swisscat

We are a family of 5 and have encountered the problems of family rooms generally only sleeping 4 at most. As others have said emailing the hotel and quoting child ages helps. In hotels that do not have family rooms ask for interconnecting rooms - the door can stay open so it's just like a family room. Many hotels won't count/charge extra for an under 3 - e.g Disneyland Paris is the only place we have managed to get us all in 1 room because my youngest was 2.5, we had a cot in the room but he just slept in our bed and no-one commented on the fact that the cot hadn't been used.
For our upcoming trip to Switzerland, we couldn't find interconnecting rooms but did find hotels with 'apartments'. No catering facilities but we are all in 1 area - double bedroom with beds in the living area and bathroom and for cheaper than 2 rooms.

eastave

We just stayed in the place in Amsterdam:
http://www.lecoin.nl/en/
It is not posh, but had a lot of space. We had the triple room, which would have easily fit a crib. The downside of our room was the adult bed was in a loft that required climbing a ladder. I am fairly fit, but really didn't like that.

djkbooks

<<You don't have to book for 2 adults + 2 children because your little girl is an infant (-2 yrs) and you don't have to pay for her! Maybe you even don't have to pay for your 3 yr old.>>

Not true. A couple with an 18-month old reported on the TA forum that they were denied check-in in a Paris hotel because they booked a room for two people.

Tabernash2

Our family of four also stayed at the Hotel Residence Le Coin in Amsterdam. Because our kids were older teens, we had two connecting rooms. Each room has a small kitchenette, and lots of floor space. That was a bit of a splurge, though.

Mostly, I search for hotels with a "family room" or a "quad room". They aren't easy to find, but they are out there. Keep looking.

Also, good idea to notify the hotel directly about the young age of the children.

nytraveler

The problem is that the OP is looking at budget hotels - which are more likely to have smaller rooms and often not able to accommodate a cot or roll-away. Naturally many hotels have larger rooms and will accommodate both - and may have reduced prices - or just a little extra for renting the extra bed - but these will not be the hotels that are 100 euros per night.

The ones mentioned here will be at least double and perhaps triple that.

It is certainly possible to get family rooms or larger rooms that can accommodate cot or roll-away - but usually not at that price point.

caabhi

@djkbooks is correct. After all your suggestions, I called up Radisson Blu Hotel in Antwerp and quoted the age. They told me "irrespective of age, we will be counted as 4. If I will not tell them in advance and book normal room and turn up at hotel, they will refuse me or I have to take bigger room at room rate of that day."
Pretty straight forward but may differ from hotel to hotel.
Best is I will select few hotels and talk to them or send an e-mail for clarification.
I don't want to ruin my holidays due to arguements at check-in.

janisj

IMO you honestly need to rethink your whole trip - not just about contacting the hotels. If you are actually only staying two nights/one day in most cities you will have other problems than just where your infant will sleep.

nytraveler

Agree that a trip with SO many moves and such short stays may well be an issue with 2 small kids. Don;t be surprised if their sleeping and eating patterns are thrown off and they become very grumpy and difficult.

And esp for a 3 year old - not being able to run around or have access to a playground every day can be a problem. And you know how difficult and loud they can be at that age if they are miserable.

socaltraveler

"I don't want to ruin my holidays due to arguements at check-in."

Especially an argument you will not win. Their rules, their rights.

And seriously, you might want to rethink the itinerary and make it more child friendly. A few extra nights here and there in one place could make a world of difference to the little ones.

annhig

try Accord hotels - many of them have rooms for 3-4, and will provide cots for infants. What you need to ask for is a double, with a cot for the 1 year old, and a roll-out or "put you up" bed for the 3 year old - you don't need 4 beds, [or a quad] and in fact that that would be a disadvantage as you can't put the baby in a bed. a triple with a cot would probably work best.

http://www.accorhotels.com/

booking.com does provide for you to look for triples - you could then e-mail the hotel to ask if they could put a cot in there as well. you should specify the ages of the children so that they understand what types of beds you need.

I agree that if you are moving around a lot, this is going to make things a lot more complicated. Reducing the places you are staying will probably enable you to have a more relaxed trip in more suitable accommodation.

MyriamC

Out of curiosity I went to booking.com and looked for a room in Antwerp for 2 adults, a 3 yr old child and a 1 yr old child. There are dozens of possibilities, hotels and apartments. You didn't tell when you were about to travel, but prices in the fall are very reasonable (102 euro for a 2 bedroom apt, hotels starting at 93 euro, for instance).
If you don't believe me, just look for yourself.

Lawchick

I have 2 kids - 6 and 2 and yes it can be difficult sometimes to get accommodation in Europe. I live in Belgium and we travel all the time. I usually decide on a hotel and then ring them. Usually they can work something out and have a family room or a suite. We have found the NH chain to be really helpful. Hilton generally unhelpful. Apartments are a good idea.

Christina

It won't be difficult to find a hotel room at all for two adults and two small children, the problem is you MUST tell them and pay for it, that's all. That really isn't unusual, a family of 4 where two are small children.

The problem is the OP doesn't want to pay for it, that's all. But there are many hotels that do allow very small children for free, or a very small fee (like 10-20 euro extra). But you must tell them. And the more modern new hotels are more likely to be able to handle this. I do not understand a hotel quoting a rate of 300 euro for a family room when the "average" room is only 100 euro, that just doesn't sound likely. At most, it should be about double the rate if it were two connecting rooms. I could see this happening once, but most of the time that is what is being seen?


I do know apartment-hotels in Paris that won't charge that much more for the two children, but the problem is they are about 250-300 euro per night to begin with, not 100 euro. That's the problem here, 100 euro barely gets you any hotel in Paris, but you won't get one with large rooms for an entire family for that rate. Here's one for example http://www.adagio-city.com/gb/booking/room-dates.shtml

Accor hotels has a lot of choices in Paris at all ranges and you can search by the number of people you need. I know they have family rooms at the Novotel Les Halles. I don't think they allow a family of four in any of their budget Ibis hotels, however. If worse came to worst, you could just book two double rooms and each of the adults would have to sleep with one of the children, and you'd have to be in separate rooms. You could do this if you had to, of course. My parents did that with us kids when we traveled when young, it was sometimes just a necessity in cheaper hotels.

try using www.booking.com You can specify rooms for 2 adults plus 2 children. IN Paris, I got the Novotel Vaugirard Montparnasse for 133 euro per night for such a room (in mid-November). The Hotel Apollo OPera is very cheap and is free for children under 2. A triple room (one double and one twin bed, they allow the 2 kids and 2 adults in such a room) is only 110 euro a night. It may not be a real nice hotel, but what can you expect at that rate in a major capital like Paris. It's just one example, booking.com is a good tool for lots of cities.