How many kids can I cram in a hotel room?
 

Although I've been to Europe many times, I've never taken kids. In March, I, my wife and 2 kids (ages 9 and 12) are going to Italy for 9 days. Specifically Rome, Assisi and somewhere in Liguria. My questions are these:

Can I fit my family in a triple room at most mid-level hotels, inns? Or do I need to get 2 rooms? Will small hotels even allow us to cram into a room? Would staying in a monastery (in Rome) be a good idea? We're Catholic, if it matters.

In Rome, I'm really trying not to spend over $250 a night for all 4 of us, and hopefully $200 in Assisi and Liguria.

Any help/advice would be appreciated.

Thanks

You need to book a Family room or a Quad. You can't sleep 4 people in a room for 2. (It isn't like the States where many hotels/motels have two queen sized beds)

Not only are the rooms generally too small, it is often against the fire laws.

4 people cannot stay in a room for 3 - it's very unlikely there would be no room - besides cheating the hotel. (This isn't like adding a toddler - you have 2 sizable kids.)

You need to look for hotels that have family rooms - either with 2 double bed or a double and 2 single. There are quite a few hotels that have 1 or more family rooms. If you look below you will find a lot of threads with this info.

As for convents - I don;t think the rooms are large enough for more than 2 people - but they are inexpensive and should fit within your budget. And they couldn't care less what your religion is.

Ugh. You can fit as many as the hotel says you can,which means if it's a double room - 2, or if it's a triple room - 3. There are fire safety rules and such in all hotel rooms in Italy, and if you think the hotel staff won't notice you've got extra people, think again.

we have several times been in the same boat. most rooms are indeed for 2 people. it is possible to find quads, but it takes a lot of searching. you need to check websites, email hotels etc. we were able to find quads for our entire trip, and it saves a lot of money over 2 rooms. i would not squeeze 4 in a triple- there is likely a double bed and a twin bed only, and you would have to sneak the 4th child in, which i do not recommend.

Consider renting an apartment, especially in Rome; see other threads on this board for more info.

Many chain hotel family rooms end up wall to wall bed. Try and find independent hotels which are may have a proper family room and is probably cheaper to boot.
Failing that you will need two adjoining rooms. Make that clear when you book.

thanks so far for the advice ... I'm not trying to cheat anyone, I'm just trying to learn the rules.

If you do find a place that you'd like to stay try emailing them instead of just doing the auto-reservation thing. When we traveled with our kids I would write an email along the lines of "we are a family of 4, 2 adults, 2 children ages 9 & 12 - do you have accomodations suitable for us for the nights of ( )". I would sometimes be offered a room that was not on the website or the offer of a cot put into a triple room. Booking.com shows the number of people allowed in a room as well and I've used them for "group" bookings. In Rome we stayed at La Fontana (right at Trevi fountain) in a room with 2 double beds. But if you do end up at smaller B&B's in Assisi or Liguria you should also consider 2 rooms - putting the kids in by themselves. Too much "all together family time" is too much for me!

Also - our kids were about the same age the first time we took them to Italy - they LOVED it and it is still there favorite country. You'll have a great time.

hi, robbydee,

it is perfectly possible to go to TA, and put in your requirements [dates, 4 people in a room, or 2 people in each of two rooms] into the search engine and see which hotels it comes up with for Rome and your other preferred destinations. alternatively if you e-mail the hotel, you may find that they have interconnecting rooms [try looking at hotel websites as well as the booking sites on TA] or duplexes - we've come across and booked both in our time travelling with our kids.

BUT - with children of that age, i would definitely look at apartments - you get much more room for the same money, or even for less, sometimes. also, you can save on breakfasts, drinks, [buy large bottles then decant into small ones for the day] and, if you want to eat in, suppers. most places will rent from 3 days upwards, so with 3 destinations in 14 days, you should be able to find an apartment in each place.

For Rome, check out Cross Pollinate.

http://www.cross-pollinate.com/new_seek.asp?lang=1&s=1

I would book everywhere as soon as you can.

Although this thread is few years old, I wanted to share what I found in case others are looking for information.

There is a disconnect between the hotel policy and what the hotel booking engines and reservation systems show.

I've looked at two hotels one in Geneva and the other in Oslo.

Both hotels don't show up when two kids are included in the search but in the specific website for those locations it is clearly mentioned that kids can stay free with their parents

http://www.expressgeneva.com/en/rates.php

"The daily room rates are for one or two adults and two children under the age of 18 years sharing one room."


http://www.radissonblu.com/hotel-osloalna/rooms

"Children 12 and under stay free in the parent's room with existing bedding. An extra bed charge of NOK 350 per night per child applies."

Well, existing bedding will probably be one double bed. So unless you think you can stuff 4 people in that you would have to get roll away beds moved in. And the cost of 350 NOK (about $50 extra per kid) per night is not cheap.

In any case I would contact the hotel directly to be sure of what to expect when you get there.

Both the hotels mentioned are part of what were originally American chains. They cater to Americans, tour groups, etc, They are often near airports, not city centers. There are also some European chains like Ibis that cater to tour groups and have quad rooms. Pretty non-descript. I am sure the OP found someplace to stay back in 2011. He/she just did not let us know.

An apartment might still be best option for a family.

I don't know what the laws are in Switzerland or Norway, but the original question was about Italy, where you can't rent a double room and put two additional kids in it, even if kids stay free, and even if they sleep in the bed with their parents.

The hotels where kids stay free are usually the more expensive ones, so it's technically free but you might get a better deal in a cheaper hotel where kids don't stay free. I use booking.com to find hotels. They ask you how many rooms you want, for how many adults, and how many kids.

I accidentally sent that too soon.

Hotels in Italy aren't allowed to put three people in a double room, so if you request a double room and then show up with two extra children, you may find that the hotel has no room where they can legally allow you to stay.

If you see that you can't reserve a room on a booking site that both takes account of all the people in the room and adjusts the price for the children who can stay free, you should communicate directly with the hotel.

Also, I realize this is a fairly old post, but quad rooms are not hard to find in Europe. The modern hotels usually have rooms that are mostly the same size, and it's not easy to find quad rooms in those (nor single rooms for that matter, although they'll just give you a double and call it a single). In older hotels, especially those in buildings converted from convents, private homes, and offices, there are usually rooms of various sizes. I've never had trouble finding rooms for three or four people. It gets a bit harder with five to a room.

Another point is that many hotels don't put the rooms that can fit a large family on the booking websites. You need to contact the hotels directly. We have a family of five and have had little to no luck finding a room in areas we would like to stay using the booking.com or venere.com websites. Instead, I look for hotels with rooms with quads. Then I email the hotels directly and they tell me if they have a room that will accommodate five. Sometimes they do, sometimes they don't. The price is inevitably more for a room for five (that was listed on the booking engines as a room for four) but generally not by much. At times, they will add an extra bed. Other times the bedding already exists. But in all cases, its not a last minute decision by the hotel. Its that the room was permitted to hold that many, it just wasn't posted on the other booking engines.