Wimintra Raj
Kids’ Club Saves Your Sanity More Than a Spa Ever Will.
I used to think Kids’ Clubs were a waste of space. Why don’t hotels and resorts just build more bars or spa rooms?
When you become a parent, a lot of things change - from the shape of your bra to the way you think about hotels and life.
There are a lot of great kids clubs that I have seen in hotels and resorts that WOW me as an adult and make me wish that I was a kid again, but I have never thought about them as a necessity.
Last week, I finally discovered the value of ‘Kids Clubs’ when I needed to bring my daughter to a meeting of mine. The meeting took less than 20 minutes but as a lot of parents would know, 20 minutes can seem like a lifetime!
My daughter spent that time that I was in the meeting, at the Kids’ Club at the Novotel Bangkok Sukhumvit 20. She absolutely loved it. My husband said she crawled everywhere, had a lot of fun, and even made some new friends (which also caused me a mini-heart attack because in my head I was thinking ‘RSV?’ ‘Cold?’ or even ‘Covid?’) - But overall, she had fun, had new experiences and created new memories which are all part of her learning experiences. Even more importantly, I was able to successfully complete my meeting stress free.
I used to believe that Kids’ Clubs were a waste of space and didn’t really make any money for the hotel. I would always ask hotel owners whether they didn’t think that they might be better off with a few spa treatment rooms or even a bar instead?
But life isn’t always about things that bring instant and direct monetary gain. It’s sometimes also about keeping your sanity.
Good Kids’ Clubs save parents’ sanity, not to mention the sanity of other guests. The real value to guests that this brings is probably worth more than what a spa might ever provide.
So hotel owners, I’m sorry that I once questioned your Kids’ Club motives. You have done an amazing job thinking about other parents and not only about yourself.
Build a Kids’ Club, make it safe and amazing - you can have my money. I’m all for it now.