I got so fed up with not being able to count on hotels and rental car companies for essential gear that I just gave up and started taking everything we needed, thus the two week trip that the three of us had a total of nine pieces of luggage. It drove my husband crazy. It doesn't last forever. This year over the holidays the seven of us traveled for a week with nothing but 7 carry-on roller bags, all the more enjoyable after a decade of lugging so much!

Sally Torbey - Wow, what a difference between your two trips! Thanks for sharing.

Even worse are car seats ordered with car rental. It is more than just a nuisance but extremely inconvenient when you turn up to pick up a rental car at an airport with a toddler under 2 and told that they have run out of car seats. It is illegal to drive without a child in a car seat and when car rentals don't deliver it is a big problem. We always travel with one now as lesson learned. I have also been told by friends that rental car seats are often so dirty that you would not want to put your child in a rental one, so definitely need to take your own no matter how difficult it is flying with all that luggage.

Mother of 4 - Good point. We don't enjoy hauling the car seats through the airport, but the situation you describe sounds like a terrible way to start a vacation. Thanks for sharing.

There are several companies that rent baby gear and will have it delivered to wherever you're staying. Not sure how economical it is, but it's definitely convenient. Here are a few:

Web Link
Web Link
Web Link

realitycheck - Thanks for sharing. Have you used any of these services? To me, the prices look steep, especially if you are renting multiple items.

Sorry you had a bad experience.

I find that most hotels are kid friendly. Had some old cribs and pack and plays. All decent. Some trips our kid sleeps in the bed with us if he doesn't like the crib, on other trips he slept in the crib. Overall, we have never had a issue with the Hotel not having a crib and overall they have been very accommodating to people traveling with kids.

I really wish that Ms.Bac could use her Phd in Social Psychology to provide some insight in to child rearing and/or development rather than slapping a few poorly written paragraphs together about "customer service issues". This is amateur Mommy blogger stuff.
Might I suggest a journalism class?

MPer - Thanks for sharing your experiences. Great to hear you've never had these problems when traveling with little ones.

Hi Cheryl - I haven't used the services personally, mostly because I haven't done extensive traveling with my kids. The costs seem high to me too, so I guess it depends on how much you want to pay for the convenience of not having to lug a stroller, pack-n-play, highchair, etc. -- in addition to your luggage -- to places that don't have these available : )

Realitycheck - Yes, it's good to know all of the options available. I'll keep those services in mind for future trips.