Neopolitan

So you're saying that whatever they charge for four people to stay there, they should charge the same for two of us? I'd be as outraged as you are -- maybe more. Why should two of us have to pay as much as for four people?

bergers4

A 679
I just think @ ages 16/17 and up is/should be the ages any parent should pay extra for any of their OWN children! For just under$200.00 (a night)just for my hubby and I plus the extra.. well just what I think!!!!! What do you think is fair for YOUR OWN kids?????? I do not have aproblem paying extra for older kids, it is just the age 12...

Neopolitan

OK, I have just one more room to rent. Two families want to rent it. I can only charge $200 for it. One family is four including two young teenagers. The other family is two adults, no kids. Let me see. Which would I prefer to rent it to? Hard choice?

I fail to see why an adult couple should have to pay as much as a family of four including two teens. Could you explain why you think they should?

Fodorite018

Neopolitan--I agree, and I have two children that are at/near the age of where hotels start charging for them.

djkbooks

I cannot imagine a family of four in one room with one bathroom.

nytraveler

By letting your kids under 12 stay free they are already forcing other people to pay part of your expenses. Why should your teenagers - who probably use as much if not more of the facilities and create as least as much wear and tear as adult guests - be free? You're the one who decided to have kids - you're the one who should pay for them. Not the other guests - who don;t have kids yet - or whose kids are already adults or who didn;t bring kids with them.

(Frankly I think hotels and resorts should charge for all kids above 5/6 based on actual usage and wear/tear.)

Kal

Am I the only one who gets the biggest kick out of these "traveling with children" debates?

claire_bluesky

It's not about fair. It's about supply and demand. The hotels will charge what the market will bear.

But if it were about fair, I think 12 is fair and I have a 13 yr. old. She goes to the movies, the mall, restaurants, the roller rink, etc. without us, with friends. She's an inch taller than me and we weigh about the same. If we do brunch, she eats more than me. If we go to the pool, she swims a lot longer than me. Actually, since my husband and I share a bed/room and she gets her own, and she demands equal time in the bathroom, and she uses more of the facilities/amenities, I think maybe I should get a discount.

Worktowander

Consider it payback for the tax deductions.

Grcxx3

It was when my kids both hit 12/13-ish that I started insisting on 2 rooms. Two adults and 2 young teens in one room for a week is NOT a vacation!

bergers4

Kal, I think NYtraveler has a probelm, either does not have/like kids.. or maybe just not his/her own. the point is being missed, I think paying extra for older kids( somewhat) is normal, but "12". Heck, when my daughter turned 10 her haircut went from $8 to $20, her hair length was the same. So, I took by business elswhere, now she is just old enough to pick her own. I just think it is out of control, when a parent has to pay so much money for a room ( maybe for some is all they can afford), but the hotels sock it to them for a 12 year old. I have firneds with triplets, can you imagine?!
And yes Kal we love traveling with our kids, any ages, but don't MOST parents?!!!!!!!!!! That has never been the issue!

Neopolitan

Bergers, I guess your computer doesn't show my posts and questions? I've asked the same basic question two times and you just ignore it. Please explain WHY you think that two people in a room should have to pay the same price as four people in a room? How do you explain the fairness of that? And saying "because it effects me" is not a good answer.

joan

So, bergers4, your title says it stinks at 12 or 13. But really, that is the age that kids have huge growth spurts, eat more, start taking hourlong showers (if they can get away with it), demand extra towels, and no longer fit on the loveseat. Heck, even restaurant kids meals end at age 11 or so. Seems logical to me.

jlm_mi

bergers4 - Clearly most people disagree with you when you say that 12 is too young for this to kick in, but it's still your prerogative to feel that 12 is, indeed, too young.

What you don't get is that it's not a racket or BS. It's business. Why should the hotel care that your friend has triplets and wouldn't be able to afford paying the extra rate for all three of them? The hotel didn't choose for them to have triplets, or to work in the profession that they do with the income they do. The hotel is in business, and will charge what they can reasonably make based on the current market. That's not BS, that's how a business runs. As has been said many times, if you don't like it, don't pay it. Some hotel, somewhere, is not charging extra for 12 year old kids, so take your business there if it means that much to you.

Or, as Neopolitan said, can you only see NYtraveler's and Kal's posts on this particular thread and no one else's?

Sue_xx_yy

I can see how this could be confusing to parents. For example, at Novotel (an Accor chain hotel that is more common in Europe than NA) the child policy is effective up until age 16.

But it's really up to the hotel in question as to what age they decide to charge adult rates, or even if they decide to give a child rate at all. Hotels can charge what they think the particular market that they serve will bear. They don't give child rates because it is 'fair' but only if they think doing so is necessary to get the business of the market share they serve. If they can still make their revenue targets after lowering the age of their child policy, or charging fairly high third and fourth person fees, then that's what they'll do. The same applies to any other discount - seniors, military, AAA, etc. etc. It's not a matter of being nice, but of trying to lure a specific market segment. A hotel might not, in fact, be all that interested in a given market segment. (Charging high 3rd and 4th person per room rates might be a subtle way of discouraging children.)

I can't speak to whether free market capitalism is fair, but the principle is generally pretty consistent.

schmerl

Let's take it in the other direction. Hotels and resorts that charge "per person" charge me MORE for traveling alone. I'm only one person using the facilities, towels, etc. However, I understand that since they charge "per person", they can get more money if two people stay in the room, so I have to make up some of the difference.
Asking you to pay $12 a night for each extra person is VERY reasonable in my opinion.

ALF

I too travel with two teens (14 & 18) and we generally only get one room. Of course, hotels are all over the map in terms of extra charges. We just went to Whistler, B.C., and the condo we rented wanted $40/week for extra kids - not a large charge, and certainly not unreasonable. I might decide to avoid a hotel that charged an extra $12/night for each of my kids, but I certainly wouldn't be outraged about it. We are also not above claiming that there are only 2 or 3 of us, and then putting all 4 of us in the room.

nina

"Not exactly, nina. By the logic used here, hotels should be able to charge extra for the second person if they choose, just as they should be able to charge extra for children of any age, should they choose. It's a free market"

I agree that it's a free market, I didn't say it wasn't. I will not stay in a place that is going to charge me $100 extra per day for the same room only simply because my kids are going to sleep in it. It's the hotels right to charge whatever they want, and it's my right to book elsewhere.

Regarding the suggestion to book 2 rooms, I think it's easy to say but very expensive to do. Now that my kids are 13 and 16, I try to book a 2 room suite, although my family can struggle sharing one bathroom, I grew up in a family of 5 with one bathroom, how did we ever survive?

With lodging prices at $300 or more per night sometimes, a second room is a luxury I'm not willing to spring for.

As far as single travelers are concerned, my husband pays the same price as couples for hotel rooms when on business travel, I don't see any hotels giving him a rebate because he only used one towel, but that same hotel might charge our family more for the same room if we use more towels.

The question comes down to this, either charge by the room (and allow as many people as the room can sleep), or charge by the person, but doing both when it's conveniently profitable is somewhat unfair IMO.

nina

"I fail to see why an adult couple should have to pay as much as a family of four including two teens. Could you explain why you think they should?"

Let me address this. If that family is not receiving any breakfast, and is renting the exact same room as the couple, then what costs are the incurring over the couple? Maybe a couple of extra towels (kids do not use more than one towel each)?

If a hotel that charges over $200 a night, as so many do, and then charge those pesky "resort fees" can't absorb the cost of washing 2 extra towels (how much can that be?), then let them charge me the $2.00 extra, it can't be more than that.

On the other hand, can you answer why you and your wife shouldn't pay more than just my husband for the same room?

nina

"Please explain WHY you think that two people in a room should have to pay the same price as four people in a room?"

For the same reason that one person in a room has to pay the same price as two people in a room.