Accommodation is harder than it looks, when you’re planning it with a baby. In this guide, check out all the different topics to consider and how to solve any accommodation conundrum.

Cribs at your accommodation

First off, cribs: it’s where your baby will sleep!

You can bring your own travel crib (we have recommendations for this, like our Guava Travel Crib!), or, see if your accommodation provides them a la carte, or at a fee. Hotels often provide wheeling cribs upon request, but they have to be reserved early: first come, first served.

It is possible to search for an Airbnb with a crib. Sometimes, they’ll be shown automatically if you input “Infants under 2” in your “number of guests” when you search. (Note: some Airbnbs charge cribs at a fee. Always read the fine print! This happened to us in Mexico, and we got charged after the reservation itself to reserve a crib separately.)

Pack ‘n plays

These types of travel cribs are low to the ground (maybe lower than a regular crib). If the floor is cold, or the room is drafty, the floor may be a few degrees colder than where your bed is. This could mean that the baby gets cold!

So here’s our travel tip: Bring a travel-sized room thermometer and leave it at floor level, to get an idea of the room temp. It’ll help determine how to dress your baby for sleep. Having one of these has helped us out in new accommodations when we can’t figure out if the thermostat is giving a true indication of how hot or cold it is!

Bassinets at your accommodation

This is probably going to be rare. We rarely see them offered at hotels nor at vacation rentals. It’s cribs specifically that are offered at hotels. We suggest bringing your own travel bassinet for babies under 3-4 months.

Some brands like Guava make a travel bassinet that comes with their travel crib. (See our review of that at our Lotus Travel Crib review.)

Get an accommodation that has 2 rooms

If you can afford it, get 2 rooms at an “entire home” Airbnb, or book an accommodation that has a dedicated walled or doored-off space for your little one to sleep on. You’ll see the theme of this all over this course, for instance in guides like managing sleep at 12-18 months.

If your baby will go to bed at 5 or 6pm, and you go to bed at 8 or 9pm, you’ll want space to roam around without tip-toeing around with risk of waking them up.

For hotel stays, you can see if there are any suite options. Larger rooms might work, but without a wall, you might still need to be quiet so your child can rest and not wake up.

As an example, we shared a room with our daughter at a hotel, and had to sit in the dark for a few hours until it was time for us to go to bed. Any peep, sneeze or cough made us nervous that we’d wake her up, even with her travel sound machine on.

Benefits of staying at a hotel with a baby

There are a lot of benefits to choosing hotels when you have a baby.

First: hotels are usually well baby-proofed with few valuables. Think about it: you get to a Hilton or Marriott, and there are no breakable vases in the room. All the furniture is probably even bolted to the wall! This comes in so handy, like I mention in our guide of how to baby-proof a hotel room.

Next, amenities: your family can enjoy amenities like the pool, or the gym, for parents who need a break!

Hotel services like a concierge, airport transfers, on-site restaurants and stroller-friendly access like elevators and ramps is beneficial. Alternatively, we stayed at a specialty boutique hotel that had “cabins” and we had to specify that we needed the wheelchair/stroller-friendly cabin that did not have steps. At a hotel (unless it’s a historic hotel in a city that is not outfitted with an elevator), you’ll nearly always have an elevator and smooth floors for your stroller.

Here’s more advice for staying in a hotel with a baby.

Benefits of staying at an Airbnb with a baby

We’ve leaned toward Airbnbs, the move we’ve traveled with a baby, but it is still for “specific destinations” in our minds. For Airbnb stays, it’s easier to book an “entire home with 2 bedrooms.”

A plus with Airbnbs, or at least for how we filter them when searching, is that there may be a kitchen or kitchenette! For us, this has been invaluable for storing milk in the fridge, keeping snacks in the fridge and making food on the stove.

If our baby is crying at a whole-home Airbnb in a house, we feel less stressed that our child is going to wake anyone next door (like in a hotel).

Benefits of staying with family or friends

Lastly, there’s always staying with family or friends in their basement, guest suite downstairs, guest room, spare room or ADU/other building on the property.

First, friends or family can maybe can held a hand with the baby–that is, if they don’t already have a baby of their own!

Staying with families who have kids means a house full of toys, high chairs, cribs and even spare baby clothes, should you need anything!

Lastly, it’s nice for your baby to see other babies, toddlers or kids during the visit, especially if they are family members like siblings or cousins.

One of our best stays with family was in Maryland, where the family we were visiting had a spare crib in a bedroom with blackout curtains, a high chair downstairs, a family room full of toys and lots of baby-friendly food.