Do infants and toddlers count toward a hotel room's occupancy?

You are travelling with a baby or a toddler. The room you like says “Max occupancy 4” and you are four people plus a child under two, or it says 5 and you are exactly five including the baby. The search form wants ages. You do not want to enter the baby and lose the room, and you do not want to leave the baby out and be turned away at the desk.

What you want: a clear answer for this room, in writing, before you pay.

The table lists the pages on this site where a hotel says anything about cribs or baby beds, plus the Clementine and IHG pages that are silent. We searched the pages we read for: infant, toddler, under 2, baby, children under, kids stay. None of these pages says whether an infant or toddler counts toward the maximum, so that question is open for every row. Rosen's room page uses “infant” only for its crib sentence.

We read the brands' own help pages on October 17, 2026 (ET) for any rule on infants or children counting toward occupancy. Result: no such rule found on the pages we could read.

• Marriott (How Do I Request a Crib or Rollaway Bed?): “Guests can request specialized bedding such as cribs or rollaway beds during the booking process or by adding them to an existing reservation. While Marriott properties strive to accommodate all family needs, these items are subject to availability and may incur additional daily fees depending on the specific hotel policy.” It also says that if the item is not listed as an available checkbox, you may contact the hotel directly to submit a request. The article says nothing about age limits or occupancy. Searches of Marriott's help site for “children”, “occupancy” and “kids” returned no articles. We did not open its article on adding a special request to a reservation.
• IHG (customer-care FAQ): we scanned the Reservations section for child, kid, infant, crib, rollaway, occupancy and extra person; none appear. We did not check the other FAQ sections or the brand family pages, so this is not a statement about IHG's whole site.
• Hyatt (help FAQ): the FAQ content did not render for us (navigation and cookie banner only, also with a children search). We have not read it and cannot say what it says; the Hyatt Regency Times Square hotel FAQ quoted above is a separate page.

Absence on the pages above means we found no statement, not that no policy exists. The hotel can answer for the room.

• Searches. Our two Booking.com checks on October 16, 2026 used children aged 10, 8 and 5 in one and 8, 10 and 12 in the other. Our IHG room-card reads on October 16, 2026 were for one night; the search party was recorded for some hotels (Oakbrook Terrace: 2 adults and 3 children) and not for others (Royale Parc and Orlando Universal Blvd), and the ages were not recorded. None of the ages we used is an infant's, so we cannot say what any booking form does with one.
• Cut-off ages. No room page we read defines “infant”, “toddler” or the age at which a child counts (search terms listed above). Do not assume it matches a park ticket or a car-seat rule; those are different systems with their own limits.
• Crib limits. Where Marriott lists a crib line it is a count (1 or 2). That count is about cribs, not about people.

1. The maximum equals your headcount, baby included (for example a room at 5 for a family of five). Ask whether the baby is counted and, if a crib is listed, whether it fits within the limit or on top of it. Do not book on the assumption that it is on top.
2. The maximum is one below your headcount (for example max 4 for a family of five with a baby). Do not rely on the baby being free of the count; ask for that exact room in writing, or choose a room with a higher published maximum.
3. The crib is the only open item. Ask for it by request, get “confirmed for our dates” in the reply, and write it down. Marriott's help page says cribs are subject to availability; Hyatt's FAQ says Pack N' Plays are available with advance request but not guaranteed; Rosen's room page says a crib is available free of charge upon request. Those are three different promises. Where the page has no crib line (Clementine, most IHG pages), ask whether a crib exists before you ask about the count.

These three cases are our decision steps, not hotel policy. Save the hotel's reply with your confirmation.

Fill in the [brackets]. Send it to the hotel, not a booking site.

Subject: Baby in the room count for [room name] on [dates]

Hi,

I'm hoping to book the [exact room name] at [hotel] for [dates], for 2 adults and 3 children, including one child aged [__] months/years. Could you confirm:

1. Does a child of that age count toward this room's maximum occupancy?
2. Can a crib or portable crib be placed in this room, how many, and does it count toward the maximum?
3. Is the crib confirmed for our dates, or only requested? Please note it on the reservation.

Could you reply by email so I have it in writing?

Thanks,
[your name]

• Booking.com ages: our two Booking.com checks, both October 16, 2026, no booking made.
• Clementine: the Clementine suites page (“Crib policy: not on page”; “Roll-away beds are unavailable”), read October 16, 2026.
• Marriott lines (Residence Inn ONQQ, JW Marriott, Westin): Marriott room cards and room dialogs on the Residence Inn rooms page, JW Marriott rooms page and Westin rooms page, read October 16, 2026.
• Rosen Inn: the Rosen Inn Deluxe Double page (crib sentence and occupancy sentence) and the hotel's FAQ page (no crib text), read October 16, 2026.
• Hyatt Regency Times Square: the Hyatt Regency Times Square FAQ, read October 16, 2026.
• IHG hotels: crib and rollaway lines are not in the IHG room details we read for these hotels (the Holiday Inn Club Vacations resort pages also carry no crib or rollaway line, read October 16, 2026).
• Brand help pages: Marriott, IHG and Hyatt help pages as described above, read October 17, 2026 (ET).
• Not used: IHG's Holiday Inn kids-stay-free terms; the holidayinn.com kids-stay-eat-free address returned IHG's "Page not found" on October 17, 2026.

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