I don't understand hotel age limits...anyone know??

[Free4Life11]

I can sort of understand car rental age limits, but I don't understand these hotels that don't rent rooms to people under 21. I understand not renting to those under 18, as they aren't legal adults. But if someone is over 18 and they have a credit card, what's the deal? If they damage the room, you'd have a credit card on file.

What makes it even more confusing is why in certain markets, some hotels have restrictions and others don't. I know that when I was looking at hotels in the Ohare Airport area, La Quinta Inn was 21+, but most others were 18+. And I noticed that the Universal hotels were 21+, but Disney is 18+.

 

[kidzmom3]

I believe it is just a choice that a business makes. I would hazard a guess that most 18 year olds do not have a high enough credit limit to pay for any serious damages. They may also have had some bad experiences in the past, which caused the business to make this rule.

 

[Micca]

If you check-in with a credit card how would they know how old you are?

 

[Rock'n Robin]

My gut answer is that 18 year olds may be old enough for a credit card, but there is a world of difference in maturity between 18 and 21. I teach 18 year olds and there are very few I would trust with a hotel room.
Robin M.

 

[WDW Poly Princess]

I used to hate hotels that did that, since I started traveling alone at 19. I think that if you're old enough to vote or go off to war, you should be able to get a hotel room!

 

[Beth76]

I have absolutely no problem with it. Last thing I want in the hotel room next to me is a pile of 18-year-olds. I don't understand why you don't see the correlation between rental cars and hotel rooms.

 

[jipsy]

Because when I was 18, people used to rent hotel rooms on NYE in the next town over. They would get drunk, wreck the room, stay in the hallways till all hours of the night partying, shoot bottle rockets at people down the hallway, spill booze all over the carpet, steal the pictures, tv's, etc. They would rent rooms at spring break in Florida and do the same.

Hotel owners lost alot of money and put an age limit on it. If a parent rented a room for their 18 year old, they had to have a cc with a large limit.

The sins of a few...

 

[Beth76]

I'm also hugely in favor of hotels that don't allow "spring breakers".

 

[PattnFmly]

My BF (at the time) and I got a hotel room when we were 18 ... many of them in fact. We wouldn't have been able to travel on our own without it. We were out of school, and on vacation. We didn't damage anything in the room, except maybe the springs ....

 

[bsnyder]

I used to hate hotels that did that, since I started traveling alone at 19. I think that if you're old enough to vote or go off to war, you should be able to get a hotel room!

I can't really argue with the individual policies that a private business chooses to enforce, but I think it's a little ridiculous too. Lots of college students travel, and not just to party at spring break. I had a bad experience with this last spring - my 19 year old son went to NYC for a weekend, before returning to college, at the end of his spring break. He was meeting 2 other buddies there, and they were going to see a Broadway play and do some other NYC stuff - not your typical wild spring break trip. Being college kids, they're on a budget, so they asked me to use Priceline (which I've had a lot of success with in the past) to get them a decent room, in a decent location, for a good price. When my son got to the hotel, they wouldn't let him check in because of the age restriction. I spoke to the manager, who was very nice, but refused to budge, even when I offered to give her my credit card as a deposit against any damages.

My son was able to find another hotel that didn't have the age policy, but ended up having to pay dearly for it. I was just glad they weren't out on the street with no where to sleep.

Luckily, Priceline actually agreed to refund me, minus a $25 processing fee. Their website does state you must be 21 to rent a room, and I didn't see that disclaimer, so I was very happy that they were reasonable about it.

 

[disykat]

Probably because most of the hotel owners are in my age group - where people that age didn't travel. Hotel rooms without a parent were for one thing only -well two - drinking and...

 

[Michie]

I can't really argue with the individual policies that a private business chooses to enforce, but I think it's a little ridiculous too. Lots of college students travel, and not just to party at spring break. I had a bad experience with this last spring - my 19 year old son went to NYC for a weekend, before returning to college, at the end of his spring break. He was meeting 2 other buddies there, and they were going to see a Broadway play and do some other NYC stuff - not your typical wild spring break trip. Being college kids, they're on a budget, so they asked me to use Priceline (which I've had a lot of success with in the past) to get them a decent room, in a decent location, for a good price. When my son got to the hotel, they wouldn't let him check in because of the age restriction. I spoke to the manager, who was very nice, but refused to budge, even when I offered to give her my credit card as a deposit against any damages.

My son was able to find another hotel that didn't have the age policy, but ended up having to pay dearly for it. I was just glad they weren't out on the street with no where to sleep.

Luckily, Priceline actually agreed to refund me, minus a $25 processing fee. Their website does state you must be 21 to rent a room, and I didn't see that disclaimer, so I was very happy that they were reasonable about it.

Both of my boys are in college, and when they travel to/from I use my card to make reservations and explain their age reason, and I have had no problem. But they always stay in the same hotel, so don't know if that makes a difference or not.