How do you book a hotel room for a family of 5?

[Anonymous]

As others have said, depends on the location. We lived in Europe for four years and traveled quite a bit with our three kids who were very young. We almost always had to get two rooms, and we just split up. Sometimes they were adjoining, but usually they were not. Truth is that most European rooms don't accommodate more than 2 people, but our youngest was in a pack and play.

In the US, though - one room usually suits us. Splitting up sucks, and even if it is tight (our oldest is now 12), one kid is always fine piling pillows on the floor if there isn't a couch. Ideally, though, we always try for a suite or family room.

To your question, though, I always start a search with 5 people, but if a room isn't available, I say we're only 4. US hotels do not care about this the way European ones do.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I always said we were 4 people & got one room. Older DD and I would sleep in one bed, DH and son would sleep in the other bed, and younger DD would sleep on the pullout sofa.

We did that until they were grown, and it was never a problem. We rarely spent much time in the hotel room.

Hotel rooms that have two queens and a sleep sofa have a max occupancy of 5 or 6. We are talking about rooms that only sleep 4. Of course rooms that have higher occupancies take larger families!

[Anonymous]

You’re just going to be limited to suites that have 3 beds or 2 beds + pull out couch. Look for Home Away, Residence Inn, etc for those types of rooms. Traveling with 5 is a pain for this reason - so many things are built for 2-4

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You need a family suite, with 2 queens and a fold-out sofa bed.

This! But I can’t imagine any hotel until it’s a small tiny one ever noticing or caring if you have an extra child.

fire code violation might be in play

[Anonymous]

We always look for a sleeper sofa or book 2 rooms even though we only have two kids. They don’t want to share a bed, nor do they want to share with DH.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Another reason not to have more than two kids.

FWIW. Some sites still pull you two rooms with 4 but oddly there will be a Queen room, 1 bed available for 3 adults.

[Anonymous]

This is why you do Airbnb or Vrbo you realize that right? You have 5 so it's time to realize 1 room does not work anymore.

[Anonymous]

I’m going to have this problem soon with my third kid coming this summer. My kids are all young (not even in elementary school yet). At normal hotels in the U.S. where I can get a double bed I’ll lie and say there are just four of us. I’ll have my spouse hang back with at least one kid while I check in.

I’d rather get two rooms in Europe where the rooms are small anyway, but I could see risking it so long as there isn’t free breakfast. Ha! I suppose it could also be risky abroad given that you’re often asked for passports at check-in.

For all inclusives or high end hotels, like the Four Seasons I plan to get two rooms or call directly. I’ve had staff remember my kids names days into our stay after only meeting them briefly at check-in so it might be problematic to have more guests than allowed.

We also aren’t afraid to use VRBO or AirBnB. Unfortunately it’s much more expensive traveling with five.

[Anonymous]

Airbnb. I wish hotels had better family options.

[Anonymous]

If there are two parents, one stays in one room and the other stays in the other, and divide the kids between them. Connecting rooms.
If a single parent, get a suite.

[Anonymous]

There are only three options.


1) VRBO or Airbnb
2) Hotel suite with beds for everyone and a separate bedroom for the adults: check out this site: https://sixsuitcasetravel.com
3) Adjoining rooms with the understanding that if they aren't adjoining when we arrive, mom sleeps in one and dad in the other.

[Anonymous]

I've found that when you book for hotels, they count 3 people fitting on a king size bed and sorry, that is not working for our family. DH and I always get a King. Our kids of opposite genders who are teens do not share a bed so we're looking at 2 Q or they can do 2 Twins/full. So the hotel would count Q as 2 people. So 5 people = 1 K + 1Q but in reality, for the 4 of us, we're looking at: 1 K + 1Q/F/T + 1 Q/T/F which really means we're booking at least for 5 if not 7. It sucks.

But we don't really care if we split up - we went down to Miami when the kids were 12 and 14 and they shared a room with 2 fulls and we were in another area with a king. It was actually separate buildings but our kids are old enough they were fine. We take away all their electronics, they know they can reach us with the hotel phones and we take away the TV remote too We stayed there for 5 nights and it was not a problem.

We all split room/they shared sofa bed until about 6 and 8 maybe and then it really was time for separation.

I cannot imagine if you were a family of 5 or 6 - not sure how you don't just avoid hotels and book airbnb/vrbo? We never were a family that could share 2Q or 2K in the same room. DH snores and DD categorically will not sleep in the same room. I understand but it def makes travelling $$$$

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I've found that when you book for hotels, they count 3 people fitting on a king size bed and sorry, that is not working for our family. DH and I always get a King. Our kids of opposite genders who are teens do not share a bed so we're looking at 2 Q or they can do 2 Twins/full. So the hotel would count Q as 2 people. So 5 people = 1 K + 1Q but in reality, for the 4 of us, we're looking at: 1 K + 1Q/F/T + 1 Q/T/F which really means we're booking at least for 5 if not 7. It sucks.

But we don't really care if we split up - we went down to Miami when the kids were 12 and 14 and they shared a room with 2 fulls and we were in another area with a king. It was actually separate buildings but our kids are old enough they were fine. We take away all their electronics, they know they can reach us with the hotel phones and we take away the TV remote too We stayed there for 5 nights and it was not a problem.

We all split room/they shared sofa bed until about 6 and 8 maybe and then it really was time for separation.

I cannot imagine if you were a family of 5 or 6 - not sure how you don't just avoid hotels and book airbnb/vrbo? We never were a family that could share 2Q or 2K in the same room. DH snores and DD categorically will not sleep in the same room. I understand but it def makes travelling $$$$

Why ok earth would you go on vacation and takeaway electronics and tv remotes? That sounds terrible!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’m going to have this problem soon with my third kid coming this summer. My kids are all young (not even in elementary school yet). At normal hotels in the U.S. where I can get a double bed I’ll lie and say there are just four of us. I’ll have my spouse hang back with at least one kid while I check in.

I’d rather get two rooms in Europe where the rooms are small anyway, but I could see risking it so long as there isn’t free breakfast. Ha! I suppose it could also be risky abroad given that you’re often asked for passports at check-in.

For all inclusives or high end hotels, like the Four Seasons I plan to get two rooms or call directly. I’ve had staff remember my kids names days into our stay after only meeting them briefly at check-in so it might be problematic to have more guests than allowed.

We also aren’t afraid to use VRBO or AirBnB. Unfortunately it’s much more expensive traveling with five.

Family of five. We always book hotels. We always book a room for 5 or 6 - they aren't that hard to find.

Just a word of caution. At least twice, I've seen families turned away from hotels after the hotel realized they had more than the allowable in the room and there were not other options in the area due to peak travel lack of hotel vacancies. It was far more expensive for them to have to change their flights than it would have been to just book the two rooms. Just noting that your strategy of lying isn't without its risks.

[Anonymous]

You may want to verify this, but I heard from a friend that has close relatives that work for major national chains and they are not allowed to deny a family of five occupancy of one room. I have a family of four so I have not researched this further and I'm guessing it is only true for minor children.