Hotels and baby listening services - advice please

[CelluliteQueen]

DH and I are planning to visit friends who live 350 miles away next week so we thought we'd break up the journey with an overnight stay somewhere.

Has anyone got any experience of baby listening services in hotels? Our DS is 20m old and goes to bed at 8pm. Without this facility we'd all have to go to bed at 8pm if we're all in one room.

Any advice gratefully received,

CQ

Might be too late but could you take your own babylistener and ask for a lower floor room. We were on 2nd floor this weekend and a Philips one (loaned by hotel) worked down to Reception. Stayed in an Esprit hotel one week and several families had Tomy ones (which interfered with each other) but the signal did carry a distance.

Why don't you go for a small hotel/b&b, we provide our guests with monitors and plug the parent set in the bar, this weekends guests had the kids tucked up by 8pm and were chilling out in the bar! In small B&B's it's not much different to being at home. Have fun wherever you end up!

we're going to a wedding in a big hotel in cornwall, mil said they offer a listening service, but I'm afraid I will just tuck ds up in a sling or put him down where I can see him, I worry about what if there is a fire,and would I be able to get to the room? sorry if this isn't what you want to hear, I'm sure my mil will also think i'm mad !but I feel quite strongly about it, as part of my nurse training I had to leave a smoke filled room and it was very disorientating.

Have stayed in several hotels with ds since he was 5 months (now 2.7). Have always taken our own baby monitor, we put him to bed and then go down for dinner, either finding a plug for the parent end of the monitor or use it on battery, never had a problem. As bubblerock points out if you are in a b&b or small family hotel it is effectively the same distance as being at home.

Having worked in the Hotel Industry for many years, personally, I would never leave my child in my Hotel Room alone.

Have seen too many incidents, room break ins and thefts.

Just from my point of view too many people have access to your room, and they are so easy to break in to.

Wow, I never thought of the worst case scenarios here... we stayed in a small hotel last summer and went to a wedding across the road for a couple hours (just the dance part.) Ds was just 1, he slept the whole time and they had the listener on at the bar. The staff were to ring us on the mobile if he'd woken up. We probably couldn't do this now as he's in a bed not a cot and is actually more likely to wake up!

i have used these services and feel comfortable doing so provided:

• hotel room has a smoke alarm (think they all do)
• the baby listening service is assiduously monitored by the hotel staff
• the child is in a cot, not a bed, so can't get into any mischief if they wake up

i would also recommend bringing your own monitor and using that as well if the hotel is small enough.

Most Hotels nowadays have nothing to do with baby listening - they don't want to be responsible should anything go wrong.

Use a babysitter to be safe.