Berto

This weekend I am driving to a another city in Florida and I need to get a hotel room. I am 17 years old and I have found that every place I have called requires that I be 18 or 21 years old to reserve and check into their hotel. Ive been eyeballing one Marriott property (since there is a group rate I can use) and the reservation agent last night mentioned somehting about possibly having a parent consent/guarntee type form would allow me to reserve the room and check into it. This morning another agent couldnt tell me if there was such a thing or not. Ive had friends who have never had problems with this, but so I assume that there is some sort of form that I can specifically ask the reservation agent or hotel manager for.

Essentially how do I go about doing this? I am rather lost at this point.

magexpect

Will you be paying with a credit card? If yes, just make your reservation and you won't have to mention anything about your age.
I am everytime enraged when a question like yours pops up.
Our country is getting sicker everyday: one can condemn a child to the death penalty, send a 17 years old to war, but he cannot check into a hotel. Enraging.

l etoile

Agree with you. However, it seems most hotels also require a photo ID, which likely has DOB.

I'd show the ID if requested, but make no mention of your age and hope they don't notice.

I have this same situation coming up shortly with my son. I'm just hoping they see his credit card and don't give his age a thought.

Berto

I am thinking about possibly just doing that since I do have a a check card to use. The only thing is if somehow they did notice my age, what would they do? Just refuse to check me in?

climbermom

Walt Disney World hotels allowed me to sign a waiver for my then-17 year old son. Essentially, I agreed to be responsible for whatever damages he and his friends incurred. I am sure that Marriott will do this too. Have them fax it or email it to your parent/guardian in advance of your arrival.

l etoile

A friend had this come up recently with her daughter and her friend. I don't believe they had a credit card in either of their names, and ultimately it resulted in some faxing back and forth with the mother who supplied the credit card. If I remember correctly the mother signed something agreeing she would pay for any damages/extras.

If your age is questioned, you might just want to have some solutions available ... as climbermom mentioned, ask them to call and fax a parent who will be held responsible, offer up a notarized letter to that effect, etc.

As it worked for climbermom to do it in advance, you could call the hotel directly in advance, without providing your name and reservation numbers, and simply inquire if they have a policy that would allow for a waiver to be presented in advance. If they do it would likely relieve some anxiety.

Berto

Well the tricky part is that I have to call the hotel to make reservations to get the discount for the event I am going to. Either I use my visa check card or my mom's credit card. If I use mine there is less hastle with the reservations line, or I use my mom's credit card so that they have that one on file incase of damages.

I guess when she gets home Ill have to talk to her and sort all of this out. Of course next time I wont wait until the week I am leaving to try and make a reservation!

Berto

Well I just got off of the phone with the nice lady who worked at the hotel I wanted to stay at. She checked with a manager, who said it was ok for me to reserve the room, but I had to send in a charge authorization form. Hopefully that should arrive via fax in a few minutes. Now I just have to call back tomorrow monring to make my reservations and make sure I get the event rate and ill be set!

l etoile

Good news!

I used to travel a lot with my girlfriends when I was still in high school. We never gave getting hotels rooms and renting cars a second thought. It's a shame it's such a hassle now.

GUWonder

Some states have laws that prevent hotels from denying "underage" guests from staying at hotels if they have the means to pay. Another reason why Wisconsin is a great state.

Berto

It would be interesting to know what other states have such laws also. Would anyone happen to know?

GUWonder

You can always try to contact your state legislators to find out what is on the books and/or if they would be interested in such kind of legislation. (The resistance to such kind of legislation comes from the "usual suspects" for the usual "reasons". But disaster-struck states really would benefit from such legislation, for good reason.)

Heider.c

Can I ask what hotel you were able to do this at? I'm trying very hard to find a place that will let me near Cleveland Ohio and I can't seem to find one 😔

wharvey

First, welcome to Flyertalk!

Second, I am not sure that an incident from almost 10 years ago will hold relevance today.

How old are you? And what hotels have you tried?

You may get a better response in the Midwest Forum: http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/midwest-455/.

djs

That and if a parent/guardian wants to buy an alcoholic drink for their under 21 kid, it's perfectly legal.