Relaxing at Holiday Inn Camden Lock. Copyright Jenography
This post is part of a paid promotional campaign BritMums is doing with Holiday Inn. Holiday Inn?s #YoureWelcome campaign highlights how the hotels encourage families to be themselves. BritMums worked with 5 bloggers to promote the campaign. Each blogger visited a Holiday Inn hotel to test our the warm family welcome. Find out what they discovered.
We?ve all done it ? booked a stay in a lovely city, intent on saturating our children with culture and inculcating a rich appreciation of the local scene only to feel it all go horribly wrong on arrival at the hotel: the look on the receptionist?s face as she realises that some of the party are under-18s. The icy handover of room keys and the muttered asides from other (childfree) guests. The sheer strain of the holiday as you walk around grim-faced, determined to prove that your children are much better behaved than everyone else?s. Consequently the joy is leached out of was to be had out of the entire experience. As Cathy of MummyTravels puts it: ?There?s nothing worse than a?hotel where children are tolerated at best.?
So thank heavens for Holiday Inn?s #YoureWelcome campaign, which actively encourages family stays. The group wants children and families to ?be themselves?. No need to worry about mess, stroppiness or child-averse fain dining restaurants. And to prove they mean every word of it, not only do under-19s sleep for free when staying in their parents? room but under-13s can eat for free as well. BritMums sent five intrepid bloggers and their families to test the campaign at Holiday Inns in Brighton, London?s Camden Lock and Liverpool.
How the hotels treat kids
Without exception, each visit passed the warm reception test. Everyone commented on the friendly and efficient check-in and little touches such as the staff handing the wifi code ?not just to me but also to my daughter, recognising her as a guest in her own right? (Jenography.net) are indicative of really getting the hotel?s employees on board. The staff even seemed not just tolerant but appreciative of MummyTravels? toddler?s efforts to turn the lobby area into a den.
Kids (and snoring teens) welcome at Holiday Inn Liverpool. Copyright Family Adventure Project
Susanna?s three daughters settled in immediately to the lobby at the Holiday Inn Brighton Seafront, relaxing in the funky chairs, ordering hot chocolate, perusing the games to borrow and playing table football (A Modern Mother). When Kirstie of Family Adventure Project arrived, her family put to the test the welcome for ?muddy feet??as well as snoring teens.
Gretta of Mums Do Travel noted the effort and thought put into the policy that extended to the rooms. On her stay, they discovered a pair of binoculars in their family room so her son would could watch the bustle on the nearby beachfront. An accompanying blanket meant he could keep warm if gazing from the balcony. Complimentary sticks of rock set the Brighton mood and go down well with the underage guests.
The adage is that happy parents make happy kids but we all know that non-whiny, unstroppy kids make happy parents. Holiday Inns, with ? at their various locations ? burger restaurants, make-your-own-smoothie options (peanut butter flavour, anyone?), free KitKats in the bedrooms, and more go a long way to achieving that. A great hotel experience not only adds to a child?s holiday memories, knowing from the moment families arrive that we can be ourselves makes it all the more relaxing for everyone.
Read all the posts from the BritMums #YourWelcome campaign:
The revamped lobby at Holiday Inn Brighton Seafront. Copyright Gretta Schifano
Cathy Winston and her toddler went to Holiday Inn Brighton
Gretta Schifano and her family also went to Holiday Inn Brighton
Jen Howze and her family went to Holiday Inn Camden Lock
Susanna Scott and her family went to Holiday Inn Brighton
Disclosure Note: This post is part of our sponsored Holiday Inn #YoureWelcome project highlighting its warm family welcome. Bloggers? accommodations were provided and bloggers were paid to write the posts. All opinions are their own. Holiday Inn is where you and your family can always be yourselves. Visit Holiday Inn for more information.
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