It’s not only children who are badly behaved in lounges. Sitting in the D.C. Hilton lounge, my 13 year old and I quietly lambasted the rude behavior of a bunch of adults who decided that the shrimp appetizers were really their dinners, and so they proceeded to pile their plates to the top every time a new serving dish of shrimp appeared. Boorishness is not restricted to children, and if my travel schedule takes me from home enough to get lounge privileges, then my kids deserve the fruit of my (absent-from-home) labors. Besides, I make it clear to my kids that when in a lounge they need to attend to proper decorum, how else do you make kids into adults who don’t make a meal out of a snack in hotel lounges?

I used to just try to let the behavior of nasty little crumb-munchers just try to pass. I now directly confront their parents about it. Whether it's in a nice restaurant, movie theater, airplane or lounge - anywhere that loud, obnoxious behavior is unacceptable.

The majority of the time, the parents intervene and calm the kid down. Sometimes, I get conforntational replies. In these cases, since I've broken the mold, and there are others around who are also upset with the kid's behavior, they jump in on the parents too.

Some people should not be alllowed to have kids in the first place.

I can't imagine trying to spend 21 years keeping my children isolated from all environments in which alcohol is served to adults. Nobody's talking about suspending local liquor laws in the lounge and pouring martinis for 12-year-olds. Kids go to ballgames, restaurants, family gatherings, and many other places where alcohol is consumed.

With a normal hotel lounge (e.g., like the ones found in most Starwoods, Hiltons, and Marriotts), I would say that it's a perfectly acceptable environment for kids. You have less chance of encountering a liquor-soaked loser at the Westin lounge than you do at a baseball game.

If a hotel decides to set up a specific "cocktail party" or a wine tasting in their lounge, I could understand limiting it people of legal drinking age. I have only seen this once - a 9-11PM free-booze party at a Fairmont many years ago - and I doubt the Marriotts/Starwoods do it at all. Maybe a smidgen more common at the luxury chains, but in any case we started this off by talking about breakfast and coffee, not free-flowing raucous lounge parties.

Just for clarity, when I said "hotel lounge", I was talking about the concierge room or lounge, not the hotel bar. If we're talking about enjoying an evening in a BAR, then I tend to agree with you, but I think kids have the right to be in the concierge lounge, supervised by mom and/or dad or guardian.

And I can't agree more with the post about unruly adults who treat the appetizers or snacks in the concierge lounge like their personal dinners. I've seen folks hoard the food put out in lounges like they'd never been fed before. Lounge offenders are not always children.

Exactly!!!! Thank you for posting what I wish I had.

I've been at the Prague Hilton where the kids dominate the 3 computers. There is a sign...20 minutes. I know of one such adult who has reminded the kids.

Let's face it, some of us need our dose of Flyertalk.

I apologize for resurrecting an old thread but hey it shows I searched and two it still applies today

however I'm going to put a new twist on this thread

I am at an international property right now with a nice lounge. Last night I went up to the lounge to get a drink and do my expenses and have a little desert

there are no children allowed in this lounge at night. Not that it bothers me as my children are not with me. However in chatting with the lovely staff in the lounge, I asked about the no children rule in the evening. They said it was due to the fact that they served alcohol. I said, I just came from a property a block away the prior week and they allowed children in the lounge. She finally said, it was to provide a quiet relaxing atmosphere for the adult guests during the evening time frame. I took it at that and the subject moved on to other things

however the past two nights I was up in the lounge during the evening desert and alcohol timeframe and there was a party of ~8~ women both evenings, freely pouring the booze into them and taking up about four tables by moving them together which is all fine by me. They however were very loud and I do mean disruptive loud to anyone who was there to say watch tv, read the paper, relax and chill or say do expense reports LOL. IMHO these women were worse noise than any children have made in any of the lounges I've been in. One lady was a bit tipsy to say the least and she was walking by me and when her friend said something she turned and well being tipsy needed something to brace herself on. She chose my knee and then went on her merry way without saying a word. That in itself didn't bother me but what did bother me was that the staff allowed this to go on for at least 2 hours each night.

I spoke with one staff member who said, "they are a bit loud but they are regulars to the hotel". I said, I didn't realize I'd get extra benefits up here by being a regular. She did not respond. I let it go at that.

Tonight I may say something to the manager on duty. On that note, I find it a bit hypocritical of them not to allow children during these hours for the reason stated above yet at the same time allow this go on.

Unattended children in Lounges should be given an Espresso and a free kitten.

I just saw a button with that slogan tonight.

Seriously, I think it is incumbent upon the hotel to set and maintain standards of decorum. It doesn't require a blanket ban on anyone. There ought to be signage at a minimum and perhaps the lounge attendants should be required to inform everyone who enters that the lounge is designated as a quiet zone.

I would definitely support banning cell phones..

My 2 cents.

My general rule with my son was that you don't put kids into situations where it's impossible (given their level of maturity) to behave reasonably. That's why you don't take 3-year olds to the opera, for example. We never had the opportunity to use a hotel lounge, but if he couldn't sit still I would have picked up my coffee and taken a walk around the lounge with him. And if he wouldn't stay quiet, we'd be outta there. He learned quickly, and was generally well-behaved when he had to be.

One of my favorite hotel lounge memories was the Cardiff Hilton, right across the street from the castle with a magnificent view. Although the staff worked hard to keep it tidy, there were usualy small fingerprints at kid level on the windows facing the castle. I thought it was cute.

I agree, Joe- the hotel that banned kids from the lounge in the evening but allowed noisy, raucous behavior form drunken adults was just plain hypocritical. We also stayed in a hotel in which a couple of women (plus 4 kids) took over the small lounge and treated it as their living room. Boorish behavior occurs at all ages.

that, and dont punish guilty adults =

in some countries i can understand it, but surely in some regions places could enforce behavior standards...

many places do ban cell phones, children, etc. dress codes seem to be rarely enforced nowadays, but some places still do.

im positive there have been other threads on this subject in the last 7 years.

My parents had the same attitude. I went to some very fancy restaurants as a little kid and was told about expected behaviour ahead of time. If I got rambunctious or didn't meet the behaviour standards my parents explained to me, we were outta there.

And I LOVE the Cardiff Hilton. I stayed there for 7 months on a business trip and that view is great and the staff wonderful

I've been to a couple of places where kids weren't allowed in the evening & reason given was due to alcohol being served.

I was in Vienna in June & one of the properties I stayed at had a nice lounge. Staff there was good as well. There was a group of Brits there on bizness who basically used the lounge as their 'pub' each night. They were quite noisy one night (and this was early; maybe 6-7pm). I finally stopped by their table & said I appreciate that you all know each other & are having a good time, but those of us only a few tables away literally can't hear each other because your voices carry & are a bit loud. Perhaps you could lower them just a bit? One said to me a bit belligerantly, is it a problem? I said your being happy is not, but when your happiness intrudes on all the other guests in the lounge so that they can't enjoy it, then yes it's a problem. They quieted down after that. I would have gotten the attendant to say something, but she was in the back room getting additional food. FWIW - this particular property had a good food/booze offering & from what I can tell, the Brits scarfed up both in massive quantities every evening. But the lounge had 3 rooms & at least they moved to the farthest the rest of the time I was there. I would have loved to have seen their expense reports to see if the put food/booze on them. Seems like the type of thing this group would do, even though they weren't spending anything on f/b in the evenings.

BTW - I was chatting w/ an attendant last year at a European property I stay at every year on business in September. She said the staff was thankful that the summer was over, because all the elites bring their families on holiday & the lounge is overrun with kids, and it was nice to have it back to biz travelers again.

As noted on this thread, sometimes parents subjugate their parental responsibilities & let their kids run wild, whereas others teach the kids proper manners/how to behave in lounges.

Cheers.

My participation with a lounge program would hinge on my children be able to access the lounges with my wife and I..

Given the behavior and dress of many adults, admission should be limited to those who can behave themselves, whether 4 or 40 doesn't matter. Borish people are borish people. A well-behaved 4-year old is fine. A loud-mouthed 40-year old in flip flops is a no go.