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This topic applies to all hotel chains/booking channels but this time around I’m looking at the Kimpton in Glasgow so thought I’d start the thread here.
Among a myriad of other things that parenthood has taught me thus far, one thing that I’m struggling to get my head around is booking hotel rooms with infants. If I search for a room for 2 adults plus 1 child (and select their age as zero) on nearly all websites it wipes out the cheapest rooms (which I presume are coded in the inventory to only permit 2 guests) therefore forcing you in to the higher category rooms (which as an aside also wipes out most redemption level rooms when I’m trying to spend my points).
So what do you do? Book the cheapest room for 2 adults then email and say you have an infant/would like a travel cot? Say nothing at all and sneak them in? Might be ok in the UK but not abroad when they ask for passports of all guests.
I’m Diamond in IHG which would normally permit an upgrade anyway, but it doesn’t recognise that at the booking stage.
It seems like a huge grey area to me, and one that loses a potential customer if I’m unable to access the cheaper rooms when adding my infant. Surely I can’t be the only one travelling with under two’s?!
I rarely stay at IHG, but at Hilton, I never book my kid and he’s 5.
While he was an infant, we had a travel cot. When he was alder, we were sharing bed.Only exception is all-inclusives for the summer, where I book him.
My Daughter has just turned 3 so have had a good amount of experience with this over past couple years.
My tried and tested method is to book a points redemption and then email hotel and casually ask for a cheeky upgrade (while slipping in that I’m Diamond Ambassador) to a room that would have a little more space for a travel cot (now an inflatable bed thing) and from there you can see how the hotel wants to play it. Sometimes they say no probs or sometimes they say they can upgrade for a fee (which is then a lottery, as to if they remember to charge you or not when checking in/out).
We’ve never really had an issue and quite often, if they know you’re arriving with a baby/toddler, hotels are usually pretty good at accommodating that and maybe give a branded teddy or similar – which always gets a smile.
If I’ve ever agreed a fee, I’ve never paid up front. Firstly, they may forget to charge you for the upgrade. Secondly, a cashback deal you can use may appear on your amex before the stay. And thirdly and most importantly, you can usually cancel a points stay up to the day before without penalty, which can be very useful when your kid is suddenly taken ill and you’re in A&E when you’re meant to be packing and have to cancel the trip.
P.s. only stayed in the Glasgow Kimpton once. We arrived during a fire alarm with all staff and guests out on the road. Once back in (only 5 mins later) they upgraded us to a lovely suite and gave us high-tea for the [minimal] inconvenience, so may be worth wafting a candle beneath a smoke alarm when first arrive 🙂
No one wants a problem on day 1 of your holiday so I wouldn’t wait until you get there to wing it.
I used to book the cheapest room for 2 adults. Then email reservations saying I made a mistake and forgot my unborn child will have arrived by then but staying in a travel cot we will bring with us. Never had an issues.
I then repeated the process for the second child booking the cheapest 3 person room.
Both of mine are too old for this trick now and verging on the need of two rooms instead.
Book directly with the hotel you prefer, whichever room (for 2 adults) you like (not the room you prefer to be upgraded to) and email the hotel explaining you have a small child. If the child sleeps alongwith parents, the staff usually have no issue. If you really need a cot, make sure the room has space. For exmaple, Hamptons, moxy and ibis rooms may not have enough space for a cot, so you have no choice but to avoid them or book two rooms. Mention your booking ref and status if you have any.
As Jonathans says, you dont want to leave it to the last min and it can be awkward if the staff tell you to wait until they can confirm with the management. After a tired long journey, thats the last thing you need.
Most hotels dont deliberately limit the occupancy, its down to the room size and fire safety regulations etc.With one kid, I never had any problem booking a room for 2 adults, then contacting the hotel to ask for a cot in the room (if required – sometimes I had a travel cot).
Mostly the hotel was happy to provide a cot in the booked room, and sometimes I was upgraded to a room with a bit more space (generally where I had decent status).
As a counterpoint to some of the comments above – if I had the travel cot, I wouldn’t even bother to tell the hotel that we were bringing an infant too, and I have never had an issue at check in (mostly UK/Europe). YMMV, of course.
If it’s a cancellable rate, I book the cheapest room (or just the room I want) then ask for a travel cot and a room that’s good for a child. Never had anywhere say no (though I wouldn’t do this with somewhere like an airport ibis where there genuinely might not be space).
The Kimpton Glasgow is a lovely hotel 🙂 If you’ve got a heavy buggy, bear in mind there are stairs to get to the main entrance (though if a doorperson is there they’ll help), or you can phone to get let in a side entrance. If you’re price sensitive, you might also consider the Voco Grand Central (also very nice and can be a lot cheaper some nights…have tended to get upgrades to nice large rooms there as Diamond). No pool/spa in the Grand Central, but kids aren’t allowed in the Kimpton pool anyway.
Thank you! It’s as I suspected but surprises me that it’s such a grey area. For eg when searching hotels on the likes of Booking.com/Trivago I’m losing half the available hotels when I put in 2 adults + 1 infant (presumably as they’re programmed to only permit 2 people per room) – how many bookings have hotels lost from parents with kids under two?!
Thank you! It’s as I suspected but surprises me that it’s such a grey area. For eg when searching hotels on the likes of Booking.com/Trivago I’m losing half the available hotels when I put in 2 adults + 1 infant (presumably as they’re programmed to only permit 2 people per room) – how many bookings have hotels lost from parents with kids under two?!
I would say its the opposite, most who use OTAs look for cheapest rooms, so no qualms bending rules. They’d be booking rooms for 2 adults and leaving it to checkin time to discuss requesting a cot etc. Feel sorry for the hotel staff who have to enforce rules.
Hi all – am working on a website that covers these sort of queries – primarily looking at rooms that accommodate 5 or more, but infants is certainly a grey area.
From experience I’d recommend as suggested above book a room for 2 adults that you want on a refundable rate, and email/call the hotel to confirm infant.
You can adopt this is as an assumptive question – along the lines of could you provide a cot or shall I bring my own etc. I’ve never had an issue with this approach. Bluntly if a hotel doesn’t accept or offer a suitable alternative room proposal etc you probably didn’t want to be taking an infant there anyway. 🙂
I would always cover this in advance though – you don’t want to be dealing with this on arrival with a screaming baby….
Generally infants don’t count for room occupancy numbers but there can be exceptions.
Some hotel chain websites do have specific infant search functionality that helps you here – e.g Premier Inn, Travelodge
This isn’t really specific to IHG, but obviously I know why you”ve put it on this forum.
My advice is that for all hotels, You should just book the room category you desire. If the room is more expensive with an infant, or it’s not available then just book it for 2 adults. Straight away, email the hotel and inform them that you will have an infant and require a travel cot. Even if you don’t need a travel cot, you can always cancel the request at any time.My own personal experience is that very few hotels will try and increase the cost. If they do, I would just cancel and book a different hotel out of principle.
Since my 4.8 year old child was born, we have stayed in about 100 different hotels where we booked for 2 adults. I have never mentioned the child on booking and turning up with 3 people has never been a problem.
The majority of hotels were IHG and Hilton.
Only once the hotel tried to claim that it was “dangerous” to have 3 people in a room for 2 so we were moved to a room that was exactly the same size but rated for 3.
Another time the hotel (a small independent) sent an automatic email after booking stating that only guests mentioned on the booking would be allowed to check in and any further guests would be charged extra. Therefore forcing me to clarify before turning up, but they said a child wouldn’t be a problem, they only sent that email because they had problems with families trying to sneak 6 or 7 adults into a double room. They also upgraded us to their largest room without charging extra.
For IHG, many HIs have “kids stay free” when sharing parents’ room.
For Hilton, find where it says “View Hotel Policies” on the app/website and click on Families/Children. Many hotels explicitly say “children under 5 / 12 / 18 (!!!) stay free with existing bedding”.
Also, Hilton has 2nd guest free so you can legitimately leave one person off the booking. If it’s cheaper to do so, I’d book for 1 adult and 1 child rather than 2 adults. Again this has never been a problem (except that in cities with a per person tourist tax, they have to adjust the tax amount).
I also use the ‘book first, ask questions later’ approach. Since this is the IHG forum, I’ll mention that the only time I’ve had to cancel a booking was at IC Amsterdam, which insisted that none of its rooms – even its >100m2 top suite – could fit two cots for ‘safety reasons’.
Another top tip is to request the dimensions of the cot provided by the hotel. I’ve had some that could easily fit a three year old and others that were a squeeze for a one year old.
A useful thread – thanks for starting this, there is some useful stuff in here. Here’s my experience.
So we’ve been to 10+ hotels since my daughter’s been born (she’s 9 months now) and my experience has been mixed.
We’ve stayed at 2 Melia’s (one in Spain, one in Thailand). Both were booked in advance for 2 adults and 1 baby (no price different sans baby). I also emailed after to confirm the travel cot. Both upgraded on arrival to bigger rooms ‘so you have space with the baby’. We were super grateful and had very positive experiences.
Hilton in Thailand was booked with 2 adults and 1 baby. No price difference sands baby, and again, emailed after confirming travel cot. No upgrade here but the room was spacious enough.
A few other independent/boutique hotels booked through Booking/Hotels charged extra when I added an infant. Some didn’t have specific rooms avaliable (which definitely could have fitted a cot) and some didn’t show any availability at all when I added an infant. With these, I booked and then emailed the hotel directly to mention we had a baby and if they did have a travel cot, that would be appreciated (we were prepared to bed share at these places). They all said they could accommodate the baby with a travel cot for free (despite being chargeable through Booking/Hotels). Both upgraded on arrival ‘for a more comfortable stay with the baby’.
So to sum up what I do (and intent to do going forward)
– Check the reviews of hotels to see if they take a baby
– Check price/room/availability for 2 adult and 1 baby
– Do the same without the baby
– Book the cheaper/more convenient room
– Email after booking to add/confirm cotI have a 2 year old and regularly book the cheapest room, usually with Marriott but sometimes with IHG. Their rooms all state whether they can take an extra travel cot or fold down bed etc. even the smallest Moxy rooms usually state they can provide a travel cot. There is a “request travel cot” option at the time of booking with both Marriott and IHG.
I then often ask shortly before my stay if they can confirm if they can provide a travel cot. It’s never been a problem.
Also, as a Marriott platinum/IHG diamond I have always got breakfast included for the 3 of us. I suspect this may change as he gets older!Both Marriott and IHG booking systems are a bit rubbish and basically both give you a whole extra bed if you state you have an infant with you, no matter the age.
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