OP here, thank you all SOOO much for the advice. I feel like I have oodles of options now and feel much more at ease

We also co-sleep at hotels, even with suites. Getting a suite gives DH and I time to unwind/relax without worrying about waking our 2 year old.

Book a suite or stay at a Residence Inn type hotel or condo rental instead. Or a friend's house or vacation rental. A balcony or patio is also nice, to have a place to drink wine, read a book, talk with DH and watch the waves/sunset when baby is napping.
Use the hotel crib, bring a pac n' play, or rent one from a baby supply rental company, or co-sleep.
Turn down the lights, the TV off, and lay quietly until baby falls alseep at bedtime.
We have found that we were able to place the pac n' play on one side of the bed and the baby slept pretty soundly while we watched TV with the sound low.
Yay for room service! Or send DH for carryout.

Judge away but it worked for us:

Got the free crib they offered from the hotel... sanitized best we could, brought our own sheets.

Wheeled crib into hotel bathroom. Yes, butted it right up against the shower, sink, and toilet.

Put my beautiful little baby boy in the crib when it was bedtime and he went right to sleep.

Made DH go to lobby bathroom to poop.

Ordered room service and watched movies with DH until we both fell asleep

We go the suite route most of the time, but have occasionally dealt with the one room sleeping. A few tips to help. Get a room with two queens or doubles instead of one King. Take the bed that has an aisle next to a wall (usually the one closest to the bathroom). Set up the PnP between the bed and the wall. Blocking the mesh sides will decrease the light into the PnP. Usually these rooms have lights by both beds. You can turn off the lights on the bed next to the PnP and leave one light on on the far side of the room and there will be much less light bleed into the PnP. Once I even took all the pillows and the comforter off the second bed and built a little mountain in the middle of the bed that helped block the light from the other side of the room. I'm the late-night owl. I have set up in the bathroom or just outside the bathroom using the desk chair outside the bathroom door and used that as the only light and turned all others off. Sound machines work great. If you don't have one, take the radio alarm clock and set it between stations. You can usually get a good stream of white noise somewhere on the band spectrum.

We cosleep and DD has always shared a room with us, so it's not that disruptive when we travel.

However, a few good tips (and echoing PPs):

1. White noise. You don't need to lug around a white noise machine -- there are great FREE white noise apps on both Android and iPhone. That's what we use when we travel (we each have two smartphones, one for work and one for personal, so giving one up to be the "white noise machine" for a few hours isn't a big deal.) Just remember to turn off the ringer.

2. Drape a light blanket (like Aden and Anais) over the side of the PnP if you're worried about light from the TV/iPad/etc waking up kiddo. Be sure to remove the blanket immediately when you go to bed/can't supervise.

3. Use the time when DC is sleeping to trade off relaxation time with spouse. Go to the hotel gym while DH is in the room (or take a bath, or take a walk...) and then come back and let him do the same. That way you don't feel trapped in the room.

Anonymous wrote:If you have to sleep in the same room, I would make sure you bring an iPad, laptop, etc for you and your DH. Resolve to the fact that once she's asleep, you two will likely have to stay pretty quiet. I second having a noise machine, fan, something to provide white noise will minimize her hearing the little noises.

We did this last week with our 5 and 7 year olds and it is still an issue. They went to bed at 9 and my husband was on his laptop and I read next to him using the light of his laptop! Not ideal, but it worked. As others have recommended, if you can get a suite type hotel that is ideal.

We've done it a few times, with differing success rates. It is definitely preferable to go the suite/multi BR route for us, but for quick trips, if it isn't workable, we just deal. Doing it this weekend for one night. The last time, he just wouldn't go back down and I finally just hauled him into bed with me. He slept fine, and I slept not so much. But I am (marginally) less cranky than he is when sleep-deprived, so I just deal with it as it comes. IPads will be coming along, but depending what time he goes down, I might just crawl in bed myself.

If you have to sleep in the same room, I would make sure you bring an iPad, laptop, etc for you and your DH. Resolve to the fact that once she's asleep, you two will likely have to stay pretty quiet. I second having a noise machine, fan, something to provide white noise will minimize her hearing the little noises.

Have child sleep in a pack in play in their room for a few nights prior to trip - get them used to being in a different bed but same environment. That always helped ease the hotel transition for us.

This is why God created Embassy Suites, Residence Inn, etc. When our kids were little we always booked a suite, even if that meant staying some place a little more utilitarian in style to make it affordable.

depends on the baby.
Here is what we do-- works better for dd than ds. Bring along their noisemakers and whatever else the are used to sleeping with.
Ideally have a hotel room with a balcony or patio. If this-- put them to bed and sit on the patio.
If no balcony/patio-- turn off as many lights as you can stand to have off and put baby to bed while you sit in the mostly dark.
My brother and SIL hang out in the hotel bathroom some of the time.

It won't last forever, this phase. Just relax and deal.

We cosleep, but we get the baby to sleep with lights off/low or no noise, then once he's asleep we can turn on reading lights or turn the TV low or something.

We are taking our first trip to a hotel with our 1 year old and I'm nervous about how she'll sleep. Every time we've traveled in the past year with her she has had her own room (or large walk-in closet) because we stayed at family or friend's houses. I am planning to bring the pack-and-play for her to sleep in but I'm worried about how she'll sleep with light and noise distractions that she's not used to.

For those of you with experience, please help!!! What do you suggest??