Room Service? Get Me Milk And Cookies

By NANCY GIBBS

Not too long ago, parents traveling with small children smuggled them into luxury hotels like illegal pets. Most did not dare venture into the dining rooms for fear of waiters who sneered, diners who scowled and menus with nothing resembling a hamburger in any language. But now the baby boomers, that bulky and insistent generation, are traveling with their youngsters in tow -- and once more transforming an industry that is intent on meeting their every need. The travel business will never be the same again.

At the stately Four Seasons Clift Hotel in San Francisco, children are greeted by name at the check-in desk and treated as honored guests. Their private room ($175 a night) connects with Mom and Dad's ($235 for a deluxe room) and comes equipped with tiny terry robes and teddy bears. Instead of mints on the pillows, children find Oreos or Blue Chip cookies and milk after a night on the town. One call to housekeeping will produce not only fresh towels and ice cubes, but also games, books, diapers and the use of a Nintendo video game. A pediatrician is on call round the clock. "Our business has doubled," says general manager Stan Bromley, who began emphasizing service to children about two years ago. "We gave away 1,200 comic books in 1988 -- more than we sell orders of caviar."

Though the Clift has taken pampering to an extreme, its efforts are now typical of an industry that once merely tolerated children. Nearly 80% of U.S. hotels offer kids-stay-free programs to guests, according to the American Hotel & Motel Association. Many also provide baby-sitting services, day care and activities from cooking classes in the hotel kitchen to kite flying. Many airlines, meanwhile, allowed children to fly free last spring, and some are still offering substantial discounts. Delta hands out Mickey Mouse visors, Alaska Airlines provides pencils and slates, and Midway Airlines serves up children's meals on Frisbees.

Among the first to jump into this new market niche was perhaps the least likely: Club Med. Once the ultimate swinging adult summer camp, Club Med saw its customers growing up and recognized that many baby boomers did not want to have to choose between their travel fantasies and time with their children. By introducing Baby Clubs, Mini Clubs and children's programs at 40 locations worldwide, Club Med has become a leader in family vacations. Other luxury resorts have followed suit. The Village at Smugglers' Notch in Vermont even offers a money-back guarantee: "If your child for some reason doesn't enjoy all the activities we have planned, we will refund that portion of your package fee."

Even more remarkable is the effort of traditional business hotels to cater to families. By one estimate, as many as 10% of all business trips include children. At large medical and other professional conventions, up to a third of participants bring the family. In a highly competitive industry, hoteliers have found that children's services can help win loyal business travelers and lure future customers into the fold. "If we hook them now, we've got them later in life," says Hyatt Hotels president Darryl Hartley-Leonard. "This is going to become the way of life in the travel business -- offer a specialty product line for children, and you build brand loyalty."

Working parents will often try to combine business trips with family time by tacking a long weekend at the end of a stay. "We used to be empty on weekends," observes John Norlander, president of the Radisson Hotel chain in Minneapolis. "Now the yuppies have helped solve the problem. I don't know whether they have a guilt complex or what, but they're looking for opportunities to have quality experiences with their kids."

Perhaps the most ambitious of all the children's programs is Hyatt Hotel's new Camp Hyatt, available at 97 hotels and resorts. After a year of testing, Camp Hyatt made its national debut last month as a way for children to be merrily distracted while their parents attend meetings, go sight seeing or just soak by the pool. Campers can pan for gold at the Hyatt Regency Denver, ride a gondola in Scottsdale, Ariz., take hula lessons in Maui, Hawaii. Says Hartley-Leonard, himself the father of two frequent flyers: "We did it for a lot of reasons, including damage control."

The luxury hotels are not alone in their new marketing strategies. Some economy hostelries not only allow children to stay free in their parents' room but let them eat free as well. "We don't lose money," says Steve Cavaluzzi, manager of the Ramada Hotel Classic in Albuquerque. "It's a hell of an attraction." Others try to make hotel dining less forbidding to the littlest guests. The Holiday Inn in Orlando has a dining room with down-scaled furniture for tots. California's Ramada Maingate Anaheim, across the street from Disneyland, even offers a McDonald's room-service menu.

Also attractive to traveling parents are the new all-suite hotels. Originally designed for business people, the suites lend themselves to both conducting business and personal privacy. But they are perfect for families with children too. "The appeal of suites is savings and security," says Kathy Seal of Hotel/Motel Management, a trade newspaper. "No longer do you have to rent two rooms for a family of four."

Delighted as peripatetic parents are with these developments, some other travelers are not likely to be quite so thrilled. Whether traveling for business or pleasure, many people may prefer the sedate elegance of the bygone hotels to the merriment of summer camp. Perhaps eventually the travel industry will notice a market for mature-guests-only resorts and cruises -- but probably not until the baby boomers' kids are teenagers.

With reporting by Idelle Davidson/Los Angeles, with other bureaus