1) That I should lie to the hotel to make a reservation.
2) That even if it is not a true fire code violation, they understand why the hotel would say this, since otherwise guests would not respect the hotel’s rules.
3) After a 10 minute investigation into the fire codes (and I am appreciative that they went to the trouble take this time to do the research) – I was informed that the code seems to imply that there is actually a limit in all residental dwellings of 3 people in Clark County. I am fairly confident this in incorrect since it would limit couples to only one child – or mandate that the couple separate in the event that they had 2 children.
4) When I said, ‘So the lesson here is that Las Vegas is not family friendly. It is only a place for making babies, and not for bringing your kids’, I was informed that I had hit the nail right on the head.

I guess I’ll have to lie – apparently that’s what they do in Vegas. Also, while the hotel does have adjoining rooms, they cannot guarantee adjoining rooms – so that’s also not an option.

Glad to know I’m not the only one facing this problem!!!

With 3 children each, my cousin and I started http://www.sleeps5.com to help other parents find hotels in Europe. We provide direct links to the hotels and do not receive any commission from bookings. We spend HOURS researching and emailing hotels as our hobby! Our European cities include London, Paris, Berlin, Munich, Rome, Florence, Salzburg, Vienna, Madrid, Barcelona, Copenhagen, Athens, Santorini, Lisbon, and more.

And, since starting the website in 2006, we’ve expanded the cities to include San Francisco, Seattle, New York City, and Washington DC. I’m currently researching Chicago and Istanbul, but it’s taking a loooong time, what with being a mom to three children and all…! (not much spare time)

Happy Travels!

Sandy

[...] Today, we welcome back Travels with Children and guest writer Jenny.  A while ago, she told us of her experience with a hotel that said fire codes were the reason for restricting the number of people who slept in a room.  [...]

Please do not take my experience as the standard everywhere. Fire codes probably do vary from place to place. Do your homework with the local authorities.

I just wanted to let people know that it is possible that this fire code business may not always be correct and it’s worth verifying. It’s simple to do.

I agree that the clerk probably didn’t know the fire code thing was untrue.

And to the gal traveling with triplets, I’m in awe of you.

I suppose a line does have to be drawn somewhere. I wonder what the reasoning is? I can understand that hotels don’t want huge groups of people cramming in a room to save on costs. But why not let a family in a room if they have a way to make it work?

Personally, I don’t like putting kids on the floor, but we have some little fold-up cots that we’ve used for our preschoolers at times. We’ve hauled in our own portacrib because we didn’t trust the “crib” that the hotel would provide. Some people don’t mind putting three in a bed, or one on the floor, etc.

I’ve seen campgrounds that limit to six people or “one family.” Sometimes they’re quite clear that this means parents and their children under age 18.

Charging for an extra person would make some sense, especially in places that have a free breakfast or some other amenities that would involve an extra cost for the hotel.

Ultimately, it’s about the bottom line, I suppose.

I don’t mind that hotels have rules or limitations on how many people they allow in a room, but 1) their staff should all know the rules and be consistent, and 2) they should say it like it is–this is corporate policy–rather than blaming it on fire codes or some other outside source.

Choice Hotels has probably the clearest reservation system. For each room that is available, it will tell you the maximum number of people per room, and sometimes will allow an extra with an “extra bed” (crib or rollaway) option. I like that they’re up-front about it.

Linda

Tell me, do you think it would be easier if hotels just charged for the fifth person? Would that be acceptable to families and the hotels?

[...] Over at Travels with Children; one of Linda’s readers, Jenny,  looked into the no room for five because of fire code reason.  [...]

Hop on over to http://www.SixSuitcaseTravel.com , where we’ve done the research for you! We have almost 3000 hotels for six, some rooms eight, in US, Canada, and Mexico.

The last thing you want at the end of the day traveling with kids is frustration with your hotel room.

You can feel good about booking through SixSuitcaseTravel as we provide direct links and give 10% of our affiiate income to http://www.BlessingsinaBackpack.org

Thanks again Linda for an informative post and all your help.

Theresa

Traveling with triplets must be an adventure in itself even without room difficulties. Thanks for sharing your solution, and good luck making your reservations.

Linda

Maybe you’ll be lucky and won’t run into this problem, but at least you won’t be surprised if you encounter it.

I’m also frustrated at hotels that just say “sorry, no availability” instead of telling you that it’s because you’re trying to put too many people in a room. It’s interesting to see how many rooms suddenly become available if you change the search parameters.

Linda

I added a link to your site in the post–sorry I forgot to do it originally because I know you’re providing a good service for UK travelers.

Linda

Linda

I am more than willing to bring along an air mattress for one of the boys to sleep on, and fortunately for us they don’t care what they sleep on. I’ll be printing out this post to keep filed so I can refer to it when making our next reservations – which is tomorrow. Thanks.

Katherine