Aging child down to get a hotel room together

[Thematic]

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?

BOOK DIRECTLY WITH THE HOTEL

Thats it. Stop using third party booking sites.

Ah I have seen you don't mind paying extra IF caught out so that's fine then, I just would not want that stress at the start of my holiday and my kids would be embarrassed!

I do it in the UK but wouldn’t try it abroad.

I agree with this. Sometimes the 3rd party booking sites don’t give you the same options as booking directly.

Why not? One parent can stay in a room with the 13 year old, the other with other kids.
Do you think it's acceptable to try and break rules/laws?

Omg, so you are happy to pay for a "5 *" place yet want to scrimp on paying your fair share coupled with wanting to scam the hotels you want to stay in.
Wow

I’d rethink your itinerary. It doesn’t sound like you’re going to get what you want from this holiday - ancient sights and 5 star resorts.

There’s no point in saying we’re going to this place and that place and then getting annoyed because the type of accommodation you want doesn’t exist in that location.

Start with the hotels as that’s your primary consideration then work your itinerary around that.

You might not be embarrassed by doing something that you are admitting right here is cheating. But your children will be wanting the ground to open up and swallow them as their DM tries to pretend at check-in that she thought it was possible to magically stop the clock on an age limit by booking in advance. Hold on while I book my new-born grandson's place on a trip to the US for 2045 at the baby rate.

And let's say you get away with it - what happens next year? "Oh well, 14 is only one year older than 13, and DC's appetite hasn't gone up all that much, so we'll try it again".

We all have to deal with rules that contain arbitrary limits. That's part of the price of living in a civilised society. There is a two letter abbreviation for what you're trying to do here and it's Charlie Foxtrot.

Another poster who only wants an echo chamber

I thought you couldn’t book the room if you stated one was 13. Not that you could book the room but the price of that same room doubled. Are you sure?

Another wind up thread…🤷‍♀️

Given most of the time I put down my child as my birthday + current year, I doubt the hotel staff could work out he's 13 from the date of birth.

I’m not sure why the appetite is relevant. You don’t eat the room. Just sleep in it.
but I do agree the OP needs to accept the rules. They aren’t optional. Dc up to a certain age is the rule. Do it or choose elsewhere.

But you can't have what you would ideally like, you have already booked the flights so you can't be flexible about where you're going. So something else is going to have to give.

i'm terrible for wanting to find exactly the thing I want, but eventually sometimes you just have to accept that it doesn't exist and decide which compromise you can best live with.

You are all getting older, you and DH and the children, you might find having long days out enjoying yourselves. You're more ready for bed at the same time than you have been in the past.

Things like taking one extra wash bag, so there's one for each room really isn't a big deal.

I hope you can find something that makes you very happy and you have a wonderful holiday.

I’m not sure why the appetite is relevant.

OP mentioned "This is only b&b so he won't be consuming excessive food" as part of her logic why the rules shouldn't apply to her. But on reflection this is probably not the strongest part of my argument. 🙏

I just checked the thread title. "Aging child down". That's one way to say "Lying about their age", I suppose. I might try it on my next tax return. "Sorry HMRC, I was just moneying myself down. These thresholds are obviously just arbitrary numbers, so it can't hurt if I bend them a bit".

A bedroom and a lounge room is not a 2 room suite. It’s a suite. That’s what a suite is. A suite is by definition at least 2 rooms.

Say he sleep walks and needs to stay with you.

No offence to sleepwalkers or anyone anywhere.

And make their children share a soda bed!

I’d book directly with the hotel rather than booking.com or Expedia you may find that you can get what you want. You’ll probably lose the easy cancellation option though.

Wouldn’t an apartment be easier so you’re all in same room with a separate bedroom or two?

It is being inflexible though, but in a not wanting to compromise yet not wanted to pay the price to properly have what you want kind of way.

We are moving around lots on our next holiday, high end hotels and many have 1 child per room rule regardless of age so in several we have separate rooms, we have had this before several times too and whilst not the perfect situation it's also not that bad either. Our dc are much younger, they go in together until we want to go to sleep then we switch a child so 1 adult 1 child per room.

But they’ll want to see all passports when you arrive to stay.

I would also contact the hotel directly and check the terms and conditions on their website to see if they match those on booking.com.

‘Science training’ 😂

Then I don't see why you want to share your bedroom with your teenage son?