Hotels are not only places for guests to lay their heads and lounge after a complimentary breakfast. When they travel, many guests are seeking a home away from home, and this includes families with physically and mentally active children needing entertainment.

To fill this need, hotels are attracting families with children in surprising but efficient ways. New amenities for the whole family may be permanent or temporary additions, such as a built-in waterpark or temporary play space to suit a hotel family party theme. Check out the unique ways that hotels are make the stay more fun-filled and engaging for families with kids.

Adventure Park and Resort Family Getaway
With a global shift toward focusing on the family, many hotels are adapting large scale themes to make the focus more permanent with the creation of adventure parks in an resort atmosphere. Hotels are adding outdoor and indoor waterparks to echo the popularity of waterparks during the summer but adding a place to stay, which after an active day, families will be tired and want to relax.

Many hotels are specifically targeting families who are active, children who play sports or families that love to hike and travel together, for example. These hotels offer various levels and types of sports for adventure enthusiasts, even including extreme sports.

The Extreme Hotel is a "Caribbean eco sustainable sports adventure resort," which combines sustainability and sports adventure. Guests at this hotel in the Dominican Republic take advantage of boarding, horseback tours, surfing and kitesurfing while focusing on ecotourism. Imagine a horseback tour for all fitness levels that explains the flora and fauna of the area.

Does your hotel have any ecotourism attractions? It may be worth checking into as an attraction for your hotel when it comes to stays for families.

The Spirit of Play Invites Families to Stay
Hotels are contracting vendors to install play systems for children to invite families to stay. These systems may be installed outdoors and indoors and are customized spaces for play, unique to every area they inhabit. Parents can join in the fun or relax, while they children's senses are engaged in an open, bright and modern space. Imagine hosting a weekend Halloween party at the hotel with a customized play space for the kids.

Hotels should also look at plays spaces as an opportunity to develop children's imaginations. Other interesting themes include hotels that add big spaceships or to-kid-size-scale LEGO castles. Children love to be surprised and may go explore the castle and become a knight fighting dragons, while parents enjoy a wine tasting.

Going the extra mile to help families enjoy their stay, by keeping boredom at bay for kids, encourages repeat traffic and brand loyalty. Families return to hotels that accommodate their children and make effort to see that they are entertained as guests also.

Scheduling Regular Entertainment Shows or Educational Exhibitions
Another way to attract and keep guests with kids is to schedule regular entertainment shows or host rotating educational exhibitions. These stimulate the children's imaginations and encourage them to learn new things.

Hotels around the world are coming up with unique shows and exhibits to attract the attention of children, but Las Vegas is definitely unique in its imaginative approach. The Mirage has a giant man-made volcano and hosts puppet shows. Imagine a huge aquarium with unique sea life – Kids love the Shark Reef Aquarium at the Madalay Bay Resort and Casino, which holds rare golden crocodiles, piranha, endangered green sea turtles and more diverse sea creatures. Kid-friendly food choices are also available at over twenty restaurants, with all-age performances that include "The Lion King."

So, another efficient way to attract families with kids is to also target menu items and make them more diverse, instead of the standard hamburger or chicken and nuggets. Making meals more kid-focused may be the easiest and most cost-effective way to please families.

Kids have big imaginations, and they love to have adventures, play and learn new things. When families go on vacation, they want to relax, but they also want to share new experiences together.

Invite families to stay by encouraging them to play, learn and go on adventures, creating parks, play areas and programs that appeal to all ages.