jmat

What is the deal with European hotel rooms??? Single, double, triple ... what about quadruple? Does anyone in Europe travel with more than one kid?

My husband and I are taking our two boys to Europe (overnights in Netherlands and France - Champagne or Paris region) in September and trying to find a hotel that will sleep four to a room is proving to be quite a challenge! We're on a budget and we don't want to have pay for two rooms. The family rooms we have seen cost as much as a deluxe suite! E280+

Does anyone have any suggestions? Has anyone traveled to these locations with their kids?

nytraveler

What is the deal with paretns stuffing all thse people into one tiny room? When we traveled with our paretns we always had our own room. IMHO 4 people with one bath is way too much. And after seeing ech other all day - don;t you want a little space apart? Just go for a less expensive hotel and take 2 rooms.

shandy

We have three children so one room is out of the question. We have booked an apartment for London and will probably do the same for Paris. You can often still get away with a one BR apartment because many will offer a sofa bed in the loungeroom and/or a rollaway for the loungeroom. Outside the cities we are going for B&B's where the price is sufficiently cheap to get two rooms. See if there is a website for the individual towns you hope to stop in. They often have a list of ordinary B&B's or auberges that aren't big enough to have their own site or to subscribe to a booking service. These are the ones which are normally cheaper and I often find are the ones which you give you a real taste of the local area. I was able to do this for all our stops in Germany. Hopefully it would apply in France and Netherlands too.

nytraveler - you obviously have tons of money or have never travelled with children. Give a thought to how much extra it costs with four or five airfares to start with and then two rooms every night, plus sightseeing and food costs x 4. jmat could easily only be looking at 2 star hotels anyway, that all we are looking at.

jay

try this
http://www.francehotelreservation.com
i believe there is also a europe hotel reservation.com. we stayed at the excelsior in paris which has quade and it is 112 e for a quad. not the fanciest hotel but a great location and easy access to the metro.

mebanese

We had a quad room (and a triple) at the Hotel Flora in the 10th district. (I know the 10eme has a terrible reputation, but this hotel is in a perfectly fine location.) The hotel was not fancy, but the rooms were quite clean, and the breakfast was terrific and included in the price. Most of the guests were families from Europe, with a few business travelers.

We have four kids, and we have to get two rooms. So on another trip, we rented a flat and it saved us tons. We were on a "you can't even do Paris that cheap" budget!

PS I've also heard good things about Hotel Excelsior on Rue Cujas.

nytraveler

Well, yes I have traveled with kids a couple of times - and if there weren't separate rooms someone would have been dead within the first 2 or 3 days. And sharing a bath with an 11-year old girl is not really an option - they need at least one just for themselves and their hair.

I'm just suggesting that its certainly possible to get two rooms in a modest hotel for less than 280 euros. Obviously traveling with kids is not cheap - bit IMHO spending 24 hours a day for weeks at a time with anyone can be terminally irritating - never mind with 2 kids.

mebanese

Also - the Accor hotels often have quads. Do a search on "quad room Netherlands" and you'll find other options.

patg

Also try laterooms.com for ideas.
Their display lets you specify how many people, big and little, you need, and lists rooms accordingly. Most websites won't let you book family rooms.

Be aware that some beds for children are undersized - fine for an 8 year old, no good for a 15 year old.

Inquiring directly with the hotel by e-mail works well for us.

You are wise to book the rooms in advance; otherwise, you have very few options besides paying for two rooms.

StCirq

We've traveled all over France, including at least a yearly family trip to Prais, for years, and have never had a big problem finding a quad or two adjoining rooms. Actually, what we preferred when the kids were younger (they're now 14 and 17) was "chambres communicantes" - two double rooms with an adjoining hallway, single entrance, and preferably two baths. Lacking that, we got two rooms.

If you're looking for hotels IN Paris, the two we have routinely stayed at are the Hôtel Duquesne-Eiffel and the Hôtel de France on the Blv. de la Tour Maubourg. I just booked a triple room there last week for the middle of August with no problem.

francophile03

I think the idea of two rooms is good. As everyone is suggesting, to do this you should look into a good 2* hotel. Even for myself I booked two rooms for my aunt and myself because I know that we both needed our own spaces.

jmat

Thanks for all the good suggestions. We don't mind sharing a room with our kids at all. Besides, all we want to do there is sleep! We'll be taking a driving tour of Northern Europe and expect to be cozy for a while. It will be our time to connect with our boys.

The US spoils with large hotel rooms. Most hotel rooms we've had here were at least 400 square feet! And virtually all hotels in the US have two double beds!

An apartment sounds great but we won't be in one place longer than two nights. Most that I have seen require a longer stay.

I'll look into the hotels suggested - thanks!!!

mjs

This issue is not an easy one to solve all the time. Three people traveling together is easy as you can almost always turn a double into a triple with alittle extra money. Five people require two rooms. Having four people is the most difficult issue with traveling accomadations because having one room as opposed to two rooms can save you alot of money. You might also find that staying in one room in a four star is nicer than having 2 rooms in a two star for the same money. Doubles turning into quads are difficult to find outside of North America and OZ/NZ. Having said that, I have found many hotels in Europe do sometimes have quads. They just tend not to mention them in their listings or web sites. Guide books also tend not to mention quads. I find these rooms by making a list of hotels in the areas I am interested in, at around the price I can afford. Multiple guide books and a few web sites help to make this list. I than e mail or fax a letter asking what room(s) might be available for us on the dates we are traveling. If the room rates in reply seem high, I answer with a thank you and decline the offer due to expenses. Sometimes, especially in the off season, another lower price offer will come back and I may accept. This has allowed us to stay at some very nice places for a reasonable sum. We do tend to like apartments for laundry, space and ability to prepare light meals in. If you are moving about however, apartments in general do not work as they usually require a minimum stay. You might look at the Citadines aparthotels in France for one bedroom flats. You can rent them by night, are easy to cancel and usually have laundry and parking facilities.

suze

No I have not traveled with kids, but to me the issue of any 4 people sharing a room while traveling is 1 bathroom! I'll speak to Paris and Amsterdam only, but there are tons of 3-star hotels with double rooms around $100.

SalB

Hi. May I suggest you look at the France.com web site for a hotel. The address is http://www.france.com

Click on Hotels (under the search button) and do a search for small hotels, 2 star hotels and 3 star hotels. They will give the price, different kind of rooms available, photos of the place and review by people who have stayed there. You can choose the size room you want, your price and your location. We reserve with them all the time and have never had any problems.

Good luck.

francophile03

I come across many posts that say that the room is "only a place to sleep". It may be true that we don't spend many hours in our rooms so the cost really is not justified. But to me having four people in one room is quite challenging and will be irritating after a short while. If you are not comfortable in your room for whatever reason your visit can be seriously undermined. Maybe it's ok for a couple of days but for the whole trip-no. Well, again it's just my opinion, but I really feel you should get two inexpensive rooms.

Mary_Fran

jmat, it's hard for me to believe that it's impossible to rent a room with two double beds in Europe. I'd start on the telephone, rather than trying to book on the internet.

Personally, I grew up one of six kids in a family, sharing one bathroom, and when I married and had two children, we also shared one bath. I can't remember a single conflict about the bathroom either with my six siblings or my two kids. Really can't. Families work those things out!

I'd be amazed if you find, when you talk personally to reservation staff at hotels and ask for a room with two double beds, if they told you it was impossible. I just wouldn't use the word "quad."

I'm sure that in today's society, most folks can't believe a family can share a bath, but trust me, those of us born before 1950 knew nothing else and suffered not a bit for it.

Christina

I've seen quite a few hotels in Paris say they have quads. A hotel usually won't have very many of them, but they often have one.

Four people staying in a room that is barely bigger than the beds will be a challenge for coziness. If you are really sure you won't mind that, I think the Familia hotel in the Latin Qtr has a quad with two double beds. It's pretty cheap. The Regent Hotel on rue Madame in the 6th arr also has a fairly cheap quad room (a double and two twins, I think).

KathrynT

We stayed in quite a few quad rooms on our trip last summer but, unfortunately, have good suggestions only for places where you are not visiting. It was our first trip with our children and I was much more comfortable with having them share our room than having them "down the hall" (not to mention our budget was stretched enough with the falling Euro.) We found most of our hotels through Rick Steves' books but a few came from this site. We e-mailed the ones that sounded promising asking if they had quad rooms (with a bath) and usually received replies quickly. Good luck and have a great trip!