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?

We don’t! We always go for an apartment with enough bedrooms and living space. I can’t be doing with no space to do my own thing and DS used to wake really early and knew he had to stay in his room until the rest of us were awake.

We used to do apartments for city breaks but I'm very aware that they could be family homes for locals so now we tend to do apart hotels and have had great experiences so far as they are more like studio flats in commercial buildings. I still refuse to cook though as it is holiday

OP, I've never understood the love for hotels over SC. Cooped up in bedrooms, no living areas for Dc to roam free in. Breakfast at set time. The worst (although the overall holiday was brilliant and the hotel itself was very nice) was Disneyland Paris where Dc were shattered after walking around the Park all day and DH and I were stuck, either in a dark room reading by torchlight or taking turns to wander around the hotel on our own. If we'd been SC we could have been in the living area, watching a film or playing cards and chatting

I went through a phase of using only Airbnb a few years ago and ended up going back almost exclusively to hotels. Reasons are:
-no stress about cleaning/bins/property damage
-More reasonable check out times (usually), and no bother about leaving/collecting keys
-if I'm somewhere new I like having reception there to ask advice about getting around, attractions etc. Of course you can figure it out yourself but it's much easier and more reassuring to have someone to ask
-Always easy to get a taxi, just ask reception to order one. This is handy in places where next to no English is spoken.
-generally much easier to iron out any issues such as maintenance/room availability

But the main thing is the first point, I just find check out day at a hotel so much less stressful than check out day at an Airbnb.

Hotels are great as you have meals made for you, room service, beds are made, gym on site etc. I’d much prefer a nice hotel suite to a villa.

I love a good hotel breakfast, and a pre dinner drink at the bar. Not having to do the washing up or make my own bed...

I choose not to book AirBNB apartments as a matter of principle due to their impact on the housing market but I'd consider purpose built holiday villas in the right location if I wanted a swimming pool or outdoor space.

The sort of thing that I think is really ideal with kids is the Landal style holiday parks you get in many countries where you have your own space but also have a water park etc too

Always done hotel holidays as making lunch is not my idea of a holiday. We always booked a 1 or 2 bed apartment or suite and always with a balcony or terrace.
This way you get your own bedroom, and you have space to do other things, yoga if you wish, or coffee or a glass of wine I'm the balcony in the evening or morning.
DH and I both love a lie in (and holiday sex) so later nights and later wake ups suited us nicely.
Hotels are great for kids, pools, games, other kids to play with, and I refuse to cook or clean on my holiday

I don’t want to prepare food on holiday, so hotels all the way for us.
Its not a holiday if we have to do shopping and cooking.

I prefer hotels partly because they have to pay taxes, employ local staff, adhere to fire and building safety codes, have food hygiene inspections and so on. They also don’t remove housing stock from locals.

I’ve had more disappointing airbnb stays than disappointing hotels.

Who wants to spend holiday time cooking and cleaning?

Plus why would you not want to eat at local restaurants? Most people see trying new foods as part of the holiday.

And anyway we all know Air bnb is terrible for local residents sucking dry the pool of housing so you know from a moral perspective it's pretty crappy to use them.

We are not big drinkers but love a bar or coffee lounge, pool, room service, buffet, resturant

I Stay in hotels so I don’t have to make my own bed, so I don’t have to shop for my own food or cook it, so I don’t have to clean up after myself.

A holiday to me is not having to do all the mundane every day things I have to do at home.

You can get out of your room and go for a coffee in the hotel. Most have lovely outdoor or indoor areas and gyms to use.

or better yet wake up the child and get on with the day.

Have you heard of restaurants? They are these places you can go and get food that other people cook for you.

They’re not as close and therefore as convenient as the hotel restaurant. And hotels offer room service if you don’t want to bother getting up and dressed.

For longer stays (retired now) say 3-4 weeks it's an apartment for sure. For a week or so it's always a hotel. Doesn't have to be 4 star, but it absolutely MUST have a balcony or terrace off the room and a small fridge. I enjoy hotel breakfasts, I like my room made up, I like making tea/coffee and a little snack with it, I like to have a cold drink from the fridge while sitting on my balcony/terrace watching the world go by.

Horses for courses, but with kids I'd say an apartment/house/villa is probably on balance more suitable. However AI hotels are great with kids especially those with hollow legs!

Because the joy of not having to think about meals, go to the supermarket, cook and clean up, and having the room tidied and cleaned every day while we are out so we don’t have to, far outweighs having to spend a little extra time in the room or on the balcony reading a book while DC sleep.

We have alwaya booked two rooms.

Literally never had this issue! Kids are usually awake by 7am! At latest 8am but surely by time you've showered and got dressed etc. They'll be awake and starving for breakfast etc.

This is what I don't get about hotel holidays. So you don't want to leave the hotel at all? You just want to be in the hotel the whole time?

Even when I have stayed in hotels (not for family holidays) I always want to go out somewhere else to eat.

Because we don’t have to shop, cook and clean. I find it easier to switch off and relax if I’m not thinking about meals and cleaning the kitchen etc.

I don't have kids - but I also wouldn't be itching to get up and go for a run or the gym at before 8am on holiday. Ever. I'm not a morning person and I have zero interest in doing morning yoga or whatever. If I had kids, I'd be delighted if they stayed up late at night and slept in late in the morning. Assuming they were too young to have their own room, I'd book a family room with a balcony so I could relax outside with a book and a coffee and plan our day while they were sleeping in the morning. I like to be out and doing stuff on holiday - especially a city break - but down time is also nice and a couple of hours in the morning relaxing and reading on a balcony is something I'd enjoy. Happy to sit out on a balcony at night with a glass of wine too, so if I had to put kids to bed early that would also be fine.

I think the only reason I'd be reluctant to book a hotel room if I had kids would be the impossibility of having a good shag with kids in the room.

Ultimately I think it depends on your kids and your preferences - and also on the type of holiday. A city break is usually quite different from a resort/beach holiday in terms of what you do all day. I think most people fit a lot more into their day on a city break than they do on a beach holiday, so maybe a hotel with kids works for a beach holiday when it doesn't necessarily work as well for a city break?

Different people like different things. There's no mystery here.

It never fails to amaze me how some posters just cannot imagine other people have needs/wants/situations from their own.

I prefer apartments/Airbnbs etc. but I can see the appeal of hotels - usually cheaper, don’t have to clean before you leave, might have a pool or spa, breakfast/meals included.

But I’m the type of person who likes to eat breakfast with bed hair and no one looking at me, I get up before my boyfriend and don’t want to creep around, and I like to come and go whenever. I don’t mind shopping and cooking but I think cleaning should be included in the price

I don't have kids and know what you mean as I'm an early riser and DH sleeps in. So I'll get up and go out and have a coffee or a walk. It's so much nicer when we stay somewhere with a balcony and I can sit with a view! DH grumbles about the extra cost and I remind him that I'm awake for a lot longer in the room than he is.

Other than that I like hotels ....