We’ve been meaning to write a blog post on our top tips for sharing a hotel room with a toddler for sometime now. You see, we have a dirty secret.
Until recently, we’ve actively avoided sharing a hotel room with our young children – at all costs.
With visions of sleepless nights, cabin fever and our toddlers wide awake at midnight watching Bluey, we’ve always opted for self-catering when travelling with our children.
However, and after finally plucking up the courage to share a hotel room with my three-year old on a recent UK trip, I found myself pleasantly surprised.
Far from a stressful experience, which saw me and my husband watching TV in the bath, our recent hotel stay with Olive was incredibly easy.
And dare I say it, even enjoyable.
Below, I’ve therefore put together our top tips for sharing a hotel room with a toddler. From things to pack (do not forget the headphones), to tips for switching up your normal routine, here are our suggestions for making your hotel stay with a toddler an enjoyable one.
11 Top Tips for Sharing a Hotel Room With a Toddler:
1. Pack Headphones
Of all of the top tips for sharing a hotel room with a toddler, I would say packing a set of headphones is the most important of all. Being able to watch something on your phone, listen to a podcast or even a bit of music once your toddler is asleep is wholly dependent on packing some accompanying headphones.
Although your child might be in a deep enough sleep not to hear Married at First Sight blaring from your phone, there’s no point risking an unexpected wake up if you can help it.
In a similar vein, packing headphones for your toddler might also be an idea, particularly if they’re early risers. We packed the (brilliant) Tonbiebox and Yoto Mini, complete with headphones, on our weekend away and this meant Olive could sit and listen to her music and stories in the morning without disturbing us (too much!).
2. Book a Family Room or Inter-Connecting Rooms
One of the most obvious tips for sharing a hotel room with a toddler is to book a family room or suite. Given that some hotel rooms are barely larger than a matchbox these days, sharing a very small room, with a child, with infinite amounts of energy, is only going to end in disaster.
Most family rooms or suites will either offer a sofa bed or a single bed for your toddler to sleep in, or alternatively extra space to place a cot. Some hotels also offer rooms with additional/adjoining rooms, which offer the best of both worlds; a hotel stay but separate rooms for you and your toddler.
3. Pack a Portable Travel Tent
When we asked for top tips for sharing a hotel room with a toddler, many of our Instagram community swore by using a portable travel tent. Providing a dark, cosy den for your toddler to sleep in, these genius tents are a gamechanger for those sharing a hotel room with a toddler.
The most popular choice from our Instagram community was the Slumber Pod, which can go over an inflatable mattress, cot or toddler bed.
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Alternatively, you can buy the infamous Snoozeshade for a cot, which you can bring with you if your toddler is sleeping in a cot during your hotel stay.
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4. Book a Room with a Patio or Balcony
If you’re planning a longer holiday with a toddler, a patio or balcony in your hotel will be your saving grace.
Whether it’s the lunchtime nap or after bedtime, having some adult space to escape to for some evening drinks or a game of cards, can help your holiday in a hotel feel less dictated by your toddler’s timetable.
5. Keep Your Toddler Up Later
Dependent on the type of parent you are, the following two points will offer conflicting advice.
For those who are happy to throw caution to the wind and let go of the normal routine of home, staying in a hotel with your toddler can be liberating. By allowing them a leisurely afternoon nap, while you also enjoy a snooze, your evenings are then left wide open for you to head out and enjoy dinner and the delights of your destination, without the 7pm deadline.
6. Stick to Your Routine
In the polar opposite of the tip above, if you’re not keen to have your toddler out of their normal routine, sticking to your usual timings in a hotel room can work just as well. Although we stayed up later with Olive on the first night of our hotel stay, the second night we stuck to her normal routine.
This meant doing her bath as usual at 6.30pm, giving her some milk and then getting her tucked up in bed for stories and bedtime at 7pm. This worked surprisingly well (once I had left the room!) and the ‘normal’ routine seemed to reinforce to Olive that it was the end of the day and time for bed.
Personally, if I was staying in a hotel for a week or longer, I would be tempted to have a few days/evenings of each option. For example, a few ‘normal’ nights with the usual routine, and a few later nights. Personally, I think waving goodbye to a routine for the whole holiday could be fairly exhausting for everyone involved, but limiting yourself to a routine every night could be equally frustrating.
7. Stay Out of Sight
Olive was so excited to be sharing a room with us that we found it hard to get her to settle into her bed on the first night.
I, therefore, (humbly) took one for the team and headed out to the hotel bar with my book for 30 minutes, while my husband read her stories and tucked her in. This seemed to help Olive settle much quicker, without me distracting her, and I got a glorious 30-minutes in a quiet bar, with a glass of wine and a good book.
8. Pack a Cool Box and Plenty of Snacks
Something I hadn’t really considered when staying in a hotel with my three-year old, was the fact we wouldn’t have access to a kitchen. Luckily, a friend reminded me of this detail the day before we left, and I am so glad she did.
For anyone else who has an early morning riser on their hands, you will know that 8am (the standard opening time of a hotel breakfast) may as well be lunchtime when your child wakes at 5am. It is, therefore, of high importance to bring a cool box with you, packed with snacks or breakfast bits and milk, ready to placate your child while you wait for your continental breakfast to open.
The cool box also serves as an excellent place in which to store a crisp bottle of white wine to enjoy once the toddler is asleep.
9. Pack a White Noise Machine
One of my other favourite top tips for sharing a hotel room with a toddler is to pack a white noise machine. Although we no longer us a white noise machine at home with Olive, I brought one along for our hotel stay, and I’m really glad we did.
We popped it next to her once she was asleep, and this seemed to help block out the other sounds of us shuffling around the room. I do think the older the child, the deeper sleep they generally seem to be in, so I don’t think it’s totally necessary if you’ve already grown out of the white noise phase.
Alternatively, if you’re planning a longer stay in a hotel room with a toddler, it might be worth picking up a cheap option from Amazon. Nobody wants a week or two creeping around the room once the children are asleep, dramatically signing to one another to pass the bottle of wine.
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10. Find a Good Bath Tub
If your hotel room is a little on the snug side, or you’re worried about sharing the space with a sleeping toddler, there’s always the option of retreating to the bathroom. Now, this mind seem a drastic suggestion but, in fact, many friends of mine have done it, setting up camp in the hotel bathroom once their child is asleep.
If you’re going to use the bathroom as a second room, I highly recommend ensuring your room has a bath, so you can at least enjoy a bubble bath as you read a book or watch Netflix on your phone.
11. Embrace the Early Night
If all else fails, and your toddler simply won’t fall asleep without a silent, dark room, let yourself enjoy an early night’s sleep too. As the parent of a young child, I imagine you’re fairly exhausted by 7pm anyway, so why not let yourself slip into your luxurious hotel bed and make the most of your beauty sleep.