FAMILY STYLE FUN
Luxury family holidays have become big business with hoteliers around the world scrambling for their slice of the pie.
But as parents and even their children become more travel savvy you need to offer a lot more than a separate pool
and a sandbox if you hope to get in on the game.
For the last 11 years I have been travelling with
children. In that time, I have learned, often the
hard way, that there are a lot of people out there
who don’t like to be around kids, especially when
they’re spending their hard earned money on a
holiday and just want to rest and relax. So I act
accordingly. I’d call hotels in advance to ask about
their policy towards children, or at least I used to
until I realised that it was a waste of time. On the
phone they all simply ‘adored children.’ Upon
arrival it turned out most were either lying or they’d
got their idea of children from the latest Burberry
kids’ catalogue and expected my boys to be as neat
as the ones in the photos and just as quiet.
Other hotels may be friendly but have done absolutely nothing to accommodate children. One five-star hotel in Mallorca that advertised itself as a family-friendly resort had just two dining options, a very formal – jackets required for men – gourmet restaurant and room service where the best we could find was a burger or a club sandwich.
There are exceptions. I have stayed at places that not only tolerate my kids but actually indulge them by giving them things they really want. The best of these have activities that combine fun and learning. A trip a few years back to Devon’s Bovey Castle gave me the perfect example. While I hacked my way around the golf course and my wife soaked in the spa, my kids, five and eight-years-old at the time, were out gathering honey dressed in mini bee keeper uniforms, picking apples and making their own cider, collecting eggs for their breakfast omelette or racing around the forest in an elaborate treasure hunt. My wife and I had a wonderful time, the kids loved every minute and best of all, we didn’t receive a complaint from the staff or a dirty look from any of the other guests the whole time we were there.
In Asia, the soon-to-open Montigo Resorts Nongsa near Singapore looks to have the formula right from the very beginning. “Before opening, we put a lot of thought into what we wanted to offer families with children,” says Dalip Singh, Area General Manager, KOP Hotels & Resorts. “Apart from giving them their own area where they will not bother guests, we came up with Olo Kids Club so that we could offer children of all ages activities that are fun and hopefully they will learn something at the same time.”
According to Jean Choi, Director of Sales & Marketing at Montigo Resorts, “We not only plan on pampering our younger guests but we will keep them busy with activities that are not only physical but artistic and educational as well.”
At present the resort has more than 20 activities for children. A quick rundown includes theatre production, jewellery designing, cooking classes and cookie baking and t-shirt and face painting. “One of my favourite programs has the children visit our own herb garden where they learn about the different herbs, do a bit of gardening themselves and even prepare a simple salad,” says Klaa. “There is even a ‘mocktail bar’ where the tiny tots can belly up to the bar and order a drink.”
Of course, Singh and Choi both know that it is
easy to make things look good on paper but if you
don’t have the right people running the show you
are going to have a flop on your hands. I certainly
agree with that statement because even despite the
lack of food options for my kids, I might have gone
back to that hotel in Mallorca if I’d received just one
smile from the room service waiter. I never did so I
have never been back. “The service staff has
undergone extensive training. We have come up
with a list of words that we hope describes the
treatment our guests receive like attentive, fun,
patient, nurturing and pampering. The idea is for
the children to become comfortable with the
surroundings very quickly by building an
immediate rapport with them.” That and a smile
for the parents are the basic ingredients behind a
truly family-friendly resort.
