Travel with Children - How do families of 5 handle hotels?

My brother has third kid on the way. He asked me to take a look at four seasons costa rica. When I change number of kids from 2 to 3 rate goes from 700 to $3200. Only room they give is a suite. They wouldn't even use a second room and the infant will be in a crib anyways, so two doubles is all they need. Other kids will only be 2 and 5.

4 seasons website specifically states children 0-18.

So what do you do?


1. Call hotel directly

2. Just book 2 kids and show up with 3.

3. book 2 rooms and not use 1.

What do families of 5 do once the kids are out of cribs but still young children?

Call the hotel directly. Tell them the ages. We have three kids with one in crib and they allow 5 at some properties.

My brother has third kid on the way. He asked me to take a look at four seasons costa rica. When I change number of kids from 2 to 3 rate goes from 700 to $3200. Only room they give is a suite. They wouldn't even use a second room and the infant will be in a crib anyways, so two doubles is all they need. Other kids will only be 2 and 5.

4 seasons website specifically states children 0-18.

So what do you do?


1. Call hotel directly

2. Just book 2 kids and show up with 3.

3. book 2 rooms and not use 1.

What do families of 5 do once the kids are out of cribs but still young children?
Quick Google says... they defer to the fire-code.

Fire-code defines sleeping occupants per (bed-)room. Usually, that's two occupants per sleep space. "Infants", usually defined as up to 6-months, sometimes do not apply to the equation. Two queens would usually equate to four, unless it was a suite with a door and a folding couch, then you're up to six.

Yet you'll also have to defer to the hotel rules. If the hotel has fewer permitted occupants then the fire-code, then the hotel rules would apply.

Start with 1, then 3, and skip past 2 (if they defer to fire-code, that's when the fire-marshall shows up to deal with it). As per 3, with a newborn and mother, makes sense to split the crowd, to let the kid/mom sleep.

I'll pre-delete all the rest of my kid/space ramblings...

They enforce the fire code in Costa Rica?

Call or email the hotel directly - I've had good success adding a small kid to rooms that officially hold 2.

Most hotels love the revenue and are flexible.

As the kids get older in most countries they will need 2 rooms. Other than costing twice as much it is much nicer to have the extra beds and bathrooms. When our kids were younger we got connecitng rooms and kept the door open between them, making sure the exterior door to their room was deadbolted. Now that they are tween/teen age we don't even care if they are conencting as long as they are within a few doors of us.

Note that some chains (like Hyatt) will give a second room for kids at 50% off, and they'll confirm at the time of booking that the rooms will be interconnected. Call the hotel directly to work this out.

Hilton and Radisson also do this 50% off, but I think it's UK only.

All depends on the property. If the property won't let you book it online, call the property (not the 800#) directly and speak with the GM. Some properties will bend the rules. Others do this deliberately because they really aren't even happy with 4 per room.

Some high end places require one bed per person, but will allow a crib.

Personally, I wouldn't dream of putting 5 people in a room and would book the adjoining (connecting) room for the kids and keep the baby in a crib with the adults.

Just to add, we've only ever slept all 5 of us in a single room in an emergency as we were struggling back across Europe by land after the 2010 volcano.

Not one to repeat...

5 in a room is pushing the limits - I thought you meant 5 for two rooms (though quite a few places in the US allow it e.g. many Orlando hotels). Again, call the hotel and see if they can work with you. Often they can if it means not losing the business.

This is tough for us because we're in Europe.

Last weekend in the South of France, we got a sort of duplex. The kids had three beds below and we had a queen on the level above. Two bathrooms and it was nice.

We have a terrible time getting adjoining rooms. There are never enough! Often we have to split with an adult and one or two kids in each room.

I got totally flamed for this on another travel forum but one solution was getting a handicapped room. There were no adjoining rooms left so that's all they could propose. There were a ton of handicapped rooms available. We were last-minuters so it's sure no handicapped person was denied a room (part of the reason we had trouble getting connecting rooms). I honestly don't see staying in a handicapped room a sin if there are no other rooms available (as a Flight Attendant, I often got them because that was all they had left) and the extra space is appreciated.

If you get two separate rooms, be sure to get doubles of all the keys so no one gets locked out.

A few times we've booked "Junior Suites" over the net and then we showed up and they've upgraded us. I wouldn't count on it but it happened in Lyon last weekend and it was nice having the extra room.

If you opt to lie, be aware that this only can work at a big, chain hotel where they don't really notice you coming in and out. Any mom & pop establishment will take note and it could get sticky. Some friends did this in Paris in one of those sky-scraper type hotels. They didn't notice but many of you know how tiny Paris hotel rooms are... one son had to sleep in the bathtub!

try finding a family room for 5 kids!

I was the 5th kid in my family, and more than a few times I got a sleeping bag on the floor, as did a brother. My mother always tried to book the largest room available, but even so sometimes there wasn't enough beds. Of course, this was back in the dinosaur era, where hotel managers would ignore the sleeping bags for $10 to $20 under the counter.

We went through that phase, and it was tough. Most common strategies we used:


2 rooms, preferably adjoining. When adjoining rooms were not available and kids were little, parents would split up. I am sure that contributed to there not being a 4th kid.
Suites. Embassy Suites worked out great for us, especially as the kids got into their hungry teenage years. The "free" full breakfast for 5 was a significant value.
Apartments, especially in Europe
Look hard for hotels that have rooms with 2 double beds and still allow a rollaway. Hampton Inns and some Choice properties seems to work most frequently. Space was tight, bathroom competition fierce.
Cheat. I'll admit it, when the youngest was of crib age, we would occasionally bring our own portable crib and cheat in a 4-person room.
Hook up with another family of 5. Our best friends also had 3 kids, so when we travelled together (10 total) we would get three rooms, the 4 boys of similar ages would share one room and became great travel buddies.

Great ideas!

I've had frustrations with apartments in Europe because they often want a minimum stay of 5 days to a week. We often go away for weekends so it usually doesn't work for us. Doesn't mean it's not an option or that anyone reading shouldn't try!

I like the hooking up with another family idea. This might work for us in the future (so far no but they're older) but I wouldn't put kids alone in a room unless it's connecting with at least one of the other two rooms. Some hotels don't allow under 18's in their own room. You can cheat by booking one of the adults in it. Fudging on this one would be a real judgement call!

Another version of this idea would involve getting a suite and a separate room and then spilt along whatever lines worked for the whole group.

I found that usually we were allowed a crib in a double room when our youngest was still in one. It was usually allowed so chances are, even if you didn't mention it, it might still have been okay.

On a general note, remember that beds can be a lot smaller in Europe. When making out your battle plans, keep this in mind. Contact the hotel if necessary and ask about sizes. I honestly can't share anything less than a King with my dh. When we've had to do doubles, we have to put an adult and a child in each bed. Probably why we don't have a 4th too :D

If you are visiting friends/family, many can't or won't host such a large gang. Depending entirely on circumstances and relationships, one other option has been to send one parent with one or two children to the relatives and then just getting a standard hotel room for the other parent with other child/ren. Another version is to have children stay with similar aged friends or cousins. Families might be more willing to host a kid or two, and make it a sleepover, than to have adults with multiple children in their house.

We do this in Paris, a city with tiny hotel rooms and my dh suffers with the tiny hotel beds. His elderly uncle wasn't thrilled to have noisy small children in his house but could deal with just my quiet boy, who then gets a break from his two baby sisters. I used to live in Paris, so I actually prefer to stay in the center, see friends and shop rather than be stuck out in the suburbs the whole time. We have the car so my dh plays taxi and otherwise, I'm know the Metro well.

Definitely an unromantic way to see the City of Lights but it works for us!

They enforce the fire code in Costa Rica?

Call or email the hotel directly - I've had good success adding a small kid to rooms that officially hold 2.

Most hotels love the revenue and are flexible.
Good one.

As other suggestions are being presented, I can recommend Residence Inn. The larger units have private bedrooms, and they all have full kitchens. First thing we'd do is some light grocery shopping, and we only had to eat out when we wanted.

Yet if they're committed to a particular property, I'd go with the idea of the adjoining room, open interior door, and dead-locked exterior door in the kid's room.

That's what we do. I hang a "Do not Disturb" sign on the outside and the kids are under strict instructions to not open the door.

I can't speak for all hotel chains but I had a friend who worked for one of them. She told me that all their properties were built to U.S. safety codes, as far as fire and other "threats" were concerned, in whatever country.

Can't confirm this but it might be a good question to ask, to those of you who are concerned about this. Also, many of the hotels we stayed in as Flight Crew had their own water treatment plants on site in some developing countries. Another question to ask a big chain hotel if headed somewhere more adventurous.

Note that some chains (like Hyatt) will give a second room for kids at 50% off, and they'll confirm at the time of booking that the rooms will be interconnected. Call the hotel directly to work this out.

Hilton and Radisson also do this 50% off, but I think it's UK only.

Works also in other European countries, but you need to call the hotel directly.