Adult Only Hotels: Do Grown Ups Deserve Peace Or Are They Child-Intolerant?

A boutique resort in Coorg doesn’t allow children below the age of 12, and yet it is seeing a rise in the number visitors. The concept of adults only resorts and hotels is new, but it is fast catching up. So the question we ask today is what's the trend of Adult Only Hotels? Do Grown Ups Deserve Peace Or Are They Child-Intolerant? According to The Times of India, boutique hotel specialist iescape reportedly saw a 30 percent rise in search of the term “adults-only hotel” last year. It seems like a lot of adult travellers do not appreciate the company of children, even if it is restricted to pool and buffet area and the corridors of a hotel. Not long ago there was a din about adult only flights, with many passengers demanding that airlines run “children-free” flights. So, what’s with this drive to erase kids from public places? Or is it just that adults are increasingly beginning to prefer the peace and quiet that the absence of children brings?

KEY TAKEAWAYS:

• The demand for adults only hotel has seen a steep rise in recent times.
• What is with this need to create child free spaces?
• Do people forget that children are equally relevant members of society as adults? Thus having the right to not being excluded?

What’s with this drive to erase kids from public places? Or is it just that adults are increasingly beginning to prefer the peace and quiet that the absence of children brings?

If you think from the point of view of a parent, the concept of adults-only hotel comes across as discriminatory. You don’t want them on flights, you don’t want them in hotels; what’s next then? No kids’ parks and movie theatres? Residential complexes for couples who don’t have children below a certain age? Banning parents from lugging their kids to waterparks or adventure parks? Can we as a community advocate inclusion and yet conveniently leave the kids out of the definition, because they are too noisy, too bothersome? Perhaps these adult demanding a space just for grown-ups forget that they were kids once themselves. And that numerous adults endured their tantrums, sugar rush and howls, be it day or night, in various public spaces.

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However, lately, the intolerance against little children seems to have gone up among snobby adults who roll eyes at the sound of a crying kid on a plane, or dozen or two running around at breakfast buffets. Am not letting parents with undisciplined kids off the hook here. Yes kids need attention and we must all have patience, but please mind the muffin intake of your kid, or bring enough supplies to keep them occupied on a flight or train. Reprimand them when they are rude to strangers and refuse to follow basic etiquette at pool side.

Many adults reason that peace and quiet isn't possible with kids running around in the hotel lobby, pumped with confectionary, or splashing around the pool. Or as earlier pointed out, kids become an issue when they aren't well-behaved.

These are the things which will bother any adult, who is a parent or otherwise. However, I know of many adults who have no or grown up children and thus are not accustomed to being around one or many of the kind. We as parents may think the world of our kids, but we can’t force others to do the same. Every person has the right to define a calm and serene atmosphere as per their liking. If for some, it is a child-free environment, then we can’t strong-arm them into changing their likings. This is where the matter of child-free hotels differs from adult only flights. An air commute is, well commute, one is expected to adjust and not be a fussy traveller for the greater good. Because unless you can afford a private jet, that is public transport that you are availing, even in business class.

Hotels, on the other hand, are more personalised experiences, and largely go hand in hand with holidays and thus relaxation and recreation. Many adults reason that peace and quiet isn't possible with kids running around in the hotel lobby, pumped with confectionary, or splashing around the pool. Besides, many parents also desire to catch a break from parenting and have some time to themselves. Having other people's kids on a child free vacation may trigger guilty for them, or make the experience less memorable. Or as earlier pointed out, kids become an issue when they aren't well-behaved.

The problem is that children are seen as a family's responsibility. We don't think of children as our shared responsibility, thus it comes easily to us to alienate them. A bawling toddler is her mother's problem, for instance. Perhaps if we change this attitude and think of children to be as relevant members of the society as us, we would think twice before demanding spaces which outcast them.

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Yamini Pustake Bhalerao is a writer with the SheThePeople team, in the Opinions section. The views expressed are author’s own.