Aging child down to get a hotel room together

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My kids are 10 and just 13. We want to be able to stay in one hotel room on holiday in Greece this year but everywhere I'm looking considers kids as kids only up to the age 11 or 12, and over that they are adults. They won't allow us to book into one room, even though it has two double beds (well, a double and a double sofa bed) if I put 3 adults and 1 child. This is only b&b so he won't be consuming excessive food, and we're booking flights separately as it's not a package holiday. I wouldn't mind paying more for him, but I'm finding that rooms suddenly aren't available at all if I put in his accurate age. Do you think it will matter if I put him in as 12?

I was looking to see if other people had done it successfully, or for stories of people trying to do it and actually failing. There have been lots of people reporting sucess, and none reporting failure. Lots of people who are putting their two pence worth in but with no actual experience of doing it. Happy to make my judgement based on those who have actually done it as my science training tells me to trust the data and not speculation, so I'm going to go with the lying route yes. If there had been even a single person who said they'd failed at this, then maybe I'd be having doubts but there hasn't been.

You can't afford to stay in a 5 star though or you would look into getting adjoining rooms and just go 5 star, also a few posters have mentioned that the hotel will look at passports at check in how do you expect to get round that?

We like having more room for us to relax when the kids are in bed. Previously in Greece we’ve stayed places like this, it was lovely… walking distance to restaurants and had its own private hot tub etc. some rooms had private pools instead. We’re like you in the sense like to move around and we island hopped on this occasion. I know you said you like luxury hotels but I feel like sometimes going out for dinners or getting takeaways and wine on your own balcony with a hot tub or pool feels more luxurious than most hotels imo so might be worth considering something like this for a few nights to try. https://www.booking.com/Share-EPlbPJs

Have you tried airbnb? There shouldn’t be any issue there. They’ll usually just have details of lead guest (and won’t bother about ages of guests etc., and likely also won’t have any in person contact with you throughout the stay).

What total bull. I'm complaining because the room type we want becomes not available when I up the age, I'm not really complaining about the price, though I do find it very annoying that the price doubles for the same room because a child (who is very much still a child) has aged one year. We want a two room suite, we don't need a massive capatious 2 bedroom suite with a lounge, two bathrooms and a hot tub or private pool which is often the next step up. A suite with a double bedroom and a second lounge that converts into a bedroom for the kids and a single bathroom is perfectly adequate for our needs. I can't see why anyone thinks kids need more space than this. Don't you sleep with your husbands in a double bed? How ludicrous!

Try on the BA website - I book via them and I’m sure I’ve always had the choice of smaller rooms - we’ve just gone for bigger rooms as our boys are older

We did it last year in a large 5* ( not Greece). Check in staff noticed upon checking passports and charged the extra. Both embarrassing and annoying- fortunately it was only a two night stay.

I have accidentally done the wrong ages plenty of times on booking.com usually when I go back to book after checking out and forget to change. The number of times mine have been down as twins which really irritates DD who is 3.5 years older but smaller (she is currently 7 inches shorter than him).

sometimes I haven’t noticed others I email via booking.com to explain that I got the ages wrong

thwt said how on earth do you get your 13 year old to sleep before you!

You don't want a 2 room suite (e.g 2 bedrooms) you want a 1 room suite with a sofa bed or 2 double beds. I can see why a hotel doesn't want a 13 year to share a bed with someone younger as they probably have rules around it.

Nobody said anything about not sleeping with their husbands in a double bed

The point is, they have an age limit for a reason. Have you thought about it from the hotels perspective?
It could be a health and safety concern, a condition of their insurance

It's never just because they feel like deciding that's the age 🤦🏻‍♀️

Not averse to this and we often stay in villas or flats, but there’s precious little with swimming pools in the Peloponnese and it’s too hot to stay in flats without a pool. It’s a bit of a weird area and some parts we want to visit like Olympia don’t really even have many towns so hotels are the only way to have a nice experience near the beach.

No I don’t. I want a 2 room suite. As opposed to a 2 bedroom suite. A 2 room
suite is a bedroom and a lounge that converts to a bedroom. A 2 bedroom suite is usually 2 double rooms, 2 bathrooms and a lounge. They’re huge. And often have hot tubs or private pools.

I can live with being charged extra if it comes down to it. He’s 12 now and I won’t be embarrassed as I’d be putting in his correct age at time of booking.

As others have said, you will have to show your passports. Over occupancy in a room affects the hotel's insurance policy, I believe, so they probably will care about it. Also, if your son has just turned 13 and you are not travelling until later on this year, there is a real possibility he will have a sudden growth spurt and look older.

Just email them. We contacted a hotel in Chicago and they were happy for 5 of us in a 4 person room as dd1 was 9 and dtds were 6 and all three regularly piled into a double bed. We asked if we could have one room on that basis, happy to pay a supplement as it was an extra person and they were super helpful.

We’ve always had quite strict bedtimes and they both sleep well. But I’m an insomniac so I’m always still awake at 2am.

I’m having a similarly tricky problem. Want an all inclusive for us plus our 14 and 10 year olds. Tell me why hotels all think that kids of the opposite sex and that age would want to share a bed. Utterly bizarre.

I’m considering two rooms which isn’t much price increase.

Not my experience but OK then. All the suites I have stayed in have had a seperate lounge area (some with a sofa bed or just a sofa), never needed to specify 2 rooms for this. If I'm booking a 2 room suite I'm expecting (and have received) 2 seperate bedrooms. Not sure if your understanding is affecting your search - and I'm not trying to be arsey :)

Do you switch ski resorts every few days?

They always take the passports in Greece and Turkey . And we book nice , 5 star hotels .
I really doubt they will accept this as all the hotels now count above 12 as adult . It does seem very unfair !
A friend of mine booked through an operator last year and the operator had messed up and said the daughter was 12 !
She was actually 13 and there was consternation at check in once passports were taken ! They were sent off to get the cash at an atm to pay the extra 1000 euro before being allowed to check in ! Not sure why they would not accept card .

Anyway , the operator paid in the end as it was they who had messed up . But this was last May at a top 5 star in Turkey! So I would not chance anything unless pre arranged.

Have you looked at the Costa Navarino hotels? That’s in the right area and allows 2 adults and 2 older children in the same room/suite.

Why is it so hard to just play by the rules?

I said up thread it is an issue I have found time and time again with booking.com. There is something wrong with the way they allocate children to rooms /pricing. Our friends have also had the same issue with their kids.

Example prices / room availability in photos - two adults, then two adults and a baby under 1. They count even a baby under 1 as an adult!

Just contact the hotel directly and ask what THEIR policy is.

I have just booked for two adults many many time, I've never had an issue if I contact the hotel in advance or even after booking through booking.com. Sometimes they even offer a better rate.

OP I'd just ring the hotel or email and explain the situation. At least then you know where you stand, it'll only take 5 mins.

It's a bit of a 50/50 to lie and hope they don't make a fuss and charge me £3k a night. I wouldn't risk it, maybe email or phone from an account/phone that isn't linked to your booking if you want to stay anonymous for this enquiry.

?? He will need a passport to fly, and the b &b place will look at your passport...