What exactly do we mean by ‘child-friendly’?
If you type ‘child-friendly hotel’ into a booking site, it seems as though the whole of the Netherlands is full of places that are perfect for young children. That green tick is reassuring. But as soon as we speak to hosts, we hear the same thing time and again: that tick mainly says something about how the accommodation sees itself, not about how safe or practical it is for a baby or toddler.
We once stayed in a holiday let where the label ‘child-friendly’ was proudly displayed on the page. The host did indeed have a high chair – in the cellar, tucked away behind the cleaning supplies. There was no cot in the bedroom; it was in the living room. A living room with an open staircase, where the balcony railings had gaps wide enough for a toddler to slip through. So, technically speaking, the tick was justified, but in practical terms it was worthless.
What parents actually want to know is almost never on the website. How dark does the bedroom really get in the evening? How far away is the hospital if you’re worried about a fever in the middle of the night? Is the route to the swimming pool safe for a toddler who’s just started walking on their own? You don’t see that sort of thing in photos taken on a sunny afternoon, with all the curtains open to let in the best light.
You can save yourself a lot of surprises by checking a few things in advance that many parents simply aren’t aware of. For example, you could ask the accommodation provider for a photo of the bedroom in the evening, with only the lamp on. That often tells you more about how well the room can be darkened than ten perfectly lit photos taken in daylight. You can use the satellite view on Google Maps to see how close the garden is to a road – something you’d never notice in ordinary photos. And you can ask whether the staircase has a safety gate at both the top and bottom. That really makes all the difference.
It’s also a good idea to ask in advance whether a cot will fit next to the double bed. It’s only when you get there that you sometimes realise a cot won’t fit, even though many parents find it really handy for things like night-time feeds. You can even ask about the type of curtain rail: with an open rail, you can hang up blackout curtains yourself, whereas with a fixed roller blind system, you can’t. And yes, you can even ask about the flooring. Laminate flooring can feel freezing cold on your bare feet at night when you have to get out of bed, whereas a simple rug solves that problem straight away.
It might sound like a lot of faff, but parents tell us time and again that it’s precisely these little things that determine whether a stay feels relaxing. By carrying out these sorts of checks in advance, that green tick on the booking site finally takes on real meaning.