Hotels with baby listening

[janinlondon]

I wondered if anyone would be interested in starting a list of hotels with baby listening? Every time we plan to go away I start the search all over again, and often find that when we get there the advertised listening service is in fact a monitor which doesn't actually work in the restaurant - or similar. Anyone with any recommendations/horror stories to share? I was thinking UK but I don't suppose it need be limited. We are looking for Windsor and Bath in the next few weeks, so any specific experience of hotels in these places would be much appreciated!

[bossykate]

hi homebird, we've been to bedruthan steps (just down the road from sands!) and i can vouch for the fact that the baby listening service is conscientiously staffed. we've also been to woolley grange, and it is small enough for a baby monitor to work in the dining room (it was tucked away in my handbag - no doubt we amused our fellow guests and the staff by frequently listening to my handbag!). Although there is a listening service there, you could be absolutely sure nothing is amiss by listening yourself!

[bossykate]

and they have a "supper club" at bedruthan running for the kids at dinner time so adults can eat undisturbed. probably too near where you were before to be of interest though?

[tamum]

The only really child-and-parent-friendly hotel I've come across in Scotland is Polmaily House . The baby listening there consists of John, the owner who has four children of his own, listening in to all the rooms in turn all evening whilst at his PC, but it's a small hotel where you could easily use a monitor if your room is in the main house. It's very nice with lovely activities for the children (riding, snowman building- we were there in winter, I hasten to add), and good food. The other child-friendly hotels are Peebles Hydro and Crieff Hydro, but certainly at Crieff you have to go and listen at the phone in reception at intervals during your (not always very good)meal. I have felt happy to use baby listening at Woolley Grange because it's small and manageable, but wouldn't feel at all happy somewhere as big as Crieff. I think they have a supervised film and cocoa session for slightly older children while you eat, which is a great idea for that age.

[bossykate]

hi homebird, don't blame you! we didn't make it to dairyland or other attractions in the area - so i suppose that means no reason for us not to go back, yikes!

i keep reading about Peebles Hotel Hydro Scotland .

among other places, at babygoes2.com .

sorry, can't be very specific re north of england in terms of hotels, but friends of ours recently stayed in whitby (n. yorks?) and had a great time, so maybe that will help narrow your search.

good luck!

[JanZ]

Lindy and Thomcat - I'm with you two on the rleaxed front! While ds was still in his travel cot (and showing no inclination to climb out - up until about 2 and1/2) we were happy to leave him in the room and go to the bar/dining room. He's slept through from the start and never woke up crying.

However, now that he's in a bed and "free" I wouldn't be quite so comfortable leaving him. He now takes quite a while to go to sleep, plays with his toys etc - we just shut the door on him at home and go and see him periodically, switching the light off after a while (whether or not he's gone to sleep by that point!). Once he IS asleep though, that's it for the night.

I'm not sure now how we would GET him to sleep in a hotel bedroom. He needs to be left alone for a while (up to an hour!), before he goes to sleep.... and I don't fancy sitting in a hotel corridor for that time!

[madgirl]

can i please add myself to the relaxed mothers lot? also v interested in what JanZ said about the getting ds to sleep now he sleeps in a bed. I can't imagine my ds going to sleep in a hotel room with dh and me sitting next to him in darkness pretending not to be there, so that he can conveniently fall asleep in order that dh and I can (definitely!)avail ourselves of the baby listening service and go off and have dinner......

[RoseAnne]

Going back to original question, Janinlondon, I'd love to help out on making a list of hotels. Especially as there doesn't seem to be any published list, and like you say, you start from scratch every time.

We too are looking for a hotel in Manchester for Friday 17th October, with either baby-listening or baby-sitter.

Can anyone recommend a hotel?

[janinlondon]

RoseAnne - This link might help if you haven't already found something? Though I'd suggest checking with them by phone that they really DO have the facility before booking - often the ads are misleading.

[Gem13]

Just wanted to add a cautionary tale to this thread - sorry to alarm anyone but forewarned and all that...

We took DS to Cornwall last October when he was 11 weeks old for 4 days. As he'd been sleeping through for couple of weeks we were quite happy to use the baby listening service and have our dinner in the hotel.

The restaurant was a bit far from our room (the trouble with saying you have a baby, it is automatically assumed it will cry during the night so you are put miles from anyone!) and we went back to check on him to find that the radiators were on full blast and the room was baking. The radiators had apparently not been working properly so while we thought they were on and it was warm they were not on full. The hotel had been fixing them that afternoon/evening. They were reasonably apologetic but we were fuming as we'd left DS for a good couple of hours and being October had put him to bed in warm sleepwear.

Of course, he slept through - hence no alarm on the baby listening service - but it could have been worse if he'd got really hot and we'd been out of the room for longer. We had to turn all the radiators off and leave the windows open to cool the room down.

Don't forget to check the heating before you leave the room if you are away this winter especially if the cot ends up near a radiator.

[monkey]

you can get a device called bebetel whic is like a baby monitor, except if the baby cries it calls you on your mobile (or whichever phone num,ber you programme in) I think it's pricey, but you'd be able to use it in any hotel/popping next door to the neighbours. We took our baby monitor to a hotel, but we were on the 7th floor & the bar was too far away! (ended up taking it in turns running up to the room every 10 minutes or so!)

[Lois]

We fell for the old room temperature trap, when I didn't realise there were hidden (open) windows behind the side curtains of ds' adjoining room last winter in Scotland. I have a few new grey hairs from touching his icy hand the next morning.

[dot1]

We can definitely recommend the Old Park Hotel (they've got a website) on the Isle of Wight - baby listening service, early tea time meals for the kids and then 'grown up' meals from 7pm. We had a fab time and if we hadn't now moved to Manchester, would probably go quite regularly if we were still down south. Lots for children to do - indoor soft play area, swimming pool, and outside play stuff aswell.

But definitely the best thing was having our evening meal knowing ds was OK and someone was listening!