a hotel room - including a baby.

seeker · 06/02/2010 23:23

People do this all the time. Nothing ever happens. It's fine. Do it.

mrsdisorganised · 06/02/2010 23:32

Personally I wouldn't and have never done it.

It is really what you feel comfortable with, the hotel doesn't sound that big and you're probably best waiting to see what the layout is like and maybe doing a practise run with one of you in the room!

pinkmagic1 · 06/02/2010 23:43

Personally, I wouldn't do this. Like someone else said a hotel is a public place and who knows who has access to the room.

Bettymum · 08/02/2010 10:19

I wouldn't leave valuables in a hotel room either. But then I wouldn't have a baby monitor sitting right next to my passport/money/jewellery. I totally see DrNorthener's point but I don't think it's quite the same thing.

abride · 08/02/2010 10:24

Again, I think it's worth pointing out that there are hotels and hotels. A small family hotel is a safer bet than a large anonymous chain. I wouldn't leave a sleeping baby in a Travelodge or the Hilton but I have left a sleeping baby in a small Tyrolean or Portuguese family-run hotel, with a monitor, and running up stairs to check regularly.

Usually the person on reception in the latter category is the husband or wife and they know whom the baby belongs to and where the family is and they know exactly who they're employing: often family. If anything isn't right, they come and find you.

mistletoekisses · 08/02/2010 10:31

Without reading all the posts, have never done this and really wouldnt. Irrespective of the size of the hotel.

If we stay in a hotel and want a nice meal - we build the cost in of a babysitter to be in the room. I wouldnt relax/ enjoy the meal with a baby monitor on the table and would be sending DH up every 15-20 mins to check aswell. So would really not be quality time for DH and I.

seeker · 08/02/2010 11:08

But you will, presumbably, drive to the hotel with the baby in the car. You might even take him in the swimming pool. If it's a seaside hotel, you might take him into the sea. If there's a friendly dog at the hotel, you might let him pat it. You might lie him on the bed while you change his nappy, or walk down stairs carrying him. You might even give him a bath.

Babies have been hurt doing all of these things. As far as I am aware, there is not a single recorded case of any harm coming to a sleeping baby while its parents were one flight downstairs having dinner with a baby monitor on the table!

jollyma · 08/02/2010 11:14

We did it once with ds1 in a small hotel with no problems. I'd only be worried if it was going to take ages to get along the corridors to him if he did wake up or you needed to check on him.

There have been other times that I've had the opportunity but chosen not to because I wasn't happy with the layout of the hotel.

Maybe wait and see what the hotel is like and make a decision on the day. Hotel's can usually arrange babysitting if you need it.

PuppyMonkey · 08/02/2010 11:14

I've done it with DD1 - using a telephone system baby monitor thing that the hotel had. Was ok, but I spent most of the meal fretting anyway so not the most enjoyable night I've ever had. Chip butty in the room would have been better.

wishingchair · 08/02/2010 11:16

It is NOT the same as doing it at home or in a holiday house where you know you are the only ones with access to that room. A hotel, no matter how small it is, is not a private residence. You have no idea how many people have access, or could get access to that room. And a baby monitor would not pick up the sound of someone quietly opening the door, taking your baby and sneaking out.

Yes it is highly unlikely, but the consequences are just so so high.

I personally, would not do it and never have done it.

I've also been in a much larger multi storey hotel where my BIL and SIL had put their children (about age 8ish) into their room (say on floor 15) and had gone back to the bar on floor 2. I had gone to bed so was on same floor as the kids but didn't know which room they were in. There was a fire alarm about an hour later. It was hideous - so disorienting. No idea where they all were. B/SIL couldn't get up to the children because the lifts all stopped working and the stairs were for people going down. And then trying to get everyone together when there were multiple exit points around the building. Terrifying for everyone - and all for what? A couple of extra beers?