Hotel help- how many in a room

You are bumping into a difference in culture or business practice. It is common in the US to rent you a room and not be concerned about how many use it. In Europe it is reversed. All or nearly all (someone probably will point out an exception) are rented per person including children over a certain age. Therefore, it is critical that you inform them of who is staying. You should be asking for "Family rooms." And not all hotels, especially the smaller ones will have family rooms. Play it straight.

I agree with Frank. You need to request a room for 4 people and cannot just show up with 4 or you won't get a room. You might want to call or email the hilton to see if they have a room that will fit your family. If not you may have to get two rooms or stay somewhere else. Donna

I know you don't necessarily need four beds, but I stayed with some friends in Albergo Doge in Venice. They had multiple rooms with two, three or four beds. You could even email them and request a 2 bedroom room, but explain that you will have four people there. (The reason I mention it is that it is inside Venice which may be a plus for you compared to the Hilton outside.)

Amy What they said!
Also, in general, you will find most American hotel chains are very expensive and more toward the luxury side. In addition, only found in the main cities, Venice, Florence, Rome, Naples. As I expect you have already found, the rooms allocated for Hotel Points fill up quickly. Breakfast is usually NOT included and the restaurants and cafes are very expensive. It is not unusual for a full buffet breakfast to cost 20 Euro and up pp! The typical Italian breakfast is made of a hot beverage, like cappuccino or caffe', with something sweet to eat- cake, cookies, pastries, brioche, croissants, or toast and jam. This can be purchased at the bakery or cafe for much less! I suggest you purchase the RS Europe through the Back Door and Italy 2011/2012 guide books. This will provide so much insight into travel and the culture of Italy. As the PP have mentioned, the number of people in a hotel room, etc. Are you traveling next summer? Good you are starting now on your hotel accommodations. Family rooms go quickly. Bobbie Happy Travels with your Family!

Hi, Amy. I ran across the same issue as I did my planning. We have tons of Marriott points, so I thought we could simply use those in Rome for a so-called "free" vacation stay. What I learned was clearly, 4 people, 2 rooms. They check passports, so don't try to cheat the system. Doesn't matter if they are kids or not even. It just isn't worth it. What we did instead was to rent apartments in Italy (2 in Rome, 1 in Florence) and it was the best thing we ever did. We got a better experience. We all were together and not spit into 2 boring tourist hotel rooms. It was fantastic! Check out vrbo.com for apartment listings. Do your research, but I found places here and have many friends who have done the same.

Hi, Amy. I ran across the same issue as I did my planning. We have tons of Marriott points, so I thought we could simply use those in Rome for a so-called "free" vacation stay. What I learned was clearly, 4 people, 2 rooms. They check passports, so don't try to cheat the system. Doesn't matter if they are kids or not even. It just isn't worth it. What we did instead was to rent apartments in Italy (2 in Rome, 1 in Florence) and it was the best thing we ever did. We got a better experience. We all were together and not spit into 2 boring tourist hotel rooms. It was fantastic! Check out vrbo.com for apartment listings. Do your research, but I found places here and have many friends who have done the same.

You need a quad room for 4 people. The rooms in Europe are not likely to have 2 double beds if you only book for 4 people. By law the hotels have to register every guest so there is no way to sneak extra people in.

Thanks for the responses. It looked like we were not going to be able to put 4 in a room, but worth checking on. Trying to save where possible. We are renting an apartment when we get to Tuscany. Only in Venice a few days so not sure if apartment or hotel will be best for us.

When we traveled with our two sons, we were always able to get quad or family rooms. Not all hotels have them but we always found hotels with them. Remember the Europeans also have families and travel.

Since it is a Hilton I would simply call the 800 number and tell them your dilema, then if you make the reservation you can email the hotel directly and tell them. Obviously, people do not put their young kids in a seperate hotel room. But, it can be a dilema and I am sure the hotels hear this request all the time. 2 Queen beds in one room in Europe is rare, so maybe it is set up for just your scenario.

Just stayed at Hilton in Brussels and Rotterdam, and last year in Munich. No "double doubles" or "double queens" at those, as we are used to in the states. Other hotels will have quads or family rooms- Ricks's book lists some hotels with 4 beds and the hotel own websites will also list if they have quads. Kids over 12 are not usually free by the way.

Contact the hotel directly. A chain will probably be less flexible, but explain that it is two adults two children. They will either put you in a quad, or find a room large enough and make it a quad (add a cot or allow a faminly in a double for a slightly higher rate)

Check Booking.com and Venere as well. The first site is very informative in terms of allowed occupancy.

Hi Amy, We actually just returned from Venice a few weeks ago and we have two kids aged 7 and 9. We stayed at the Novotel and it was great - they particularily loved the pool and the great included breakfast. It's in Mestre (not in the 'old' Venice) and we had to take a 15 min bus ride to get to Venice but it was easy to do and very much worth it. We didn't mind staying out a bit as it was worth it to us to get the other amenities. Novotels have a queen bed and a pull out double couch - worked easily for our two small kids but if they are older and bigger it might be a bit squishy. We usually rent apartments but as we were only there for 2 nights this worked out really well for us. Hope that helps!
PS - Also stayed at the Hotel Bologna in Pisa - they have a 'family room' and it was great too. Fancier than the Novotel, but really nice.