You Know Your Child Has Stayed In Too Many Hotels When. . .

In the lobby of the Hyatt Regency at Orlando International Airport

You know your child has stayed in too many hotels when. . . 

The boy’s middle school has a great travel program and offers trips for students in all grades.  Later this spring, the boy will be taking his first trip with the group—a week-end, overnight trip with a one night stay in a hotel.  The other evening the conversation went something like this:

“What hotel?”  asked the boy, which meant what hotel brand would the group’s residence for the evening.

“I don’t know.”  Really, I couldn’t recall.  The hotel was shared at the informational meeting attended by parents in October, but I could not say for sure.  Hampton Inn maybe?

“Is there a pool?”

“I don’t know.”  Okay, most hotel chains such as Hampton Inn have an indoor pool, but since I didn’t know for sure which hotel brand I couldn’t be sure about the availability of a pool and whether or not the traveling group would be using the pool.

“What time will we go to bed?  What time do we get up?  Can I watch TV?  Can I have coffee with breakfast?”

“I don’t know.  I don’t know. Yes.  Yes.”  Oh, I love our guy!  I could tell by his questions he was planning and visualizing his stay.  And, yes, I know exactly where this comes from! 

And, yes, I did say “yes” to coffee with his breakfast.  Getting a coffee is a treat for him and it is more sugar and crème than coffee.  We first discovered he liked coffee on one of our family trips.  We were staying in a hotel for the night prior to flying to Orlando the next morning.  While breakfast wasn’t served at the hotel, coffee was available in the hotel lobby.  The husband went to a nearby fast food establishment to get breakfast and the boy wandered down the hall to the lobby (he was 5 or 6) while I finished up packing the bags in the room with the door open.  I’ll always remember him walking down the hall towards our room with one hand in his khaki pants pocket and the other carrying a cup of coffee that he had negotiated on his own in the lobby.  He looked decades older than he was.  Now, coffee is a treat—sometimes at restaurants or when we have lunch with Grandma Carol.  So, “yes” he can have coffee with breakfast at the restaurant at the hotel.

As this exchange wrapped up it dawned on me that this guy has probably logged 100 nights or more in hotel and resort rooms so he knows what he’s talking about when asking about hotel amenities.