Traveling with kids

When you make your reservations (presumably before you leave the US?), you will list each and every person traveling, even the children. Your children, especially, are old enough that they likely need their own beds etc. But don't worry about it - there's plenty of family rooms over there with numerous beds and they're not that much more expensive than the smaller rooms. If you choose your hotels carefully and do some research, you can get fine room rates.

Your pricing will really depend on when you travel, what cities you stay in etc. If you're opting for longer stays in cities, you can always opt for apartments, which will give you plenty of room to spread out.

I think 4 people in a room (none of whom are infants) will be 4 people. Test it yourself. Go to booking.com and pick a hotel in one of your cities. Fill in the number of people. The advanced link will allow you to select adults and children and it will ask for each child's age. See what rate you get. Now redo the search with 4 adults and no children. Compare the rates. I think in most cases they will be the same, no discount for older kids.

In Europe it is more common to have breakfast included in non business class hotels and this drives the rate up per person. It is also more expensive in Europe to wash and dry extra sheets and towels in a room for 4 no matter how old the guests are.

I doubt it. Our experience when traveling with two teen age sons was four persons. Some locations have strict codes for how many people in a room. You cannot book a room as you would in the US, find two double beds and everyone piles in. Sometimes you can book family rooms at a fixed rate but those are rare.

Rooms that sleep four are harder to find in Europe. The two queen room is a rarity. We've found four bunk bed rooms more often. So yes you pay more to sleep four as compared to two in Europe than you do in the U.S. or Canada. We almost gave up on taking our teenage daughters for that reason. However, if you book apartments for three or more days, or use family rooms in hostels you can bring the price down to a quite reasonable amount.

I'm sure there are exceptions, but I can't recall a hotel in Europe that had lower rates for children (except infants or very small children who didn't take up a regular bed). At the ages of your children, you will be charged the same as you would for four adults.

E-mail the hotels directly with your needs, and specify the ages of the children, just in case. This will help you get a suitable room. This is particularly important in Switzerland, where I found that the booking engines on the hotels' own website did not show all the rooms, but e-mailing directly got me the room I needed.

You need to book family rooms or two rooms if you all want a place to sleep. A standard hotel room in Europe is one double or queen bed. I'm sure that all four of you don't want to share one queen bed, right?

Its not easy to find hotel rooms in Paris that will accomadate four people.. so while there are some., they are rare.. so strongly suggest that's one place you research and nail down your option sooner rather then later.

What are you budgeting per night in euros.. Paris is pricey .. and especially when you need a quad. And no , I have never seen a discount for a family over a group of four adults, a bed is a bed.

I always send a direct email asking if they have accommodation for two adults and two children, ages x and x. I'm usually offered a family room and have never had trouble booking a space with two doubles or one double and two singles. We book apartments, when possible, but have had great luck with inns, pensions, etc. listed in RS guidebooks.

4 people is four people. Many hotels will have room options for families that won't be the same charge as simply four people or two couples - but booking sights don't do well figuring that out.

Your best bet will be to call hotels directly, tell them what you need ("I need a place for three nights for my wife, two children, 12 and 14, and myself"); ask what they can offer; if it sounds acceptable, ask the price; if the price sounds good, book it. You didn't say what the sexes of your children are. It matters, they're the age where different sexes require different accommodations.

I don't normally travel with reservations and have traveled with three kids in tow. I normally make a list of potential lodging at home then call the morning before I need lodging (what I call a travel day - going from one destination to the next) and do what I described above. We've ended up sometimes in two rooms, sometimes family suites, sometimes six bed hostel rooms, sometimes apartments - I let them tell me what they think would work best for the group.

By calling last minute, I regularly get great deals and have never been left homeless - more often than not I call my first choice and get a room. An example was Venice with three kids. Driving from Verona, I called about 10 AM. My first choice was Hotel d'Art right around the corner from Rialto bridge. I called and told them I needed something for three nights for myself, spouse and three kids (ages 16, 12 and 8). They had a two-bedroom apartment with a living room and kitchen, owned by the hotel but managed as an apartment property separately. They offered it to me for 140 euros per night and I booked. Normally you can't book an apartment for less than a week. Since I called late, however, they had an otherwise vacant apartment and were better off renting it to me for part of the week.

I know it wasn't the question, but have you looked at renting apartments? Our boys are a year younger than yours - and we almost always rent apartments (for 3 nights) - we will stay in a hotel for 1-2 nights, and we have found family rooms in York and Paris. We have also gotten 2 rooms in a couple places (Barcelona and Lucca).

We always rent from vrbo.com. Look for places with lots of good reviews. I love staying in an apartment over a hotel. Fridge, space to spread out, laundry....

Good luck and have a great trip!
Kim