How to Book Your 5 Person Hotel Room

Sleeps5 lists hotels, guest houses, aparthotels, and hostels with family friendly accommodations suitable for a family of 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, or even 10 guests. The best travel cities are included, such as Paris, London, New York City, San Francisco, Rome, Tokyo, Singapore, Montreal, and many more. Sleeps5 adds cities and hotels continually. Unless otherwise noted, all the listed family rooms include a private bathroom (ensuite).

(Affiliate disclosure – at no extra cost to you, using TripAdvisor, Amazon.com, or Booking.com through the links below may result in a small commission to Sleeps5.)

 

Advantages of Booking One Large Hotel Family Room for 5, 6, 7, or More

There are two reasons to find a hotel room that can sleep parents and children together in one room.

One, it will save you money. A large hotel room is cheaper than two smaller rooms.

Two, it eases your parental stress. No, not the kind of stress reduction you might get by adding romance or achieving peace-and-quiet (but really, how much romance or peace-and-quiet can you hope for if you’re traveling with little ones?). It eases parental stress by allowing you to be in the same room and speak with your spouse about crucial travel logistics and to maintain a team approach for taking care of your children. Neither of these elements can effectively happen if the adults are in separate rooms, each chaperoning and caring for a child or two.

But large hotel rooms, especially in highly-populated cities, are hard to find. Read about the difficulty we had in London, and why we started this website. Sleeps5 provides lists of hotels for fellow travelers with 3 or 4 or 5 or 6 children.
 

Other Hotel Websites May Not Include Every Room

Some hotels do have large rooms, or extra bed capabilities, that are not included on the hotel’s website, or not included on other hotel search websites such as Booking.com, Expedia, or Wego.

Sleeps5 strives to list all large rooms, even those not on the hotel’s website nor on other hotel search websites.

If the large rooms are included on other hotel search websites, then you can compare the prices and benefits of using the hotel search website with the prices and benefits of booking through the hotel directly.

If the large hotel room is not included on other hotel search websites, then that room must be booked directly through the hotel.

Sleeps5 strives to list all large rooms, and provides information on how to check availability and book those rooms.

When trying to determine if a hotel can allow 5, 6, 7 or 8, guests in one room, some online booking or reservation forms, or even the hotel’s own reservation system, will not allow the entry of 5 or more people. Or, if too many guests are entered in the boxes, the results will say ‘exceeds maximum capacity’.

Even when a hotel does allow 5 or 6 guests in one room, the online booking form may not be programmed to indicate the possibility. Hotels sometimes have their own ways to enable guests to book a room for more than the stated maximum.

Sleeps5 strives to find all those large rooms and help family travel planners find the best place to stay.

Some hotels will allow a guest to 1) book a room for 4, either through a hotel search website (like Booking.com or Expedia) or through the hotel’s reservation system, and then 2) in the ‘comments’ or ‘special requests’ area of the online form, or by email or phone call, request an extra bed and state the total number of guests. For some hotels, booking a room for more than 4 requires direct communication with the hotel, either by phone or email.

 

Sleeps5 Lists Hotel Large Rooms for Families

Sleeps5 shows the hotels that do have a large family room or suite, or that can add an extra bed or crib in a room to sleep 5 or 6 or more. Any available details about reserving (booking) a room are included on each Sleeps5 hotel page.

It is best to be honest and up front about the number in your family and the ages of children. We’ve heard of families being turned away when the hotel discovers they’ve arrived with too many people for the room. See this Sleeps5 blog post about being comfortable in honesty when staying at a hotel. We want to help you find the ideal family friendly hotel!

Keep in mind that websites and hotel policies sometimes change. And the hotel’s room configurations sometimes change. The information provided by Sleeps5 is for general reference, and is accurate to the best of our knowledge at the time of publication.

If you know of another hotel that should be included on Sleeps5, please let us know! Or if you know of a hotel that no longer has a large room or suite, please let us know! You can comment or email us. We love to hear from visitors!

 

How to book a big hotel room for 5, 6, 7 or more people.

Use the navigation menu at the top of the Sleeps5 website to find and click on the city you want to visit. On the city page, the hotels will be listed, each with a dollar symbol showing the general price per night for a family of 5, 6, 7 or more, and a description of the location and how many people the room can accommodate. Use the “Hotel Rates per Night in US $” key in the sidebar to identify the price range. Keep in mind that room prices vary by season or at times of special events.

Click a hotel name for more details, such as bed sizes, amenities, and an interactive map. If you’d like to check the availability for that hotel, contact methods and details are included on each Sleeps5 hotel page. Most of the listings also have a hotel search website link, such as Booking.com, to help you compare prices, and a TripAdvisor link to check reviews and rates.

Details are also provided regarding any pertinent information about the methods to use for that particular hotel. For example, some hotel online reservation pages will not allow entry of 2 adults and 3+ children. The instructions will usually be to phone or email the hotel directly to inquire about availability and price, and whether a room can be booked through a discount hotel website.
 

Find and Contact Hotels

To find hotels not yet listed on Sleeps5, or just to learn about one of our hotel research methods, continue reading steps #1 and #2, below.

To contact a hotel listed on Sleeps5, to check availability and/or book a room skip to #3, below. Contacting a hotel directly is necessary when a hotel’s reservation system doesn’t work for 5 or more, or when a hotel doesn’t include its large room online, or to inquire if a room can sleep more than 4.
 

1. Search for Recommended Hotels

Start your research months in advance. Large family hotel rooms are rare in cities with space constraints, such as those in Europe, and doesn’t that make you worry that their availability must be scarce, too? Reserving your room early gives peace of mind.

Buy some guide books, and check out travel books from your local library, and look up other travel sites on the internet that recommend hotels in the cities where you’ll be traveling. Identify the hotels in your price range, and in your desired city location. Write them all down — keep a big list.
 

2. Determine if the Hotel has a Family Room that Sleeps 5, 6, 7, or More

Through online hotel resources, or travel books, or a hotel’s own website, investigate each hotel’s room configurations and possibilities for extra beds. If you get lucky and find a hotel with a room that can sleep 5 or 6, go ahead and place a ‘star’ or other such happy symbol next to its name on your list.

If you determine that a hotel has rooms that can accommodate only 2 or 3 people, cross it off your list. If the hotel has a room for 4, then often it can accommodate 5 or 6 with an extra bed or two, so mark it as a ‘maybe’.

When you have exhausted all the resources above, and you still can’t determine whether a hotel has a room that can sleep 5, or 6, or 7 people, contact the hotel to ask directly.

To save time — when you contact a hotel to ask about the possibility of a room for 5 or more, combine the “do you have a room for ___ (fill in your guest number)” question with the “is it available on (insert date)” question, as described in #3 below.
 

3. Ask if the Hotel’s Family Room is Available for Your Travel Dates

If a hotel’s online room list doesn’t include options for a family of 5 or more, contact the hotel directly. Always contact the hotel manager or front desk. In our experience, centralized reservations departments of chain hotels often reply ‘no’ to extra guest requests beyond a room’s stated maximum, whereas the actual hotel manager or front desk representative can make exceptions.

There are a few ways to contact the hotel directly. Website, phone number, and email address, when available, are provided on each Sleeps5 hotel page.

Helpful Hints for Finding Hotel Direct Contact Information:

On each Sleeps5 hotel page, the available contact details are provided. For hotels not listed on Sleeps5, or for those hotels where the Sleeps5 information isn’t complete, use these helpful hints for locating and using additional contact methods.

Online: Every hotel website has an inquiry or reservation page available. However, these internet pages often have forms that are set up only for the standard room request, not a special request of sleeping 5, 6, 7, or more family members in one room. If there is a sizeable ‘comments’ box in which to add text, you can explain your situation and receive a reply back via email.

Phone: Phone numbers are often easier to find than email addresses. But phone calls are difficult because of long distance costs, time of day differences, and language barriers.

Email: The email address for a hotel may be listed very clearly on its website, or in tiny print, hidden on a lesser-used web page. The advantage to emailing in your own language is that a hotel employee can then respond to a written email with help from another staff person who speaks that language. Sometimes a hotel has a ‘contact’ form that operates like an email.

Always Include Guest Details

Regardless of which method you choose for an inquiry regarding room capacity, availability for your travel dates, and price, be sure to include the number of people in your family, and the ages of your kids. That way there won’t be any confusion about the size of each guest and their sleeping needs, nor any confusion about the relationships between your people.

A hotel may have policies about allowing parents and minor children to book one room, but may not allow multiple adults to share that same room, and may not allow adult children to stay in a room with their parents. So make all of your details very clear in an inquiry email. If you think that it could help in generating a positive reply, add that your kids are well-behaved! The hotel email replies typically arrive within 1 – 3 days.
 

4. Select and Book with Credit Card

Once you’ve learned what your hotel options are, and you have researched travelers’ reviews about the hotels, you can make a selection and let that hotel know you’d like to book the room. With some hotels, you can reserve a room for 4 people through the hotel’s system, or through a hotel search website, then contact the hotel to state your bedding needs and describe the number in your family. If not apparent, you can ask if booking online for 4 then updating info with the hotel directly is acceptable. Some hotels even prefer that reservations be made online, then altered, so inquire.

Most hotels, and all hotel search websites, can safely take credit cards online. If not, the hotel will need you to fax your credit card details to guarantee the room. Using fax safeguards your credit card number from thieves who may be lurking on email systems. It also generates a detailed document that ensures clarity in your booking.

When contacting the hotel in writing, either when using an online contact form, email, or fax, be very clear about expectations and needs. Provide the names of your family members, the ages of your kids, your arrival and departure dates, the number of nights of your stay, the hotel’s booking number if one was provided, the details of the hotel’s offer and any included items (such as breakfast and private toilet), the type of room with the number of beds and extra beds, the price per night, your credit card number, its expiration date, and your home address. Include your email address and a request for confirmation.

Some hotels will temporarily place a hold on your credit card for a certain amount that is usually refundable up to a specific date prior to the reserved date. Other hotels won’t place a hold on an amount, but will charge your card if the booking is canceled after a specific date prior to the reserved date, or in the case of a no-show. Check with the hotel regarding its policies.

If using a hotel search website to reserve a room, check the fine print details such as cancellation policy, when your credit card will be charged, and if the hotel or the booking site charges your credit card.
 

Summary:

1. Find hotels with a Family Room that Sleeps 5, 6, 7, 8…
2. Inquire about availability and price and included items, such as a private toilet, breakfast or parking
• Be sure to provide the ages of your kids
3. Use online system or direct communication, such as fax, to send credit card information to reserve the room. Include:
• Names of travelers, and ages of kids
• Arrival and departure dates, plus number of nights
• Type of room offered, plus any extra beds and included items
• Price per night
• Credit Card number, with expiration date
• Home street address and email address, cell phone number if preferred
4. Expect an email reply confirming your booking.

 

Helping Families Travel is our Goal

For each of the cities currently included on Sleeps5, we started with lengthy, hopeful lists of possible hotels. Through the process described above, we eliminate most hotels from our list, and post the few that have large-enough family rooms. We want to be thorough, as our main mission is to be of help to families that want to travel.

If you have other suggestions, or if you know of a hotel with a room for 5, 6, 7, 8, or more that we should list, or if you have a suggestion for a city we should research for hotels next, email us at contact_us@sleeps5.com! We’d love to hear from you.

-Sandy Nielsen and Holly Jacobsen
Sleeps5

We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites.