bxlexpat

Friends have told us of great success going to small hotels where they could use their babyphone (aka baby monitor) to dine in the hotel restaurant with the child asleep in the room, or else leave the babyphone with the hotel desk and dine nearby to be alerted by mobile phone should the child awaken.

Does anyone have suggestions for small hotels or inns in Western Europe that either have a good restaurant in the hotel or very close by where the babyphone 'trick' could work?

Thanks,
MG

ira

Hi bx,

>..suggestions for small hotels or inns in Western Europe ...<

Could you possibly limit your scope to a single country?

sprin2

A limit on countries would be good, but until then, we've done this at the Lamb Inn in Burford, England. They have use the phone system to listen to your baby while you enjoy dinner.

I might have some others bookmarked, I'll check.

JN

I can't imagine asking a restaurant or hotel to contact you if/when the baby wakes. My reaction as a hotel employee is that it's not my job to monitor your child's situation. Add the language confusion and uncertainty of what to look for, and this seems like a mess. My advice is that, if you choose to take an infant to Europe, pay the price and take them with you when you dine. It's less fun, but you were the ones who made the choice, not the hotel or restaurant staff.

Do you have to take the baby with you? Isn't that what grandparents or brothers/sisters are for? Why else were they invented? :=)

wliwl

Wait -- you're going to leave a baby alone sleeping in a room while you are someplace off in a restaurant? How could you possibly think that is a good idea?! Perhaps if it were a REALLY small inn with a restaurant right downstairs, but...

swandav2000

Hi bxlexpat,

The hotel will be able to recommend baby sitters for you -- that's what my parents did when my sister and I were traveling infants.

s

Intrepid1

I think your "friends" were pushing it depending on exactly where they managed to do this.

With the greatest of respect for you I would not in any way, shape, or form, consent, or allow any of my employees to consent to monitoring a babyphone.

Why? What happens if the device fails in some way? If it is to be effective then it must be monitored constantly and that could not be guaranteed.

You need a paid sitter IMO or take the child along with you.

janisj

First you don't give us ANY idea where you are talking about.

But that is the least of your problems. Leaving an infant/small child alone in a hotel room while you "dine elsewhere" would be criminal offense in many States. Don't know about the place(s) you are traveling - but that seems VERY irresponsible.

Either 1) take the child to dinner w/ you, 2) engage a hotel recommended baby sitter, or 3) leave the child at home w/ the grandparents . . . . .

sprin2

These hotels are generally rather small establishments and offer baby listening as an amenity for families. It allows you to put your baby to sleep and go downstairs (not off the premises), no different than what one does at home. The desk clerk listens through the phone line and you tell them exactly where you'll be.

Google on 'baby listening hotel' and the country you are interested in visiting and you'll find loads of places throughout Europe that offer this service. These are a couple of sites I've marked through the years:

http://www.babycentre.co.uk/baby/travel/
Great Family Hotels, throughout the UK


http://www.breakswithtradition.com/
Family friendly hotels

janisj

Yes - baby-listening when you nip downstairs for dinner is one thing. My comment was re the "dine nearby" comment.

Maire

I personally would never be comfortable leaving my baby alone in a hotel room with strangers, <b>hopefully</b>, listening in. And, no way, not ever, would I leave my child in a room while I left the premises to dine.

What if the person who is <b>supposed</b> to be listening for your baby gets distracted:

- She gets a phone call and gets into a big fight with her boyfriend
- There’s a small fire, and everyone’s running around looking for a fire extinguisher
- A hotel customer has a heart attack (my sister’s father-in-law died at a hotel counter just this way)
- An irate customer comes in and starts yelling at the staff
- There’s a malfunction with the monitor, and the staff doesn’t even realize it

Not to mention, you’re letting hotel staff know your baby is alone; all it takes is one pervert to turn off the monitor and sneak into the room. And, I’m sure even Europe has a few perverts.

Ok, so I have a vivid imagination.

padams421

Isn't it the custom of some of the Scandinavian countries to leave babies outside restaurants in their strollers? I recall a Scandinavian (perhaps Danish?) couple visiting NYC several years ago who left their baby in a carriage outside a NYC restaurant while they dined inside. I recall that they had some explaining to do to the NYPD.

jules4je7

I can't imagine leaving a baby alone in a room for dinner, in the building or out. Please reconsider, and ask the front desk for help finding a babysitter instead.

Jules

FainaAgain

If anybody knows a child is alone in a hotel room, to me it's a recipe for disaster.

Only if I'd bring a portable babyphone which I can install and use myself, I'd have a dinner downstairs in the same building while the child is asleep.

Maire

I had forgotten that story, Padams,but I just googled it. The Danish mother apparently sued for $20 million - don't know the results. Here are some links for that story.

http://tinyurl.com/krvae
http://tinyurl.com/qzmv5
http://tinyurl.com/k7tb3

Maire

Addendum to my earlier post: that pervert wouldn't even need to turn off the monitor: s(he) could sneak in, grab the baby and be gone before anyone could do a thing about it.

sprin2

I believe Annette Sorenson lost both lawsuits.

I guess all my imaginary perverts must be living in Marie's mind.

WillTravel

Regardless of specifics of what could go wrong, I can't envision wanting to trust a hotel employee to listen in on a babyphone. Most of the time nothing disastrous will occur, obviously, but if something does go wrong, how would it be addressed in time? (I'm thinking, for example, that a crib might collapse, as one tiny possibility.) I know people leave their babies unattended briefly when at home in order to do laundry or something, but that seems different than leaving the baby so far away in order to eat dinner. And even so, I'm fairly certain that many baby accidents (strangling in blinds, etc.) do occur when there is no parental supervision. How many times have we heard something like, &quot;I was only away for a minute!&quot;

Jean

This is the one and only post from bxlexpat.

wombat7

Am also thinking of the poor people in the room next door who have to listen to the &quot;awakened&quot; baby before parents get back to room from the restuarant!