Hotel

Practicalities Types of Holiday Hotel 

Do The Offer

• Family rooms or suites?



• Family pricing or discounts for children?



• Children's menus/meal times?



• Babysitting or baby listening?



• Supervised childcare?



• Activities for families?



• Books, games and toys for children?



• Cots and high chairs?



• Children allowed in the restaurant in the evening (the height of child friendliness)?

• Child menus can reduce some parents to despair (though the children may be delighted).



• There may be all kinds of rules and regulations surrounding evening meals. Children may only be allowed high tea at 6pm, not be allowed into the restaurant after 7pm, parents may be expected to get the children to bed and eat their supper by 8.30pm ...



• Hotels which only ‘welcome'; children for part of the year, notably in the Caribbean, should be treated with caution. They are probably not well set up and the other guests are often the kind hoping for a chic holiday on the cheap.

Childcare

See also using Childcare

• Can they tell you who will be providing the care and something about their experience and any qualifications or at least their age? In the US babysitters tend to be very young for example and not ideal for looking after babies or toddlers.



• If babysitting is booked, can you leave the premises? This is not always allowed. It might be wise to check out the standard of in-house catering if you are not going to be able to eat elsewhere.



• Note that provision of a baby listening facility does not necessarily mean that there will always be someone in reception listening to it.



• If you are going to be using a kids club you need to check on the carer to child ratios, the space available, hours, charges and age groups so that your child is not either overwhelmed by older children or bored by younger ones.