holidays without children, a new trend from abroad, still embryonic in France

The school holidays in zone C, including Île-de-France and Occitanie, are beginning. And some seek to rest, far from children, their own as well as those of others. A practice that still causes guilt in France, even illegal.

To spend your vacation differently, some tourist establishments prohibit reservations with children. This is the “adult only” option. Common abroad, the practice is developing in France, but quite timidly.

Marina, mother of a 5-year-old boy, is also a nursery director. This option is particularly interesting for her. For her vacation, she wants to have “serenity of not having children to manage. Even being in the profession, it remains no less difficult”, she pleads. VSis also an opportunity for her “to have exchanges between adults, without being interrupted by children”. Even if it means paying a little more, she chooses guest rooms or hotels without children and without noise.

The Forges estate, in Seine-Maritime, has just opened a new hotel reserved for adults. Rooms with only a double bed, two deckchairs by the spa… “It appeared that groups of children could hinder couples who wanted to get togetherexplains Thomas Braquehais, the sales director. Today people are looking for this tranquility between adults only, to avoid the cries of our children whom we love so much”.

“We are not parasitized by children running around.”

Thomas Braquehais, sales director of an adults-only hotel

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This is a real trend, according to the president of the Les Entreprises du voyages union, Valérie Boned: “First there are couples who have children, who decide to leave without one to rest, for a change, and who, obviously, do not want to support other people’s children.” She also relates this trend to the confinement effect, “where we tended to be on top of each other.” And then there is a category of people without children, “who want to travel peacefully”.

An idea bordering on legality

The idea has developed well abroad, much more than in France. There are around a hundred establishments offering this formula in Germany, England and Spain. In France, specialized sites only list around ten, out of 17,000. These may be a campsite, a few luxury hotels or villas converted into guest rooms.

But it is generally frowned upon, even considered discrimination. “It’s not legalcowardly Maître Jégouzo, lawyer in tourism law, relying on the Penal Code. Any distinction made between natural personsshe read aloud, on the basis of their origins, their gender, their family situation, their age – which is the case here for children, is prohibited” and punished with three years’ imprisonment and a fine of 45,000 euros. “At the moment there has been no case lawexplains the lawyer, but a family that considered this ban to be detrimental would very likely win their case.”

“We do not see on what grounds we could prohibit children from going on vacation.”

Maître Jégouzo, specialist lawyer

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Hoteliers do not have the right to refuse access to children, says the general management of companies. While recognizing that it is “difficult to demonstrate their bad faith”. Some do it in a roundabout way: “There are no barriers around the pool. It’s dangerous.” Others assume, like Stuart Coe, manager of the Château de Lacomté campsite, in the Lot: “We only have three children and five grandchildren, we are not against children. But if you put children with parents who don’t take care of them, you have a problem”he relates.

On her website, we see a woman swimming alone in a large pool. The manager uses it as a commercial argument; it is the first child-free campsite in France in 14 years. “It’s not discrimination, it’s our businesshe defends himself, If it works, that’s great. Once they have tasted a campsite without children, they do not want to return to another one.adds Stuart, who ensures that his campsite is full every summer.

Towards a society that is still fragmenting?

If it works so well, it is a signal that adults want to live less and less with children, theorizes the sociologist specializing in tourism, Jean-Didier Urbain. “It is a symptom of society, which confirms a much heavier trendhe explains, it is that we live more and more in a society of each other, a society which is fragmented, culturally, religiously, politically, and even in terms of holidays, with this extremely spectacular form that is exclusion. of the child. For many people, children are first of all noise, first of all disorder, first of all the inability to talk to each other.”

With a paradox: at the same time, we are talking more and more about child kings. “It is because our society is that of the child king that we are offended, points out the sociologist, This is why this ban is all the more shocking.” Marina will not change her habits. For her next vacation in Canada, the daycare director will choose an “adult only” hotel.