My kids, 12 years old and 5 years old, will not sleep in a separate room if it is not our own home or their grandparents'. They insist on staying in the same room as my wife and me.

I would like to know the typical policy of hotels (budget and mid-range) in Europe about such arrangements.

  • Is there any provision for adding an extra bed in the room, such as on payment of extra charges?
  • Is there any specific name for such rooms in countries like France, Spain, Italy, the Czech Republic, or Romania?
  • Is this something that is looked down upon?
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    as a comment, almost every hotel in southern france and spain allows for supletory beds for kids. sometimes they charge it, most of the time not ( up to 1 or 2). depends on the chain. Anyway, there are 4-bed rooms in most hotels, or 3-bed rooms. – CptEric Mar 21 '17 at 11:43
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    for the hotel brands, the cheapest for family travels are : France & spain mid-range -> Ibis Budget | France & Spain low range -> Formule1 | France & Spain High range -> NH Hotels / Similar 4-star chains – CptEric Mar 21 '17 at 11:47
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    I don't want to sound judgmental, but typically a 12-year-old would be expected to be able to sleep on their own. YMMV with special cases, of course. Pull-out beds are fairly common for many hotel chains, but generally they're intended for younger children. The hotel may insist on teenagers or older children having their own room; in non-chain hotels that's the norm, and it would be uncommon for them to be allowed to share with you. – Graham Mar 21 '17 at 14:46
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    @Graham Really? I myself had quite often stayed in a 4-bed rooms in say Italy and Greece and there were absolutely no issues with all 4 being adults. – AndrejaKo Mar 21 '17 at 15:22
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    One thing you could try is pairing each kid with an adult. When I was younger and my family couldn't find a 4-person room, my dad and I were in one room while my sister and mom were in another. – Pyritie Mar 21 '17 at 17:41

Some do some don't. Most larger hotel chains (Marriott, IHG, Hilton, etc.) will offer this. Typically you either get a room with two double/queen beds or a single large bed with added "rollaway" bed(s) for the kids. Rollaway is often charged extra.

Pretty much every Internet hotel search engine allows you to search for 1 room/4 persons. Easy enough !

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  • Thanks @Hilmar. Any particular budget & mid-range chains you recollect in the countries listed which offer such rooms ? – icarus74 Mar 21 '17 at 11:38
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    @icarus74 We generally don't give shopping advise. – Philipp Mar 21 '17 at 14:21
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    This is often a situation where contacting the hotel and booking directly (instead of a third-party booking site) can be a good idea, as you have a better chance of getting accurate information. In some cases, you may want to contact the hotel directly (instead of a toll-free reservations number for the chain) to speak to them about what they have available and what will fit in the room. – Zach Lipton Mar 21 '17 at 21:16
  • @Philipp, point taken. – icarus74 Mar 23 '17 at 12:28

Huh. I traveled with my wife and two kids throughout Europe and Asia. It never occurred to me that a hotel might object to the level of occupancy, and none ever did.

Some hotels charge for extra guests, but those are adult guests. I was never asked to pay extra for kids, even in their mid-teens.

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    YMMV. Some hotels do charge for kids. Specially if there is some meal included. My 4-yr old son was billed at a lower rate than an adult. – Mindwin Mar 21 '17 at 16:02
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    @Mindwin -- we frequently came across hotels that charged per-person for breakfast; we never came across a hotel breakfast worth paying for. – Malvolio Mar 21 '17 at 16:13
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    YMMV. I've had some absolutely fantastic hotel breakfasts. – Lightness Races in Orbit Mar 21 '17 at 16:54
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    I guess the world is very big, and we (the ones having this talk) haven't been to the same parts yet. In my side, the breakfast is usually included in the stay. – Mindwin Mar 21 '17 at 17:50
  • "It never occurred to me that a hotel might object to the level of occupancy" with your kids, you mean. 3/4 adults in a room would be different. – smci Mar 22 '17 at 9:12

Using hostels might be a good option, as many hostels do family rooms. Those have typically a double bed and two singles (often as bunkbeds).

When they do not have family rooms, hostels often allow families to use a 4 or 6 bunk room for 'private' use.

These days many hostels have 'en suite' bathrooms to the dorms.

Other options might be B&B, apartments and hotels in the cheaper range, as long as they have bedrooms which are big enough for the family.

Hostel and hotel booking sites will find you the hostels. (And if not offered, check out the Hostelling International site for the countries involved.)

An additional advantage of staying in hostels is that you can make (part of) your meals yourself, catering for the kids part of the time.

Many hotel rooms in Europe are not big enough for two extra beds. Do not expect to be able to have your children in the same room in all hotels, but where the space is available, extra beds will not be a problem.

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It’s mainly a question of availability. Many hotels have rooms with three or four beds, or a couch that can be converted into a bed. Some offer an extra bed, usually at a surcharge (space constraints typically limit that to one extra bed per room, but 3+1 might work for you). I’ve seen rooms of that kind in France, Austria, Italy and Germany, and I’d expect similar in other parts of Europe.

Policy-wise I’m not aware of any issues of children sharing a room with their parents, as long as the number of persons in the room does not exceed what was agreed with the hotel. Prices tend to be calculated on a per-person rather than a per-room basis, thus a room for four will likely cost you about the same as two double rooms.

Bottom line—check the hotel offers. Do they have rooms for more than two persons? Do they offer extra beds? When in doubt, ask, and be sure to state in your booking that it’s going to be the four of you in one room.

As an alternative, you could look into getting an apartment—they frequently have four or more beds, and a family of four sharing an apartment is nothing out of the ordinary.

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Hotels in Ibiza are different from the rest of Spain, they are allowed to have full size sofa beds in the room all the time, alongside the double bed. Or 2 large sofas as well as the normal double bed. So a room occupancy can be 4 adults/kids. They told me the fire regulations were different there and that permitted it.

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    This answer is far too localized. I would recommend to expand the answer to a specific country in general. – Thorsten S. Mar 21 '17 at 21:01
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    @ThorstenS. The answer seems to implicitly cover the whole of Spain. – David Richerby Mar 21 '17 at 21:44
