<p>mom60, My 18yo has a credit card in own name-- When my kids were all teens, I have made them authorized users on my card so they have their own in case of emergency. </p>
<p>I’ll make some phone calls. Thanks. I understand it but, sheesh, they’re adults at 18yo.</p>
<p>Try youth hostels. Love them for young adults. Cheap. Social. Safe.</p>
<p>D1 has a credit card with her name on it, but is billed to us. She’s the only one using that account, so we know the charges are all hers. She’s in an apartment and we’ve agreed to let her charge groceries to that account, as well as books, etc.</p>
<p>I guess things have changed over the years. When I was a HS senior in the 70s, a girlfriend and I drove from Oregon to Canada for spring break and stayed in a hotel with no issues. We were both under 18. Clearly fewer liability issues back then</p>
<p>My H has called hotels in advance and spoken to the manager so that my D was able to check in. Never had a problem.
My D once tried to make a reservation for a hotel in the city she lived for our visit there. They wouldn’t let her because she lived in town and too many people reserve rooms to have after prom parties. So we called naturally.</p>
<p>I was surprised to find this thread resurrected. Fwiw, I did find that the larger hotels in the city where we were looking would not rent to anyone under 21yo. So I found a bed and breakfast, called and explained the situation and they were fine with it as long as they had contact information on file for me.</p>
<p>When S was 20 years old, he accompanied his younger sister to an athletic competition out of state. They flew to NC, and of course since they couldn’t rent a car, they took a taxi from the airport to the hotel. DH had made reservations for them in advance near the event site. However when they arrived they were turned down at the front desk. S has a good head on his shoulders and told the clerk that D’s coach was arriving shortly (not true). Fortunately, the staff let it pass, but this could have been a huge nightmare for them to arrive at night to a small town hundreds of miles from home where they knew no one, and then get denied lodging.</p>
<p>Definitely check everything out in advance and take extra precautions.</p>
<p>I found youth hostels to be safe and actually more comfortable when traveling then hotels. Much easier to meat people and just hangout. And no problems for you adults and my teens stayed in the. ll the time with no issues</p>
<p>My kids have stayed in youth hostels overseas but I wasn’t looking for hostels in this case. This wasn’t a vacation so no reason to hang out and meet people. Kiddo needed a room in a major city with a locked door where expensive stuff would be safe-- hence, a hotel or B and B was appropriate.</p>
<p>Before my kids turned 21 (and still with my 18 year old) I call the hotel ahead of time and “clear” their ability to check-in. Some hotels will say “no”, but we’ve always found hotels along the way that said “yes, no problem.” Some of the colleges in our state have arrangements for students who might be vacating the dorm at Christmas and spring break and get caught heading north or south home in a snow storm needing a hotel room. With a college ID card they are able to rent rooms and the colleges publish those hotel names on the student portal. Rental car laws vary state by state and they seem pretty inflexible with their guidelines. I pointed out that in our state kids start driving at 14 years 9 months so by the time they are 20 they have been driving 6 years…but in my oldest son’s college state the rental companies flat out said “no.”</p>
<p>Former hotel manager here. Always call first to clarify that the hotel policy will allow the 18 year old without an “adult”. Get the name of the person you speak with and write it down. Be sure that you are talking to a manager.<br>
Hotel chains generally have a “rule” but it can be flexed sometimes at management’s discretion.</p>