Why do people stay in hotels on family holidays?

[JambonetFromage]

We’re on a city break with DC so staying in a hotel which is not the norm for us.

DC sleeping after a late night last night. I’m currently stuck in the hotel room waiting for them to wake (I’ve already been out for a run and come back, DH has now gone to hotel gym). I’m itching to get out of the room!

If we weren’t in a villa, apartment, tent, or whatever I’d be sat outside with a coffee, making a picnic lunch, doing some yoga or something that’s not sitting on a bed next to snoozing kids.

Whatever way you cut it, children sleep longer than adults and until DC are older someone needs to stay in the room while they’re sleeping, which just seems to make hotels seem like a bad choice with kids. But loads of people always stay in hotels, so what is the appeal I am missing?

I can count on one hand how many times I’ve been “sitting around waiting for my child to wake up”, and he’s generally a very good sleeper!

We pick hotels because we like the convenience of not having to do any tidying, cleaning, cooking etc. We spend very little time in the room itself. For city breaks, they’re usually conveniently located for sightseeing and getting out, compared to villas or camping. For sunbathing holidays, they have all the amenities we need on site and we pick ones which are a short walk to a small town with extras. We have an only child so having people on hand to befriend is great. But even if we had more children, I’d hope they were the kind to enjoy meeting new people rather than just playing with their siblings all the time at a villa.

I strongly agree with @Ficklebricks - in the hotel you just bring what you need and then get up and leave. Bliss. And check out is at much more sensible hours.
I avoid staying at Airbnb if possible. Most of them have check out at 10 am with long list of requirements. It’s a nightmare.

Just wake up DC ? Or start getting things for today ready and they wake up themselves.

I want all meats served to me or it’s not a holiday 🤣🤣 snacks included

In uk we go for Airbnb or apartments
Overseas we look for apartment hotels so we aren't living on top of each other in one room but for pool days or evenings there are other kids around for the children or some entertainment/activities on.

Just get them up! It’s your holiday too!

I'd never stay in a hotel or other accommodation without a decent sized balcony or terrace because that's where we spend all our time when we're not out and about.

But I don't recognise what people are saying about other types of accommodation involving cooking, cleaning bathrooms or scrubbing the place down. We eat out, have easy food so might have to wash a few plates and glasses but that's it. Plus a bathroom doesn't need cleaning if you're only there for a week.

We love hotels. The kids wake up around the same time as us, that’s never been an issue. I’d wake them if I had to, anyway. We love a hotel breakfast, service and amenities. The idea of a villa is not a holiday to me; cooking and cleaning up, same as at home.

People are different.

we always do villa holidays abroad with kids - I prefer it 100%
Pool to ourselves, lounging about and no worries about other people or not getting a sun bed. Kids do what they want, which includes sometimes wandering indoors to sit in the aircon and watch Netflix on the TV. It's just far more relaxing for us. Kids head to bed and we sit out by the pool and have a few drinks listening to music, or cosy up inside and watch a film.

I know people say they wouldn't cook or clean on holiday, but really there is very little cleaning involved as we're always outside! Cooking is usually just a BBQ or often we go out to local restaurants to eat anyway so we don't tend to cook much.

We've done hotels with the kids, but we do try to avoid if possible if we're away for a holiday!

I agree, we don’t have the late morning issue as ours are very young but they do go to bed early so I find it really important to have some space in the evenings away from where they’re sleeping so we can enjoy drinks/snacks/just some adult chill out time!

I don’t understand people saying they don’t want to cook - we never cook but usually always stay somewhere close to local restaurants so we go out for dinner or sometimes get takeaway pizza etc but it means there’s loads of choice and we don’t have venture much further than you would in a large resort. 😅 In the morning one of us might run out to a local bakery and bring back fresh juice and coffee. We always hire a car and travel around the country staying at a few different villas/apartments and we’ve never had to clean other than the basic washing up of glasses you use etc. I know our way isn’t for everyone but a hotel with lots of people and small living space definitely wouldn’t work for us. When we have stayed in the occasional hotel I’ve found them so noisy at night when trying to get toddlers to sleep with doors constantly banging and people talking loudly through the walls.

Some hotels have outside gardens you can wander in or sit down, some even have quite extensive grounds for a walk. We used to always book a hotel with a pool when DC were small and if there's a pool there's probably a gym too. I like just walking down to the bar, then leisurely dinner and then back up to the room later and plan what we would do the next day. A real break from cooking and no wandering the streets at night looking for a restaurant or a pub for dinner. We would usually be out all day and come back ready for a relaxing evening, and then go down early for breakfast and then off to explore.

A villa where I have to make my own breakfast/other meals and clean up, so same old but in the sun? No thanks.

It's a combination of people like doing different things and logistics OP.

When DS was smaller and sleeping in our hotel I would have a coffee and sit on the balcony with a book or just enjoy the sun along with the peace and quiet!

They are kids clubs and different sport activities. Plus a waterpark as the kids get older we still do trips and venture out of our hotel. DS has even done horse riding as part of a kids club in Greece. I go all inclusive as I'm a single parent and do not want to spend 7-14 nights cooking and cleaning. I enjoy the break too!

I think part of the appeal of hotels is no catering or cleaning, as a lot of people here have said.
But I don't much like being confined to one hotel room, and DP and I don't even have kids! We both prefer having multiple spaces, some outside space, and the option to make coffee/toast/simple dinner if one of us does feel like cooking or we simply get tired of having to go out to eat every meal.

If we did have kids I think we might go for the happy medium of a serviced apartment/aparthotel. Having said that, DP is happy to clean at the end of our stay while I put my feet up on the terrace and leave him to it so maybe we'd still do self-catering even if we had kids.

My bathroom definitely needs cleaning after a week, and only I use it!

I will sleep as long as my DC sleep! I love my sleep, how lovely to be able to lounge in bed on holiday! And I don’t want to stay in a villa and spend my holiday food shopping, cooking and washing up. Buffet all the way.

I agree with you - I don't understand the appeal of hotels with young children.

Our kids wake up early - in a hotel, there's nothing for them to do at 6am and we're all up when they're up. In an apartment, one of us can take the kids downstairs and turn the telly on, feed them breakfast, the other can have a lie in

They go to bed early, we can stay up and have a a drink and a chat, no tip toeing around them to go to bed

We don't have to keep the kids on restaurant manners for every single meal - they can have a meal and watch a movie at the end of a hot tiring day

Being able to pack a bit more lightly and have access to a washing machine to do a wash half way through

Most of all, I just like having our own private space to relax and not always being around other people

Rarely you can find proper two bedroom suites in a hotel which I can see is the best of both worlds but it's surprisingly hard and often ferociously expensive

Many hotels will say it's a two bedroom suite but acutely one room is a sofabed and that's usually the room you would want to be in the evening so difficult to put the kids on it, and I refuse to spend thousands of pounds for a holiday and sleep on a sofa. Or there turns out not to be a proper door between the two spaces.

I am more than happy to cook a few light meals on holiday and much prefer that to dealing with the other disadvantages of a hotel. I also TBH much prefer to choose a nice restaurant that suits what I feel like eating than do AI

Oh and definitely no scrubbing required - have never stayed anywhere that asked for anything more than just the crockery clean and I am not so exhausted by everyday life that I can't stack a dishwasher

We tend to eat a big meal out once a day and then just have nice bread, cheese, cold meat, salad etc for the other

We stayed in a self catering studio in centre parcs. When DS was very small. It was fine we just had to be quiet when he went to sleep. We had long days of play with him. Then watched a film when he slept.

I do get what you mean though. DS is now 3 and other DS is 1. In a hotel if he woke up at 6am I am not sure what I would do with him! I prefer euro camps style holidays right now

Aren't villas more expensive?

Besides, like pp, we don't want to drive or cook on holiday. We rarely ended up all in one room though- usually bedroom+beds in communal area, because we tend to book in sc hotels. Having said that, even the AI ones had the same.

Our kids were always up before us. Not now they're teens though. Although now they want to stay up longer!

It’s not a holiday for me if it involves having to hear or look at other people. Lying on a sunbed with 100’s of others or sharing a pool is not my thing at all.

Each to their own though! I’m going to have to do some hideous package holidays in the future now I’m a single parent but it won’t be much of a holiday for me. I’d rather be somewhere on my own 🤣 but I’m sure DD will like it as she is much more sociable than me.

Hotels are great. It sounds like you haven't booked a suitable room?

We only go for apartment style rooms or interconnecting rooms, and always make sure we have a balcony or terrace. On my recent holiday I was reading a book and drinking my coffee on the balcony watching the world go by while DS napped inside. I wouldn't consider one single room with us all in together as there isn't enough space. Villas are lovely, but I prefer the atmosphere of a hotel over a villa.

I'm with you OP, although there are more and more aparthotels now which work well. We often book either that or an airbnb but more because we like to have a kitchen so we don't have to pay to eat out for every meal. Having more space is always a bonus too. We probably wouldn't have a whole villa though due to cost.

Some hotel rooms have a balcony/terrace. I would always choose one with outdoor space if I had to stay in a hotel. Usually go for an aparthotel. You have the space of an apartment and a balcony with hotel facilities.

I meant they sleep more hours overall than adults. Ours aren’t normally sleeping in but they didn’t get to sleep until nearly 11pm last night. But normally they’d want to be in bed earlier and we’d have the same issue of being trapped in the hotel room, only in the evening.

I used to think the same as you. You are obviously very active, I used to be like that too - up at 5 to run, busy constantly. My DCs are grown up now so I no longer have this issue.

Most people like a lie in on holiday and like to have everything done for them, hence hotel.