TRAVEL GUIDE

A Safe Stay  
Kathleen Kauth
K.T. Beck Enterprises, LLC.

Whether for business or pleasure, family travel is increasing, with more families taking driving vacations. With the average traveler spending 3.2 nights in overnight accommodations, well over 395 million hotel trip nights are spent with children.

The hospitality industry goes to great lengths to attract and retain loyal guests, especially those with children. And nearly 60% of family travelers use the children's services that are offered. It remains a competition within the hospitality industry to find unique services. One issue that is extremely important to parents and terribly underutilized in accommodations is child safety.  Now, more than ever, even the smallest safety measures can be extremely comforting to parents .

Safe Stay ( www.asafestay.com )is the brainchild of Kathleen Kauth, President of K.T. Beck Enterprises, LLC. Experiencing a great deal of frustration when traveling with her first small child (for both business and pleasure) Ms. Kauth began bringing an entire safety package to “child-proof” the rooms that she and her family were staying. Contained in her packet were outlet plugs, cabinet locks, bi-fold door locks and a tub faucet cover.

After much discussion with other parents, Ms. Kauth realized that child safety is a problem that affects virtually all parents who choose to bring small children on their travels. Ms. Kauth began developing the Safe Stay concept. By identifying those hotels, motels and resorts that offer child safety features and providing this information to the traveling public, Ms. Kauth hopes to encourage more family travel and give information to parents about the best places to stay.

The mission of Safe Stay is three-fold:

•  To provide information to the traveling public about overnight accommodations that are child-safety conscious;

•  To increase family travel safety;

•  To support child-oriented charities with Safe Stay profits.

Offering child safety features is not a common practice among the lodging industry. Those properties listed on Safe Stay are among the few that are actively working to make travel with children safer and simpler. Please support these hotels, motels and resorts. The lodging industry is incredibly responsive to consumer demand. The more travelers request child safety features and support properties offering them, the more properties will offer.

Here are some suggestions for child safety features to look for in your accommodations. These might be integrated into the rooms, or provided at the front desk upon request.

Safety Suggestions  

•  Outlet plugs

•  Corner guards

•  Cord Roll-ups

•  VCR covers

•  Balcony / Railing guards

•  Cabinet locks

•  Bi-fold / Sliding closet door locks

•  Paper bags vs. plastic

•  Identity bracelets

•  Toilet locks

•  Furniture anchors

•  Tub faucet covers

•  Bed rails

•  Crib sheets

•  Night lights

•  Infant and/or toddler tubs

For more information about Safe Stay please visit www.asafestay.com .