Hi,
We are a family of five, with 3 children ages 10, 10 and 4. We have done fair bit of travel to several countries as a family but for a visit to France, I am being asked by Ibis hotels to reserve two rooms. Is there no possibility for all of us to stay in a single room/ suite? Quads seem to be fairly common - so can't we get a fifth cot (actually, we don't really mind our youngest sharing a king sized bed with us).

Perhaps, instead of hotels, we should look at B&Bs. Our itinerary would have 1-2 nights in each destination. Please advise. Thank You.

I don't know about the Ibis chain, but hotel rooms in France tend to be tiny by U.S. standards. I think I have heard that fire regulations govern the number of people that can occupy rooms.

Many people here rent appartments. A search will give you some good ideas.

W/ a family -- you'll be much better off both space and price wise to rent an apartment. Very few rooms will allow 5 - almost none actually. And a quad will be very small for a family of 5 - even IF an extra bed could be fit in.

But a 1 bedroom flat w/ futons or a sofa sleeper in the living room would be cheaper than two hotel rooms. A 2 bdrm flat would give you even more space and still probably not much more than a quad hotel room.

We usually can barely even squeeze in three in a room. You also won't often find a quad room with a king size bed.
Fire rules will not allow an extra person even if it is a small child.

Try using a expedia.com for a search of what is available for a family of 5. Their search allows you to put the number of children, the ages and gives you your choices in the area. At least you will know which hotels can accomodate you.

You have to disclose the total number of people (regardless of age/size) when booking a room. There are strict occupancy laws and you will not be allowed to check in with extra people. In most rooms (Ibis in particular), there is barely enough floor space for your suitcases. If you look at the photos of the triple/quad rooms at most hotels on their websites, you'll see there's no possibility of cot. And, king sized beds are not common (unless two twins pushed together).

An apartment is a terrific idea, especially with kids, as you save a fortune on beverages, breakfast, snacks, etc., by having a kitchen and you also have table/chairs. But, most require minimum one week and the booking process/methods of payment are really complex for 1-2 nights and/or stays in several places.

We are a family of four, and that it excludes us from booking one room at most hotels in France. Only a few hotels have two doubles, and that won't be enough bedspace for you. They won't add a rollaway. You will have to search websites like venere.com or perhaps expedia (haven't tried it for Europe) and put in 5 people and 1 room to see what shows up.

Thinking back, you might try one of the Accor line hotels called Suitehotel that have large family rooms, however there are not many locations, so it might not suit your itinerary.

I have stayed at an Ibis in France and it is THE smallest floorspace I have ever encountered. You literally will not be able to lie a sleeping bag down on the floor.

If you don't want two hotel rooms, I would search for an apartment. You may not save any money, but you will get more floorspace and likely a better location.

Will you be staying just a night or two in each location? If so, then I doubt if getting an apartment would be possible. Yes, Rooms are small....Ibis for sure, though they are very clean, modern and adequate. I doubt if a cot would fit in a quad room anyplace,,,,,,
IF you staying 5 days or so in one place, and doing day trips from there then the apartment would work fine. Perhaps you might have to change up your schedule and not move so much. Snacking and having breakfast in your apartment is a great benefit.............but if you can swing it financially 2 hotel rooms would work,,, (and you probably get breakfast included.) We've only stayed in a couple of Ibis's but the one in Annecy, France is a wonderful location , on the river., out the back door to the Sunday market, a breakfast, AND car parking underneath.

Depending on season, apartments, which would be ideal, typically require at least three nights and often five or seven. But not always and you may be able to squeeze between two bookings. It's risky, though, and you might have to wait until the last minute.

Without knowing your itinerary it would be hard to suggest more. Are you sure you want to move around that much with three kids in tow? Perhaps you should consider going fewer places but staying longer in each.

Janis' idea of an apartment would be far and away the best solution. If that can't work for you, a B&B might be possible - they often have rooms and set-ups different from the hotel standards. And occupancy rules and regulations are not as restrictive. It may be worth a try...

-Kevin

There have been several posts on here about the very few hotels in Paris that might have a room for five people. I don't know any outside Paris (not to say there aren't any, I just haven't heard about them). Generally, you do have to book two rooms, though, and even finding that won't be simple (as one room will have to be for three), but a lot easier. If a hotel tells you that you must book two rooms, I would believe them. IBis is a budget chain and doesn't have huge rooms. A lot of hotels that have quad rooms have barely any space in the room around the beds.

Plus -- booking two rooms is no guarantee they will be adjacent -- or even on the same floor.

If you cannot rework your schedule to allow one-week (Sat to Sat) rentals in apartments/gites and you cannot establish a guarantee that you will have adjacent rooms in a hotel, then your next best bet is probably the B&B route. Most B&Bs are small enough that you would still be relatively close to your 10-year-olds (assuming they are the ones who would have the separate room) and they are often much more accommodating to your personal needs than a hotel chain.

Per Poutine: >>We are a family of four, and that it excludes us from booking one room at most hotels in France.<<

We certainly found that to be the case when we traveled as a family of four a couple of yrs ago. (We didn't travel at all when we were a Brady Bunch blended family of seven.) Rarely could we find a single family room for 4 and it was not a pleasant situation when we did. We invariably booked two rooms.

Now, as a family of three (down to our last teen), we are planning a trip to France next year and are STILL facing a problem finding appropriate accommodations. So many places I would otherwise choose are built for two.

Bottom line is that I agree with the above posters. Anything you can do to base out of an apartment is absolutely your best family option and possibly your only comfortable choice with kids that young.

BTW: I believe the Sat-to-Sat restriction generally only applies to gites in regions outside Paris. The Parisian apartment schedules appear to be more flexible.

We are presently in Paris as a family of 5 ... in an apartment. Our first night in England was in a hotel that did have a 'family room' to accommodate five and I still hate the going to bed together thing. Do your 10 yo's go to bed with the 4 yo ? Our nights from there were in 2 connecting rooms - before I would confirm it, I talked to the front office manager who guaranteed connecting rooms. It actually was great... in addition to the space, it is so nice to have the extra bathroom!

We then moved to Paris where we have a 2 bedroom apartment... all the kids fall asleep in a bed and we move one later to the living room. It works fine (other than the fact that one doesn't like to sleep alone and another doesn't like to sleep with her sister because she kicks, but we're managing those conflicts.).

We thought about B&B's and decided that other guests didn't want to be subject to our kids and we didn't want the noise of them coming in past our kids bedtime. We rarely travel to an extended vacation where we are forced into one room - it just isn't enjoyable.

(I would also reconsider the 1-2 nights/place. As a relatively light packer, it still is a real pain to be moving that often.)

Wonder why pg has not responded. I'm curious which, if any, of our suggestions he/she has pursued.

We have always gotten the girls there own room - but they were 11 and 14 for the first trip - so no problem leaving them in their own room. (You couldn;t PAY me to share a bath with 2 teen/tween girls.) We have found that if you specify this when reserving (and don;t pick small hotels with only 10 or 12 rooms) they will arrange for you to be either next to or on the same floor with your kids.

Just a warning for anyone who eventually sees this thread (OP or others )

A few years ago there was a poster on the Marriott board on Flyertalk who thought "I will just show up with the extra people and get a roll away, it won't cost much and I am sure they will do it, all those people giving me advice are wrong" Followed by the OUTRAGED post when the Courtyard in Paris wanted MORE for the "extra" bed then the original charge for the room! It would have been cheaper for the poster in question to have rented TWO rooms originally,but....

Thanks a bunch to all of you for sharing your responses. Unfortunately, renting an apartment is not an option, since we are unlikely to stay more than 2 nights/town as we travel (in rental car) in the Normandy, Loire and Dordogne areas. We have done similar town-hopping vacations in Germany, Spain and Italy before, and it suits our style, interests and vacation-costs.

A couple of years ago we were in London, and I did get a hotel with 5 (bunk) beds. I am hoping I can get something similar in France as well. If not, then I think we will go with the 2-room option in Paris like some of you have suggested and outside of Paris, I think I would like to consider taking up lodging at off-beat accomodations like staying at a farm-lodge, or at a B&B away from the town-square (from prior experience hosts are more accomodating). In a lodge, I am generally not comfortable having my 10-yr old twin girls sleep more than a doorway away from us - so I guess we will have to compromise on privacy & comfort.

I will keep you posted on what I find. Thanks a lot for the i/p.