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Austrian Hotelier Bans Children

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Felix

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I just came across a news story about an austrian hotelier who started the policy of no longer accepting children in his hotel. His reason:

My guests have a right to quiet and relaxation without the noise of children.
As far as I see it, this is perfectly okay. Strangely enough this caused a lot of outrage: (I added the smileys)

First reactions were uniformly negative. Deputy governor of Upper Austria province, Franz Hiesl, said it was "outrageous" - even more so as Ballner was advertising the concept.:D

President of the Austrian Association of Hoteliers, Sepp Schellhorn, was equally critical. "Basically I have a social- political problem with this business. We're getting more and more intolerant and more and more egoistical." :confused:

"After all, no human being arrives in the world grown-up," Schellhorn pointed out in the mass-circulation Kronen Zeitung. :dough:

I wonder what they'll do to this poor guy.

Here's the full article:Storm over Austrian hotelier's ban on children

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I think that's great. If there were neighborhoods that banned children, that's where I'd live.

I'm sure this guy is going to take a lot of flack for it because we all need to help out families for the good of society, right? Children are the future and all that. Since, who else can we steal from to take care of us when were old?

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I don't find this particularly surprising; my impression was that, in Germany at least, children weren't really considered fit to be out in public. They were tolerated, but if you took them into a restaurant people definitely stared at you. (I know Austria isn't Germany, but I noticed some of the same attitudes there.)

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I don't find this particularly surprising; my impression was that, in Germany at least, children weren't really considered fit to be out in public. They were tolerated, but if you took them into a restaurant people definitely stared at you. (I know Austria isn't Germany, but I noticed some of the same attitudes there.)

I know Germans are very uptight and always care about doing everything right and not sticking out in the crowd. I am one and I see the misery everyday. I have yet to travel the world (in a year or so) to find a place to live. Somewhere bright where the sun shines more often. I mean, you have to live somewhere, so you can also live in a nice place. It may be that Germans don't like to have children in public places, but they are not allowed to publicly say so. *Sigh*

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Obviously the hotel owner should be able to set the terms for whoever stays in his hotel. And just as obviously, most people nowadays are going to think they have the right to tell them not to do it.

Business-wise, I hope they make it very clear in their advertisements and booking process what their policy is. I'd be pretty upset if I made plans and traveled a long way, and arrived tired at the end of a long day only to find that my kids could not stay.

I have to say that I've never really been bothered by children in a hotel, but I guess it depends on the hotel and the kids. I'm more bothered by people who walk by in the hallway at 1 in the morning talking loudly as if a hotel weren't a place filled with people trying to sleep.

It strikes me that next door in France (at least, at many places in Paris) dogs can go out to eat. A bit more permissive?

Edited by gadfly
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I know Germans are very uptight and always care about doing everything right and not sticking out in the crowd.

Not to get too off-track, but your not kidding (pun intended). In Germany, the government has laws restricting the naming of children.

From Post Gazette.com:

In a society that values order and tradition, the rules are meant to prevent German children from being the victims of ridicule or confusion. A forename must indicate a person's gender, for example; if it doesn't, a second name should be given that clarifies the matter.

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/05286/588031.stm

They won't allow hyphenated names for fear that names will get too complicated. If one person with a hyphenated name marries another person with a hyphenated name, their offspring could conceiveable have four names, and so on.... Gunther Snell-Schmidt-Gooding-Kleiber. :)

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Actually, I would guess that most countries have such laws. For example, I would guess that, even in the US, it would be difficult to name your child with an obscenity.
Really!! And yet, you can call your child "Moon Buggy", like Frank Zappa did? And when the Skylab crashed to earth, one fellowm in India named his kid "Skylab" ... go figure!
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Really!! And yet, you can call your child "Moon Buggy", like Frank Zappa did? And when the Skylab crashed to earth, one fellowm in India named his kid "Skylab" ... go figure!

Okay, you can give your kid weird names, but I don't think you could name your kid 'asshole' or 'cocksucker'. It would be impossible for the kid to appear on TV or radio. :alien:

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Really!! And yet, you can call your child "Moon Buggy", like Frank Zappa did? And when the Skylab crashed to earth, one fellowm in India named his kid "Skylab" ... go figure!

Actually, her name is Moon Unit Zappa. Her brother is Dweezil Zappa. Either way, unusual names, but permitted.

I would suspect that obscene names are out, but I don't know for certain.

Frank Zappa was actually quite "outspoken" against censorship and obscenity. He did quite well in interviews in my opinion.

Edit: As was correctly pointed out to me, Frank Zappa is dead, so I edited the last two sentences of my post to reflect the past tense. DOH! -RC

Edited by RationalCop
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I just came across a news story about an austrian hotelier who started the policy of no longer accepting children in his hotel. His reason:

As far as I see it, this is perfectly okay. Strangely enough this caused a lot of outrage: (I added the smileys)

I wonder what they'll do to this poor guy.

Far as I could tell, as this is a private enterprise, this hotelier has every right to exclude children from his hotel. As far as outrage, let others get enraged- their reactions are largely irrational, anyhow.

In America there are many small hotels and B & B's which do not allow children. If someone doesn't agree with this policy they need merely go to another hotel that allows kids.

Edited by Yes
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Laws about naming kids! This gives a whole new meaning to the term "nanny state".
Norway has strict laws on children's names, the point being primarily to assure that children don't have odd names, although Odd and Bent are legal names. Books with legal names are available at a store near you. (Actually, I wonder if they finally repealed that, with the numerous Mohammeds and Umars out there.)
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