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Original poster

Hotel - sneaking an extra child in

58 replies

Lovewhereilive · 17/04/2014 22:02

Impossible to find rooms for 5 but lots of rooms for 4 (grrr), so would you sneak an extra child in (5yr old) or cough up and pay for 2 rooms?

OP posts:

Creamycoolerwithcream · 19/04/2014 14:28

I have 3 dc and wouldn't do it. We book 2 interconnecting rooms or a suite.

DrankSangriaInThePark · 19/04/2014 14:31

There was a thread like this a month or so back.

Don't go blaming the firefighters when they only look for 2 kids and not 3 in the event of a fire then. You pays your money (or not) and takes your chances.

Creamycoolerwithcream · 19/04/2014 14:37

what happens at breakfast? Sorry DC3 you are not eating this morning because we only want to pay out the same as a family with 2 children.

mercibucket · 19/04/2014 14:41

some of you stay in more upmarket hotels than me
travelodge dont do interconnected doors or breakfasts (that you would want to eat!)

Hairylegs47 · 19/04/2014 14:46

Seemingly, once your child is 16, they need their own room too. I booked a room for myself and 2 teens just last week. One is 16, the other 17, the receptionist nearly had a melt down told me I should've booked 2 rooms as over 16's are too heavy for the single beds. Didn't realise. She 'let us off' this time, but next time we need 2 rooms.
Gets expensive I know.

yourlittlesecret · 19/04/2014 14:49

Would you steal something from the supermarket because, well, nobody would know and it's harmless?
Or is it just hotels?
Do you get the DC to lie about their ages when you go into a theme park as well, because, well, it's expensive isn't it?

Two rooms, one adult in each.
Otherwise it is fraud / theft. Not to mention the fire issues.

teenybash7 · 19/04/2014 15:34

I have a holiday cottage and get seriously cheesed off when people do this. If they ask I will be incredibly helpful but I don't like being conned!

Forago, I want to stay in a pish hotel!

Bunbaker · 19/04/2014 15:47

I am going to add my voice to the don't do it ones. You have three children so you pay for three. Yes it is more expensive, but that doesn't give you the right to be dishonest.

mercibucket · 19/04/2014 16:02

i think most of us would be fine paying for an extra bed if required (but a family room is the same price regardless of 2,3 or4 usually -pay per room not occupant)
for me it is paying for a room that wont be used. why would i want to put one adult plus one kid in a separate room? weird.
i am talking about the odd overnight stay in big chain hotels. they dont care either.

WhereDoAllTheCalculatorsGo · 19/04/2014 16:09

I still book my 17 year old in as my child in a family room. No way am I paying for him a separate room when we're in a Premier Inn or Travelodge just because he's now turned 17! I don't expect him to get a 'free child's breakfast' though.

Bunbaker · 19/04/2014 16:39

"i think most of us would be fine paying for an extra bed if required (but a family room is the same price regardless of 2,3 or4 usually -pay per room not occupant)"

But where do you draw the line? Can you fit 6 or 7 people in the room instead? I see this subject crop up on here frequently, so there is obviously a demand for family rooms that sleep 5. Surely there must be more places with rooms that sleep that many people?

"why would i want to put one adult plus one kid in a separate room? weird."

What is wrong with that? If the hotel doesn't want to contravene fire safety regulations or invalidate their insurance they have a right to insist that you can't sleep 5 people to a room.

yourlittlesecret · 19/04/2014 16:52

When we have stayed in a hotel without family rooms, I have had DC1 in room 1 and DH had DC2 in room 2. How else could you do it with small children?
The question of needing a bigger house, bigger car and more expensive holidays is seriously worth considering when you decide whether to have more than two children. Everything caters for families of 4.

Bunbaker · 19/04/2014 17:01

I agree yourlittlesecret. When you have more than two children you surely take these things into account.

Legologgo · 19/04/2014 17:02

Id fit a whole coach load in.

BlueJean · 20/04/2014 18:16

We 3 same age friends often go as a 'family' of 2 adults and 1 child.

Nobody told us an adult was too heavy for the single bed though. Maybe they mean heavier than 16 stone?

We have never had a problem and never been interrogated about the inhabitants of the room for fire regs.

As has been pointed out by pp there will often be 'guests' in some rooms and/or the original guests will have decamped to other rooms. Do you think that a fireperson will only look for x amount of people per room and once found will class the room as clear.

jasminemai · 20/04/2014 18:23

I wouldnt tell them especially if not travelodge. We had 6 adults in there and they dont care. You could have 500 in their rooms in most locations

specialsubject · 20/04/2014 18:46

interesting example to set children - fraud is ok if no-one sees.

good luck with that one later.

Creamycoolerwithcream · 20/04/2014 18:50

I wonder if the families with three DC but only paying for 2 claim child benefit for all 3 or say "hey no I will just claim for 2 so I can be like a 2DC family".

jasminemai · 20/04/2014 18:53

I did it growing up. My 25 year old brother still gets in the footie as an under 15. Hardly crime of the century

ravenAK · 20/04/2014 19:02

I've had 5 pissed adult goths in a Travelodge family room. You could see the receptionist raise an eyebrow as we all staggered in in our eyeliner & clumpy boots, then decide not to bother arguing...

(in our defence the extra person's roommate had run into an old flame at the gig & invited her back for a 'nightcap'...it wasn't planned!).

I'm quite happy to squidge my family of 5 into one family room in a big chain hotel. Lots of smaller places have adjoining rooms or a bunkbed annexe attached to a main room, & we do book these where available.

I really don't think the fire regs/insurance thing holds water when you consider how many ostensibly single occupants will have overnight guests, & we don't use any extra bedlinen or expect an extra breakfast!

mercibucket · 20/04/2014 19:07

some of you are sooooooooo uptight

Bunbaker · 20/04/2014 19:08

"I wonder if the families with three DC but only paying for 2 claim child benefit for all 3 or say "hey no I will just claim for 2 so I can be like a 2DC family"

"I really don't think the fire regs/insurance thing holds water when you consider how many ostensibly single occupants will have overnight guests, & we don't use any extra bedlinen or expect an extra breakfast!"

So if everyone else does it it is ok then?

jasminemai · 20/04/2014 19:11

I would do it as I am also partial to watch a copy dvd and we all know they fund terrorism and gun crime. Its hard being this much of an outlaw living such an adreneline fueled criminal lifestyle.

SoonToBeSix · 20/04/2014 19:16

Premier inn let you take five we have actually gone with six of us if you ring and ask travelodge have never let us but maybe we were just unlucky

ravenAK · 20/04/2014 19:19

Not because 'everyone else does it', Bunbaker, but because I don't believe that the hotel have to have, or can have, a definitive list of who is in which room.

we've paid for the room, we aren't increasing their overheads - I just don't see a convincing argument why we shouldn't have an extra small child in there.

It slightly decreases our comfort level, more so as the dc get older, so increasingly we look for hotels with adjoining rooms.

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