CJKatl

While calling ahead of time is always a good idea, as the website could be wrong, your statement illustrates the issue. In many locations, there is no difference between a four year old, a sixteen year old or an eighty year old. A third set of lungs is a third party in the room. Many Americans think kids don't count in the total, but in many countries kids do count as an extra guest. In some places you can have a child under two without it counting as an additional guest.

Doing a search on the Marriott site for four guests when you have two adults and two kids will yield an appropriate room. Doing a search for two and emailing/calling the hotel may work, as long as you get a response from the hotel. Doing a search for two and just showing up thinking the hotel will look the other way at kids or make an adjustment on the spot is setting yourself up for disaster. The hotel will not, cannot and doesn't have to make an adjustment to accommodate the two extra guests, even if those guests are kids.