sch_flyer

Warning - a rant ahead!

Most of my travel is for leisure, and having two kids under 10, it's difficult to travel without them! I've been really trying to stay loyal to Hyatt (and use my hard-earned Globalist benefits), but this is pretty ridiculous. Beside there being almost no properties in Europe, most of them allow no more than 2-3 people per room, even in their TSU-eligible suites. No roll-aways, no sleeper sofas - the answer I'm getting from individual properties is "book multiple rooms" - not at the rates they are charging! I know about the 50% family discount, but why would I stay at a Hyatt when there's plenty of other options that are so much cheaper if I can't use my points or book a reasonable rate at Hyatt?

After the next year, I think I'll be done with Hyatt - would Hilton or Marriott (currently Gold in both via Amex Platinum) be better for "family friendly" properties? I'm leaning toward Hilton as the breakfast is comped for Golds and Diamonds.

beachfan

CIT85

Good luck with any hotel in Europe, regardless of chains or independent, that will allow for 4 persons to a room, even 3 is tough. Most rooms are too small to accommodate more than 2. I've paid for 3rd person in Italy several times. I've also been able to get 3 people to a room many times, by booking for 2 and check in with 3.

This is not Hyatt being unfriendly to family. Your best bet is to go Airbnb.

sch_flyer

I respectfully disagree - take Vienna for example, Park Hyatt - max occupancy 2-3. Searching Hilton, there are 3 hotels that have family rooms/suites that sleep 4. London - none of the Hyatts sleep 4 in a standard room/suite; there's a ton of Hiltons that have rooms that sleep 4. Park Hyatt Milan - max 2-3; most Hiltons in and around Milan sleep 4. I haven't even looked at Marriott, but I suspect I'll find more variety.

There's a ton of boutique and small chain hotels with rooms that sleep 4 all over Europe too. It really seems that European Hyatt properties just don't want travelers with children. Too bad - I really wanted to give them some business.

As for AirBnB - it just doesn't work well for our travel patterns and preferences.

rbw5t

cantabdad

I too have noticed this and been frustrated by it when planning family trips to Europe. Hyatt does not seem to be totally unique in this regard, but appears to be worse than Hilton and Marriott and some of the other chains, which do offer a number of hotels in major cities that can accommodate 2 adults + 2 children. Interestingly the situation seems to be reversed in Japan, where among the major chains, Hyatt may have some of the only standard hotel rooms that are listed for 4-person occupancy (for ex. at the PH and GH in Toyko).

For properties outside the USA in particular, it sometimes seems like the occupancy limits for different hotel rooms are just selected at random, or have been set by some remote IT staffer who has never seen the room in question or contemplated potential family sleeping arrangements. It's not uncommon at all for a room with 2 double beds to be listed as max. occupancy 3 (or sometimes even just 2), while a suite at the same hotel -- that is larger but only has one king bed -- is listed as accommodating up to 4 people.

azepine00

No

Yes

in general many properties will allow smaller kids in existing bedding but you have to contact hotel to confirm. I stayed twice at Ararat PH with two kids. I recall Vienna was OK as well although we ended up not going there. In general not many hyatts in EU so choices are definitely limited vs other chains

azepine00

unfortunately hyatt redesigned hotel site so i can only find this externally:
https://www.trip.com/hotels/vienna-h...-hyatt-vienna/

Children and Extra Beds

1. Children are welcome at this hotel.
2. For each room, up to 3 children between 0-11 years old can use existing beds.

Milan was one of the most challenging places to find room for 4 - had to deal with it last summer... i spoke with hilton and they wanted an obscene premium for some room that wasnt listed, a couple starriot properties were not particularly helpful.. a luxury collection place by central station had kids under 12 free policy.. some lower end chains - holiday inn, hgi etc actually had rooms listed with quadruple occupancy but not too many overall.. ended up staying at moxy LIN as it was only 1 nt after arrival... judging by rather random distribution this appeared to me as local way to charge extra rather than any fire code etc as many ppl refer to here...

Offshore171

Yep I concur. We did a trip around Europe earlier this year with 2 kids under 10. No issues finding suitable 2 Adult+2Kid rooms with mostly Hiltons and one Wyndham in Amsterdam, Vienna, Munich, Salzburg and others.

tigerwong

GUWonder

blitzen

It isn't Hyatt ..... it all comes down to > Europe isn't the USA

sch_flyer

I don't believe this information is accurate. I emailed the Vienna Park Hyatt directly, and received the following response:

As others have noted, you can probably book for 3 and show up with 4, but then you run into issues like breakfast not being comped for everyone, or physically not having enough room for the kids to sleep if there's only a twin roll-away or a non-sleeper sofa.

Another weirdness I've noticed is that at some "leisure" properties, suites have lesser max occupancy vs. standard rooms - Grand Hyatt Baha Mar and Park Hyatt St. Kitts, for example, have a max occupancy of 2-3 for their suites - and these are properties that should be catering to families! WTH?

GUWonder

blitzen

Due to fire codes, or min square meter per occupant or ..... rules that change by country/ city that would have been very hard. Especially given that in Europe the building are not newly build on a wide open lot but years old (sometimes 100+ years) when rooms were smaller. And I don't think any hotel would combine 2 rooms just to have the ability to accomodate 4 (that is what connecting rooms are for). If Hyatt would have insisted the hotel owner would be with Hilton, Marriott, .....