How does it work with families in a single hotel room

[fatarse]

Hope you lovely lot can help me as I'm clueless.

We are a family of 4 myself DH and DD1 (6) and DD2 (4) and looking to book an AI holiday over summer for the first time - basically because we want to try a resort to so there are lots of activities and eating options to keep the girls busy and so I don't have to cook multiple meals every day as usual (DD2 has lots of allergies).

We have never had a hotel based holiday with the children until recently DD2's allergies have been such that it just wasn't possible to assume she could be catered for so we always just rented apartments or villas. With this type of holiday, I am (more than) a bit worried about us all being stuck in a room together the size of a shed and me and DH sitting in darkness whispering after 7.30pm when the girls are in bed. I actually can't see it working or how it could work but since I'm searching family holidays and looking at family rooms on all the main Tour operators sites, which seem to be basically rooms with two double beds or one double bed and a sofa bed all open plan is what is coming up for accommodation, so it must be the norm for most families? So I am wondering if anyone has done this kind of holiday and how it works and advice on tactics for coping!

thanks in advance.

We just go to bed really early or sit and read/watch stuff on iPads with the lights out.

I think most people just have the kids up late, but ours do NOT sleep in and then they are over tired horrors

Frankly, for us at least, it doesn't work. The only times we have ever done it is when arriving very late somwhere.

What we do is book connecting rooms. DH and I can then sit in the other room, have a glass of wine and watch TV or play scrabble because we are complete nerds while the DC sleep in the next room. Depending on the room layout I will either sleep in there with them or we will wedge the door open for the night.

It's more expensive, but it works well for us and makes us feel like it's more of a holiday. (And some hotels and chains will give you a deal on the second room when you do this)

It ssdible to find AI resorts with apartments, we stayed in one in Lazarote but I can't remember the name.
There was one bedroom and a lounge with a sofa bed as well as a balcony.
Maybe look for AI apart hotels on Google?

First Choice Holiday Villages or Thomson super Family resorts usually have aparthotels, so that the kids sleep on sofa beds in the living area and you can shut yourself away in the bedroom.
We used to let the kids stay up later and then all go to bed at the same time, and then let the kids have a nap in the afternoon heat to recover.

I second the holiday village type places. They tend to have a kids sleeping area and an adults one too

We just have the dc stay up until later on holiday, but they go to bed relatively late at home anyway (9pm ish when they were your dc's age) so it doesn't affect their routine much. They basically have the same bedtime as us and don't seem as sleepy as it's so light, and native families tend to stay up later so it feels normal to have them out. Definitely no creeping around in the dark with ipads!

When ours were little I always booked two bedroomed apartments. More expensive but the prospect of four in a room for more than one night would not constitute a holiday for me.
Even a so called family room will be cramped with four of you plus luggage. I would also avoid a one bedroomed apartment because that means DC (or us) sleeping on sofa beds.
This place in Menorca was lovely when DC were little.They have 2,3 and 4 bedroom aptments and some have little enclosed gardens.
Or here in Lanzarote we had a beautiful 2 bed apartment.

Appartment or suite. It is more expensive and often not easy to find over the internet but otherwise we wouldn't have a holiday.

Even suites can be difficult if there is no real door between living and sleeping area.

Because of all this we won't do it soon again. We only did it as we didn't want to go self catering in the Caribbean but everywhere in Europe we try to find a SC complex with pool etc.

Many a drink and board game on the balcony, or failing that in the corridor! Had many a holiday with extended family with dn and 5 adults playing board games on the floor of a corridor while various dcs eventually go to sleep. Self-catering apartments were often better as could put a cot and/or a bed made from sofa cushions into various corners and at least separate the children.

My conclusion is the first night is hellish no matter what, so may as well have them in same room as you if you're going to have to get up every half hour, and after that it's OK. Currently trying to train dcs (6 and 3) to share a room when necessary, by having 'sleepovers' in ds's room...

first night is hellish no matter what
Oh yes. One memorable holiday, DH were on the balcony trying to have a quiet drink and after the 27th appearance by over excited DC he said "that's enough, pack the suitcases!"

In later years we perfected a system of bribes rewards for going to bed nicely.

Also be aware of breakfast not being available until later than you might be used to with a 4 year old. We're taking DS away to a hotel for the first time this year, at age 5, as I had no intention of keeping him occupied for 2 hours every morning before breakfast because hotels cater for people getting up at more reasonable hours on holiday than 6am. If you have an early riser check there is a playground at the hotel.

Thanks for the replies. We are obv. very late booking so I guess that narrows our options massively. My eyes are glazed over with the amount of perfectly photographed beaches and pools I've looked at - they don't make it easy to find hotels that have interconnecting rooms, or 1 bed apartment type rooms. I was really hoping to get away from cooking all the time which always happens when we have a self catering aparthotel or villa :-( Will have a look into the suggestions. Thanks again.

Ditch the 7:30 bedtime. Most other kids will not be in bed till well after this.

My basic plan for holiday days is:

7:30/8am - everyone up dressed and down for breakfast
10am - kids in kids club for 2 hrs adults reading books by pool side
12:30 - lunch
1:30 - everyone at the pool for a couple of hours
3:30 - kids back to room for a bath then a nap of 1-2 hrs
7pm - dinner and entertainment
10pm - everyone us exhausted and falls into bed. On the odd night the adults stay up on the balcony/patio having a nightcap and a laugh.

Adult 'relations' reserved for times kids are in the kids club only .

Happy holidays!

Many hotels have little 'breakout areas' on the corridors so you can leave the room but still be in sight of the door, or rooms with balconies as a pp said. It's very hard to tell in advance and if you can't afford the second adjoining room you just have to get there and see what will work. We've only done this a few times but it usually works out somehow.

We've don it loads and it just isn't an issue - we get into the holiday mode, let them stay up a bit later then we go to the room and either go to bed ourselves or lie and read till they drop off and then watch tv etc. ours never slept late in the morning but were happy to chill in bed with a book or DS for a while.

We weren't that fussed about staying up till the early hours ourselves but 9/10ish was fine especially if you've had an early dinner and then chilled out ion the bar area for a bit with kids or gone to see the entertainment etc.

I've stayed in a few resorts that have the full range of "board" from self-catering up to AI, so all the accommodation is little apartments.

Definitely narrow your search to aparthotels, then you can at least get a one bedroom apartment with kitchenette. That's what we're doing this september in majorca with Thomson in a family resort. We wouldn't normally set foot in such a place (!) But with 1 and just 4 year old we need lots of (non pool based) entertainment and the option of catered accommodation.

Bizarrely we've found its cheaper to add full/half board when you're there, direct with the hotel, rather than in advance. The restaurant opens really early which is perfect for our early risers, and does early kids tea too.

Enjoy!

mine always went to bed really late on holidays. With the time difference and the excitement, he was able to stay up till 10. The first day , he was exhausted but he soon fell into the new routine so it was ok for the rest of the holiday

we have just returned from Lanzasur resort in Lanzarote. The accommodation was a bungalow with toilet, kitchen, one bedroom with a living room that had pull out beds for the DC (7&4), which we effectively changed into a 2nd bedroom, and a patio area where we sat and chatted/read/had a glass or two of wine when the DC were sleeping. It was perfect for us. There are laws in Lanzarote that buildings cannot be built over two floors high so many of the resorts we saw were apartment types

Look directly at hotels own websites for two bedroom family rooms / apartments or connecting rooms. It takes a bit of googling skills but they are out there. Often cheaper to book flight and hotel separately anyway. Definitely was when we went to a Barcelo hotel in Menorca last year, the amazing two bed apartment we booked through their own website was not an option with any of the package holidays we were looking at. It is usually cheaper to upgrade to full board/AI directly at the hotel aswell, have done that a few times on arrival on previous package holidays where we only had self catering or HB options.