OPINION

A minor problem for families on the go with kids in tow

When travelling with children the devil is in the details — but where’s the beef? Hotels that claim to welcome kids make it hard to find information, sending parents on a wild goose chase. Why? Is it embarrassment or just lazy templates?

by Vijay Verghese/ Editor

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Many hotels say they welcome kids but then make it exceedingly difficult to find useful information on their websites — even with considerable digging. Is this because cool luxury hotels don't wish to be associated with the bedlam bedroom business or is there another reason?

“THE PROBLEM,” as we wrote recently in our guide to child resorts is, “while every beach hut claims to be a child specialist, it is exceedingly hard to find any useful information on hotel websites.” It appears most hotels harbour an awful secret: they actually welcome kids. The higher the luxury aspiration, the greater the embarrassment. What will those cool lululemon couples say if they found out?

The simple truth is chichi couples have kids too and fret over holiday picks  just like the hoi polloi in clapboard motels.

Boomers will recall smacking ankle biters to enjoy a moment’s peace, before politically correct times descended. Kids learned discipline. Now we coddle titanic tantrums and desperately search for hotels that will do the same as we pass out in some heavenly spa on some heavenly bed. But where?

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Why is a family holiday such a frustrating scavenger hunt? One answer lies in the megamergers of the past decade following which the new behemoths sought economies of scale by centralising things from backroom accounting to frontend web design. This meant tamping down individual hotel personality to present a broad lockstep image that was easier to manage and created a sense of ‘brand family’. So it was said.

{For the traveller it’s like walking into the Louvre with rising excitement only to be confronted with the same neatly framed print on every wall...

Vanilla websites were designed and operated by remote techies who probably had no idea about the difference between Obama (Little Beach) or Usa in Japan or Delhi USA and New Delhi India. They had no interest in the correct spelling for Ouagadougou. Their job was to neatly bring it all together. And, as with works of this magnitude, things came down to the lowest common denominator and mundane minimalism. Templates were set up and rolled out.

Considerable damage has resulted from this seemingly innocuous move. Hotels are beginning to look tediously alike online. For the traveller it’s like walking into the Louvre with rising excitement only to be confronted with the same neatly framed print on every wall.

Ironically then, in this age of warp speed access to limitless information, hotels are content with generic prose and the occasional “curated” or “bespoke” tossed in. Everything is focused on bookings. Unique individual hotel personalities and stories — with a few exceptions — have been reduced to boring corned-beef sludge.

On hotel landing pages you see couples swooning in an orange sunset haze but if you need to know what kind of electric socket the place uses or whether the beach is swimmable or has mother-in-law-friendly rocks and sharks or whether the kids’ club has a fee or how much a babysitter costs, or the food is halal/kosher or sustainably sourced, you’re stuck.

It’s not that hotels are ignoring younger guests in favour of corporate clients — they have themed rooms, connecting rooms, bunk beds, treehouses, supervised activities and more. But the relevant items are  buried and the main navigation menus and nested categories often do not list kids.

Yet, family holidays are seen as valuable multipliers with more spend on connecting rooms or larger suites, more in-house dining and services, and longer stays. It is a hugely lucrative business.

As much as 45% of leisure travel in the Asia-Pacific region is estimated to be family driven. In 2025 the Pacific Asia Travel Association recorded the highest level of couple and family bookings (for three or more) that it attributes to “a post-pandemic reconnection trend, where travelers now prioritize shared experiences and group enjoyment over solitary exploration.” By some estimates, global family travel was put at US$1,247bn in 2025. Now how much does it cost to add ‘family’ to the menu on the home page?

But over-leveraged giant hotel corporations have to streamline cost. ROI is the mantra. By early 2026 these megabrands were dealing with around 9,700 hotels (Marriott), 9,000 (Hilton), 5,800 (Accor), 7,000 (IHG), and 1,500 (Hyatt). The paradox is that the hospitality business itself — all about people and personalisation — is becoming more aloof and non-specific. It didn’t use to be like that.

Old family-run hotels reflected the passions of their owners — music, art, fashion, books, food, and design. Hotels had personality. It encouraged spend and loyal customers. In current hotel-speak the word EDITORIAL (information, penmanship, and investigation, ie: cost), has been speedily jettisoned and replaced by CONTENT (ie: free, borrowed, placeholder), a vacuous generic that trivialises everything it is trying to define. Magazines carry editorial. Sites that talk of content are pedalling rubbish.

Back in the day things were different. I recall staying at a Jakarta hotel that on its in-room printed menu listed ‘baby sister’. Intrigued, I enquired with the receptionist and she nodded her head vigorously and asked when I’d like a baby sister sent up. I thought about it. Well, one brother was enough for me I suppose. And so it remains.