When a child turns 18 can they sign for their own hotel room? I am asking for my daughter. She and a group of girls are talking senior trip but have not booked anything yet. I am thinking they need a chaperone, but not sure. Can they book their own hotel? Rental car? Cruist alone at 18? Gamble in Vegas? I do know they can't drink, but not sure about the other things.

TIA...

She can book her own hotel room, but a lot of hotels won't allow it during spring break & graduation time (due to parties and damage), or demand a sizeable deposit. Best to check with the hotels first. Rental car, not usually until 25 years old. Cruise? Again, probably not. Most cruises require 21 or over. Gamble in Vegas? Absolutely not, and she'd best not get caught even trying, they are very strict. As a chaperone, you may be able to do the cruise, provided you are booked into the same cabin. I believe there are one or two cruise lines out there that are more lenient on that point, though.

Hotels depends on the rules of the specific hotel. They may decide based on age, gender, # of kids and time of year. Most will not give a room to a pack of 18-year olds. Also, they may require that the credit card used have an extra-high limit - to allow for damages if any.

We did massive amounts of research last year when our son and his friends wanted to go to a concert - requiring an overnight hotel stay. I posted here, asked friends, called the hotels in question, and, by chance, got the opinion of a travel agent who was handling some other business for us.

As mentioned above, no rental car, no cruise, no gambling or drinking anywhere in US.

The hotel question gets tricky. We found it varies by not only chain, but individual hotel. There seemed to be no consistency as to rules based on location or price. Some hotels had specific ages listed on their websites, but many did not.

In the end, much to our son's distress, we found it necessary for my husband to book 4 rooms (one for him), check in, get keys, and stay in same hotel. They did not ask him ages or who would be staying in the 4 rooms - but most hotels do not ask such questions of a 50 year old man in a suit with a briefcase - whereas they might ask that question of a pack of teenagers, no matter how well they presented themselves.

While I'm all for some teens being mature, why do I feel like this is an accident waiting to happen? A parent asking about kids being able to gamble and rent a car? Or are you just making sure that they CAN'T?

The whole senior trip thing is such a baaaad idea.

I second the notion that a senior trip is a "baaaad" idea!

As a h.s. cheer coach, I second the motion that the senior trip, unchaperoned, is a bad idea. I've seen the pictures (the worst were of the cute little Mormon girl whose parents evidentally didn't have a CLUE!!!)and heard the stories including the one about several teachers' kids who had such a variety and amount of illegal substances in their hotel room that there was a felony drug charge made and a trip to jail (and a subsequent trip to Florida to face charges). Their parents were on the spring break trip but in another hotel.

Hmmmm..... Even if your kid isn't one of them, do you really want yours around all that temptation? When I was a senior an aquaintance died on spring break when his best friend flipped a jeep on the beach.

I will gladly rent a large house in a quiet beach town (forget Panama City where I've seen teens running down the street naked and where they sometimes come back to the hotel pool wasted at 2am)and let my kids each bring an extra friend.

What we are talking about is a couple of mature girls who would like to go somewhere together to "travel" not party. My OD would like to go to London, but can't do that right now. ANd they would love to do a cruise. But this trip is to celebrate a right of passage and "travel" to an agreed upon destination for the same reasons all of us love to travel. This is not a "party" trip. They have already passed on the package that the companies offer to the party destinations.

Yes, I want to know what they can and can't do. My understanding is that kids at 18 can gamble on Indian land at the Indian casinos. Don't know if that is exactly true also.

So, these are good kids that would like to have a good, independent time traveling without Mommy and Daddy looking over their shoulders. Not too much to ask after all the hard work these kids have done to make good grades, keep up gpa's, keep up rigid schedules and social lives, and plan their high school life so that they can get into top grade schools.

I have an 18 year old son graduating from high school this year. There is absolutely NO WAY I would let him take a senior trip. He is an honor student and has never given us one moment of grief. Having said that, I think a senior trip is just trouble screaming to happen.

We are taking a cruise as a family and he is bringing a friend. That is his "senior trip."

Just my two cents, of course.

I'd be a little concerned--hell, a lot concerned--if my 18-year-old expressed an interest in gambling!

Heavens, let's say these girls do not plan to "party", fine. But they are GIRLS - do you think just because they are *together* they would be safe from those who may not have their best interest in mind...

Howard, FYI, poker is quite the rage these days with the teens. I think it started with the Travel channel. You can find poker tours on about five different channels now. It is just an experience. Sometimes they buy scratchers too. And lottery tickets. But don't tell anyone.

Didn't any of you guys go backpacking in Europe for a couple of weeks with a few friends? I didn't either, but always wanted to. My mother would have let me, with the right kids.

These kids are old enough to vote now. They will be going off to college on their own for the next four years in a couple of months. Yes, I absolutely would trust my daughter to go off for a few days with her mature friends to travel to certain places. These kids, yes, some of her peers, no.

How old were you on your first trip without mom and dad? I was 16 when a group of girls, about 17, rented two rooms on the beach of a Corpus Cristi hotel. We actually did have a chaperone, if you could call her that. She bought the booze for us. My gosh we had a good time. And the biggest problems on the trip was a few who peuked b/c they drank too much and very bad sunburns. I learned a lot on that trip. I would not be in favor of her traveling this way. I know how much trouble some kids can be. But many are NOT that way.

We are not talking PV or Cancun here. Or Palm Springs. Or Ft. Lauderdale. This is not a spring break event.

Oh well, if the Travel Channel says it's okay to gamble, who am I--a parent--to urge my teenager not to?
Wonderful story, heavens, about you and you friends puking on a teenage trip after drinking too much. So, tell me, are you sending your mature daughter off with her own stash of booze?

I guess I still don't get it. If they are so mature and not looking to play, and you totally trust them, what are these questions about gambling and drinking. Are you afraid they will if they want to? Or are you hoping they can? I just don't get it, sorry.

If what you're talking about is a pair of mature, responsible 18 -year old girls they should have no trouble finding a hotel that will take them - assuming a high limit CC as payment.

(My boyfirend and I spent most of the summer in europe when I was 19 and he 23 - and no one ever questioned our ages in any hotel - but obviously we were a (at least somewhat) reliable couple versus a pack of partiers. Its really the circumstances that matter most - not the exact age.

(And I understand that if a youngster is emancipated hotels will let them check in even under 18 - then its really an issue of contract law - as well as potential damage.)

heavens, it seems to me you are looking for some approval and reassurance. What do the parents of your daughter's friends think about this senior trip idea?

Glad to hear that YOU know that they can't drink, but do THEY know they can't drink? I just think you might be just a little too naive chalking everything up to maturity. Sometimes even *mature* kids make mistakes and show poor judgement!

Forgive those of us who are questioning letting h.s. seniors go it alone on vacation. First you ask about a "group" of teens and ask about gambling and drinking and then you post again about "a couple of mature girls" who aren't interested in partying.

We obviously don't know your daughter and her friends and they may be saints who have no interest in "partying" on their senior trip. However, the people they run into on a cruise or in an Indian reservation casino are not going to be saints. If you are even questioning whether or not they need a chaperone the answer is YES!!! And if they aren't going to those types of party locations why did you bring them up in the first place? And things have changed since your days when a hangover and a sunburn are thw worst things to come from spring break.

By the way, your defense of letting them go alone because they have good grades, good gpas, have adhered to rigid schedules and are old enough to vote and are going to college next year won't protect them from making poor choices on a senior trip. Would they really tell you if they were going to party on your dime anyway?

Whats so hard about you going too? If they REALLY, REALLY, REALLY don't want you to go I'd question the motive behind that. And I'd check into liability laws if you are the one making the hotel and car rental reservations for the children of other people.

Just an aside that might not seem related...my friend and her friend took their two very smart, very hard working, voting aged h.s. senior sons for spring break a couple of years ago and found rubbers in the boys's suitcases. For entertainment the ladies counted the rubbers while the boys were on the beach each day.

>>Sometimes even *mature* kids make mistakes
>>and show poor judgement!

Yes, and at some point in your child's life you have to allow them the freedom to make choices on their own so that they can learn from those mistakes. Kids who are getting ready to go away to college in 10-12 more weeks are probably ready to take on some responsibility for themselves, and if they can't be trusted to go away for a few days with friends you know, how can you let them go away to school, where new tempatations and boundless freedom will confront them at every juncture?

All we can do is teach them the best we can and realize that they will make mistakes.

Heavens should know if she has enough confidence in her daughter to allow her to go on a trip on her own.

heretoday: then WHY is she asking us?