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 love hotels- I am in the zero catering on holiday Camp. We book a 2 room suite or interconnecting rooms. All in the one room is no good so I agree with you there OP.

I have had awful experiences with air bnb and wouldn’t book them again on that basis.

I don’t like the way small tourist areas are being taken over by air bnbs. I wouldn’t want to be contributing to the problems and issues. at all. Ethically I wouldn’t agree to it.

It is causing so much local anger in certain countries, and pricing people out of the housing market. Hotels offer locals jobs, livelihoods and are not ruining the housing stocks of said places. I believe some governments are moving towards restrictions in France and Spain etc .

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c3wdd8lg581o.amp

I’ve stayed in over 30 airbnbs and not had a single issue so far, touch wood.

Totally good points about the impact Airbnb is having in some places - I try to avoid staying anywhere that feels like it is contributing to the problem but I’ve not got a perfect record admittedly.

This is kind of a given, isn't it? for a group, for the same location and quality of accommodation, an airbnb is going to be cheaper than a hotel.

What I don’t understand is, even with a weekly cleaning service in a villa every day someone would still have to:
Make beds
Wipe down kitchen sides and table
Sweep floors
Lay out breakfast things, then clean away, same for any other meals
Pack and unpack dishwasher

Then on top of that it’s:
Decide what we’re going to eat and shop for it
Sort out how we’ll get to places (in a hotel we get them to get us a taxi or an organised trip)

Not very enjoyable to me! And we love an active holiday, I like to make the most of exploring the local areas and attractions without have to worry about what we’re having for dinner as we can just eat out or back at the hotel depending on what takes our fancy.

I never understand the notion on mumsnet that we must all be sat in one room in the dark, no, we’re drinking freshly made cocktails on the balcony enjoying the view once the kids are in bed.

I prefer it, no laundry or shopping or preparing food, clean towells provided, we choose a hotel geared up for families with water parks, entertainment and on a beach so it’s just a complete break. When we’ve booked a villa I feel like I’m doing all the things I would be doing at home so I don’t feel as though it’s a holiday & the kids get bored too that way. Hotels are a winner for me

I don’t know - i don’t think it necessarily stands thar renting a whole property is cheaper than a single room in a hotel.

Horses for courses.
Some of us prefer the space and privacy of a villa. We enjoy the freedom to go to different restaurants in the evening and the peace of reading by our own pool, rather than surrounded by other holidaymakers and their noise. We don't want to be limited to a hotel balcony - we prefer having a whole house and garden. We explore a lot on holiday - we don't want to be eating at the same place every day. My husband is a keen cook and has a very stressful job. He loves going to local food markets on holiday and we all enjoy the novelty of foreign supermarkets. He will cook simple food with the local produce on nights in on holiday - stacking & emptying a dishwasher and wiping down the surfaces is hardly hard work - our teenagers can do it! 🤣

I think everyone's different and does things differently

From your list:

We never make beds whether on holiday or not, not important to us

No one lays out breakfast foods - the kids and DH pour some cereal into a bowl, add milk and put their own bowls in the dishwasher. I just have coffee

Yes we sweep the floor and wipe the counters - takes maybe 5 mins a day

Lunch we eat out usually, dinner we usually have salads, cold meat, cheese etc

None of that is very taxing for me TBH and the benefits of having our own space outweigh it

I also never really use a hotel concierge service - prefer to research stuff for myself anyway

I find this idea that you’re limited to eating in one place if you’re staying in a hotel really odd. We might have most breakfasts at the hotel but other than the occasional meal for convenience we’re off eating in local restaurants. The hotels we stay in usually have really decent restaurants anyway.

We’re lucky to eat a varied diet at home with lots of fresh produce and have access to places selling more exciting and foreign stuff too, so on holiday we prefer to go for exciting rather than simple. Even for my husband to make fresh grilled prawns with a marinade and side salad, potatoes etc would take time and planning as we wouldn’t have the same spice cupboard we do at home. Same for cocktails, it would take a lot to fully stock up for all the varieties of cocktails I like to drink.

Of course kids can wipe down sides and pack the dishwasher but who wants to be doing chores on holiday. We’ve usually been off doing an activity or exploring so the last thing anyone wants is to then have to cook etc.

If you’re a family that likes relaxing by the pool a lot I can see how a villa would appeal for the privacy aspect, but for us a good hotel is preferable.

I find this idea that you’re limited to eating in one place if you’re staying in a hotel really odd.

I find equally odd the idea that staying in an apartment/Airbnb/villa means that you cook every meal!

You can go out for every meal if you want and still get the benefits of the extra space and privacy

We go out a lot to eat on holiday but enjoy the ability to breakfast in our pjs at our own pace (these days the kids usually sort their own cereal out in the morning and turn on the telly while DH and I have a lie in - not doable in a hotel as they aren't old enough to go down to the buffet without us). And our kids are young enough that it's also nice to be able to have a quiet meal at home sometimes - I don't enjoy keeping them on "restaurant manners" 3x a day, once is much more doable

I also don't understand how self catering is a never ending cycle of cleaning.

The property is clean at the start of your holiday and it will be cleaned when you leave.

So it's not like anything really needs doing in between unless you have a big spill. So the same as a hotel because if you have a big spill in a hotel you're going to clean it up rather than leave it for the daily cleaner unless you're a bit of an arsehole.

Surely you would have this "problem" what ever accommodation you stayed in?

Self catering in a villa /apartment means dd and I cross the road and go to a variety of restaurants for breakfast /tea

lunch is a sandwich /pizza or her fav a pot noodle. She was very excited to similar while on holiday. Lunch in 3 mins 😂

It would be a boring world if we all liked the same type of holidays!

We generally have a villa, self catering type place but go out for all meals but that is only ok in places that have plenty of places to choose from to eat. When we went to Iceland we went to a hotel with breakfast which I wasn't so keen on but it wasn't really somewhere where a lot of people were self catering and popping out for breakfast elsewhere.

What is all this cleaning that people do, do you mean washing up if you have meal.

The same cleaning you’d do at home.

load/unload dishwasher
wash up anything that can’t go in dishwasher
Clean kitchen sinks/surfaces
Make beds
clean bathroom sinks after a couple of days.

I like clean towels every couple of days and fresh bed linen every week, so any longer without a service you’d have to do that.

hoovering/sweeping/mopping can be eked out to a week (just) but not if sandy/young DC

Because I want to be somewhere where I get waited on and don’t have to tidy up or feed anyone. We sometimes get a suite with a separate room to that solves the problem of people getting up early.

It wouldn’t have been such a problem if I had could have sat comfortably waiting for them to wake with coffee and a croissant and felt the sun on my face. Which admittedly, minus the croissant, I could have achieved if we’d been a big suite with a balcony rather than a travelodge-sized city hotel room.

I think as the adults planning the holiday you would book the accommodation that works for you and your family...... wherever that is an hotel or other. you chose the wrong room type. you could have got a different sized hotel room rather than a standard room.