Finding Family Friendly Accommodation

Fri, Jul 16, 2010

Here are my tips for finding family friendly accommodation:

Tell the hotel that you are travelling with a baby/child. On our travels we’ve found our hotel/b&b hosts to be extremely accommodating. In France we were given a room on the ground floor so that we didn’t have to worry about getting the buggy/stroller up the stairs. This also meant that when Euan woke up in the middle of the night we didn’t have to worry about waking  the other guests up the stairs.  In the Italian Alps we were given a larger room so that there was plenty of room for the cot. In Lake Como we were given an apartment with a fridge. A lot of places are also able to provide a cot too.  Also, if you tell a hotel before booking that you have a baby then they can politley decline your booking if they aren’t family friendly.


Look at the hotel’s website. You’ll get a good idea of the size of the rooms and of the facilities. For example it’s quite useful to have a kettle in your room because you’ll be able to use boiling water to quickly sterilise a single item. However, I wouldn’t get too hung up about this – most hoteliers will be more than happy to provide some boiling water if you need some!

Think carefully about whether self catering or a hotel would suit you and your family best because there are advantages and disadvantages to both.

5 top reasons to book self catering

  1. 1. You won’t have to pack as much because there will probably be a washing machine that you can use.
  2. 2. No alarm clocks needed. If your baby decides to have a long lie then you can too without worrying about missing breakfast.
  3. 3. You can really settle in and feel at home. If you want to stick to a routine while on holiday self catering is the way to go because you can have all of your meals at home and won’t have to take your baby out at bedtime in order to eat your dinner!
  4. 4. There tends to be more space in self catering.
  5. 5. No matter how you feed your baby, having a kitchen will make your life easier.  If your baby is weaned then you have the use of a fridge to store jars or to keep food you make yourself. If you are bottle feeding the sink will be handy to do all of the washing up and if you are breastfeeding you may want to express at times and the sink will be useful to clean your pump.

5 top reasons to book a hotel

  1. 1. You will really feel that you are on holiday – no beds to make, no kitchen to clean, no meals to prepare.
  2. 2. There will always be a member of staff around to ask for advice, for example about things to do in the local area.
  3. 3. Hotels tend to be located in the centre, making it easier to wander around and see the sites (although if you are staying in a city check they have parking if you’re driving!)
  4. 4. A lot of hotels have extra facilities such as a swimming pool for you to enjoy with your baby. Don’t forget the water proof nappies/diapers though. If nothing else they’ll stop the frowns from the other guests!
  5. 5. Hotels quite often have room service and/or a restaurant attached. This means you don’t have to go far to eat and it’s easier to get your baby to bed at bedtime.  We stayed in a lovely hotel in St Andrews and decided to treat ourselves to room service while Euan was sleeping in his cot. It was gorgeous!
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