I'll be traveling to France and England in December with my husband, 2 daughters and one of their girl friends ages 14-17. What do you recommend for accomodations? The girls want to room together, but everthing I find shows rates for only 2. I would like to find accomodations with two double beds and a cot, but so far I've had no luck. What do people do when traveling with children?

Isn't it possible for 2 girls to share a double bed, while the third gets a bed to herself, and then rotate the privilege of not sharing every night? Or, it might be possible to book and pay extra for a room with 3 single beds. If the room already has 2 doubles, it might be hard to squish a cot in. If they can squeeze it in, they will charge you plenty extra for the triple. I'm sure you don't mean that all 5 of you would fit into one room, do you? Because that won't happen.

Did that last year with 3 boys 14-22. Two rooms was the only way I could find. You sound like a prime candidate for an apartment rental.

we stayed in london a few years back at the marriott near the eye. We had a mix of 3 adults and 3 kids and stayed in 2 rooms. I think we had a king and a rollaway in each and it worked perfectly.

There are many hotels that offer triple rooms, 3 beds, or a double plus a daybed, or a double plus a cot.
So, you contact a hotel and tell them you need two rooms, one double with one large bed (yourself plus husband) and one room that can accommodate 3.

You don't say what you want to spend.

If you want a very simple hotel, which has doubles, twins, and triples (and the triple has 3 beds, I saw one) then try the Arosfa Hotel on Gower St.
It is a clean, pleasant place, the price includes a cooked breakfast every morning. Location is outer Bloomsbury,nearest Tube stop is Goodge St. A year ago, doubles were about 55 GBP, triples 75 I think.
They have a website.

A good place to browse for hotels by location or by price is
londontown.com

I agree. While they are a minority, any number of hotels DO offer triple rooms.

Best wishes,

Rex

Regarding the Arosfa, I meant to add that, not surprisingly for those prices, the rooms are small and the bathrooms very small.

Hi, I'm from little old England !, so I can say that it will be virtually impossible to find rooms with two double beds, this is an Americanism.

The standard hotel room in England and Europe is a room with two single beds. In seaside places you may find places with 'family rooms', which just means a room with more than 2 single beds but they are also quite rare.

In England we say 'when in Rome do what the Romans do.'

Be very sure that when booking in England you do not ask for "two double beds and a cot" or "three beds and a cot" - in the UK a "cot" is a baby crib and they probably would not think to ask you if one of the kids is an infant.

I would definitely recommend you rent flats - most 2 bedroom and some 1 bedroom apartments accomodate five people comfortably, will have a full kitchen and washer/dryer, will give you more space than two small hotel rooms, and will usually cost a good deal less.

...just an aside here ... but the two hotel rooms will at least also have two baths...two hair dryer thingies, two toilets, These are teenager girls after all.

Unless NBalk spends many many pounds sterling, I'll wager that a flat with two baths comes quite "dear"!

Actually not that much - I know of some nice 2 bd-2 bath ones in Pimlico/Victoria that run about £100 to £120 per night. Hard to find nice hotel rooms for £50 - £55 per night . . . . .

The biggest "apartments" in Citadines Apart'hotels might work, although I think you'll only get one bathroom. There are lots of them in France, and a few in London. Check out www.citadines.com

Advantages: (1) beds are convertible, so in the daytime you have more room to move around; (2) mini-kitchens, so you can save money buy buying groceries for breakfastand some other meals; (3) laundry facilities; and (4) studios, 1 and 2 bedroom suites.

Disadvantages: (1) weekly (not daily) maid service, with extra charges for more frequent service (or extra towels); (2) few or no hotel services (eg restaurants, concierge etc); (3) in some locations (the ones I used in France), they don't have a 24 hour front desk - sometimes you have to let yourself in via key; (4) sofabeds are not the most comfy beds in the world (but neither are many beds in UK and French hotels; they're just uncomfortable in a different way). I've stayed in the Holborn location in London, and in Strasbourg and Grenoble.

Not cheap, but not expensive by London standards. If you can get away with a single 2-BR suite, it might be a good deal.

You might also look for Sandra Gustafson's book, "Cheap Sleeps in London" (new version might be called "Great Sleeps ...&quot. It has some good suggestions for alternative accommodations, plus very detailed reviews of moderate and low budget hotels and B&Bs.