Words by: Rosalyn Wikeley
Let’s be clear, nothing kills a family holiday quite like a hotel unable to switch gears for parents with both children in tow and expectations for a luxurious break. Of course, hotels not billed solely as family-friendly stays have a duty to keep things chic for the couples and those without energetic sprogs, but a gold-standard family offering must co-exist with this, seamlessly, ensuring everyone’s having a great time. All the luxurious trimmings can be layered on, but without the right format and equipment, those trimmings become obsolete – complimentary watersports won’t impress a parent struggling to track down a bottle steriliser or suitable food.
Scott Dunn are acutely aware of this, and have finely tuned their Explorers Kids Clubs to suit all ages, buying parents guilt-free time to fill up their own cups when not bonding as a family. As a travel writer and mother of three, I have now reviewed three hotels with Scott Dunn’s superlative Explorers Kids Club, and speak both from experience and with authority on their standards and creativity. Beyond the top-drawer basics – highly trained staff, imaginative, light-filled spaces decked with wooden toys, nutritious lunches – there’s a palpable excitement to get children of all ages outdoors and engaging with the (often wildly beautiful) natural environment. Having recently experienced Explorers at Daios Cove in Crete with my 6-month-old son (children can enroll from 4 months), and following trips with my 2 and 4-year-old to the Alps and Cyprus, also with Explorers, here’s why I think Scott Dunn, with their world-leading Explorers Clubs, are the maestros of family travel.
Explorers Kids Clubs are thoughtfully divided into age groups with tailored programmes and environments
I’m constantly surprised at how many luxury hotel kids clubs bunch age groups together, with activities unsuitable for the smalls or boring for the older lot – all loaded with endless safety concerns. I view it as the most important factor when researching kids clubs, as it’s the difference between a guilt-free morning with your beloved by the pool, or a morning without your brain switching off as it darts between various safety or boredom concerns for the children. Thankfully, Scott Dunn Explorers have dedicated groups for each stage of childhood, ensuring activities, environments, facilities, care and routines are tailored to each age, and that training is overseen solely by Scott Dunn. This starts at 4 months-2 years (Globetrotters), where baby and toddler home routines continue, and activities can include anything from sensory play to shaded splash pools. Scott Dunn knows that developmental needs of infants differ vastly, month by month, and care and activities are adjusted accordingly. For example, tots are never outside during the hottest part of the day and activities will mainly be based indoors or in the shaded outdoor areas. The specially designed sleep rooms (modern cots, sleeping bags, white noise machines if desired) are ideal for 4-month+ babies’ and toddlers’ nap times for parents keen to have the full run of the resort for a few hours and not be chained to their rooms or a balcony throughout their kip. I ended up putting my son in for most naps as he was actually closer there to all the main facilities than the rooms, and I knew his wonderful key worker (who he’d bonded with after the first day) would stick to his routine if he woke up before I swung back into the Kids Club.
Adventurers (3 – 4-years) are able to venture a little further from their light-filled base, splashing around in the resort’s kids pool, setting off on treasure hunts along the beach and heading out for highly nutritious, shaded picnics. Then Voyagers (5 – 7) are the right age to start throwing themselves into a whole range of exciting, educational and truly memorable activities. At Daios Cove, this can include visiting a local Cretan olive farm, taking a semi-submarine ride in the harbour to admire the kaleidoscopic marine life up close, or even optimising their tennis technique with a professional coach. For Pioneers (8 – 11), there’s a focus on building skills and independence. At Daios Cove, this can be anything from trying their hand at fresh pasta-making with the hotel chef to milking the goats at the local olive farm, or mastering a particular watersport with a coach across a week’s stay. They’ll go home with a sense of achievement; while having a blast and forging new friendships as they build skills and confidence.
Staff-to-child ratio
This is such a crucial point when considering luxury hotel kids clubs and where I feel Scott Dunn Explorers are a real cut above the rest. Particularly when they’re little. Too many kids clubs have terrifying ratios that, for me, verge on dangerous for young children. With Explorers Kids Clubs, Globetrotters are split into two groups: 4 – 20 months with a ratio of 1:2 and slightly older ones 20 months – 3 with a ratio of 1:3. This reassures parents that their little ones are receiving the appropriate levels of care and (constant) attention throughout the day, plenty of which is fed back to the parents through an app (routines, activities, little notes). I found my son’s key worker to be diligent, sensitive to his nuances and a complete natural with him, updating me on feed and sleep details, while even focusing on some tummy time for him and dexterity with toys. The older groups have enough staff to keep an eye on activities, but also to energise and motivate them in sports and challenges, and to build a fun rapport with them throughout their stay. The fact that staff are Scott Dunn trained ensures a consistency of standards and expectations across the teams – everyone’s on the same page, and as parents, you know what you’re getting in both ratio and level of care at each resort’s Explorers Club, when booked through Scott Dunn. I was blown away by the enthusiasm and over-and-above attitude of the team during my stay at Daios Cove – one staff member even golf buggy’d freshly mashed vegetables over for my son to save time on asking room service to do the honours, and I arrived back from the pool to find all his bottles sterilised and dirty cloths washed, (I’d left them in a bag from breakfast and a team member took the initiative).
Expert support before and during the trip to guide & smooth out any kinks
Scott Dunn’s dedicated family travel specialists are there to help craft the perfect family holiday in destinations they know like the back of their hands. They’ll have the best family activities up their sleeves for various ages and proclivities, and can suggest certain areas of the hotel, the region or experiences to make the most of once broods are safely checked into the Explorers Clubs. All the pre-trip admin will be smoothed out by these experts in the guest concierge, either directly or with a client’s EA, to ensure that families’ precious time is fully optimised (and not chipped away at while figuring out what time swim classes are or how to secure a booking for an Explorers day trip). All the options will be laid out like a menu, as well as the highlights of a resort or a kids club that only comes with insider knowledge.
I realised, after a few days at Daios Cove, that it would have taken me at least two days to find my bearings at the resort and figure out the best times for spa treatments and Kids Club bookings. Having an in-house expert suggest the best spa treatments for the off-duty time I had, the best shaded table for lunch bookings with a baby, and the optimum times to have him in the Kids Club for me to enjoy the very best of the hotel essentially bought me back those first few days of finding your feet. I was able to hit the ground running and lean on an (incredibly flexible) itinerary knowing someone had done all the hard work for me. This would really come into its own for parents with multiple children of different ages, and various expectations over what they’d like to get out of that week on the activity front. You need someone on the inside who knows the timings, rhythms, (quite literally how long it takes to walk or buggy somewhere in the resort), and the food and vibe of restaurants at various times of the day. One great example at Daios Cove was that they were able to tailor a fast-and-furious, Champagne-laced boat trip to fit in with afternoon nap times of several guests with children in the Kids Club… genius.
The expert support in the build up to the trip also meant a breezy flight with the baby – saving on luggage space as I was able to borrow a steriliser, highchair, baby bath and bottle warmer for the room, and was provided with enough Kit & Kin nappies and wipes for the entire trip – all of which was in the room on arrival. Everything, from the cleverly-shaped baby bath to the toxin-free Kit & Kin dishwasher tables used to wash the baby bottles, felt well-researched and ahead of the curve – none of the home comforts or routines of young children were sacrificed for a luxurious, sun-drenched holiday in a completely new environment.
Make the most of their hotels’ spectacular settings
With some of the world’s most striking properties in breath-taking settings on their portfolio, Scott Dunn have both the responsibility and the joy of curating epic outdoorsy adventures for families. It’s these trips that imprint themselves indelibly in the shared memories of families – whether it’s a snorkelling trip in a quiet cove, teeming with exotic fish, or a boat trip to a nearby island steeped in history and myth. Then there are the grown-up jaunts – not simply lying poolside but fishing with a local or a wine tasting workshop with a deep dive on the region’s viticultural history, recuperating a bit of your pre-children identity while they’re safely ensconced in the Explorers Kids Club.
At Daios Cove, I was able to wallow about in the aquamarine shallows and zoom out on a boat with a picnic while my son was napping in the Explorers Kids Club’s sleep space. As a travel writer, engaging with whatever environment I find myself in is priority – I need to dive into the sea, or hike a nearby hill to inhale the salty, herb-heavy air, and just generally enjoy a natural and cultural sensory assault to feel far away from home. Scott Dunn shares this itch to really feel your location. It directs most of the age-categories in the Explorers Club’s activities, where they’re encouraged to embrace the great outdoors and engage with the stunning locations and their cultural traditions. At Daios Cove, this included paddling in the gently sloping sandy cove, treasure hunts along the beach, collecting shells, learning about Cretan culture at a nearby olive farm and walking up the scrubby, herb-lined paths for pretty views and picnic baskets filled with local fare. Children learn about their location, its flora and fauna and also its history, as well as diving into the impressive array of watersports on offer. In the Alps, I was impressed by the team’s insistence that the children went out, whatever the weather, for a blast of fresh air, wrapping up warm for the nursery slopes.
There’s a real Carpe Diem attitude to the show-stopping locations, which feels both educational and healthy.
Flexible and easygoing Explorers Clubs sessions
The structured days of children’s clubs can feel overwhelming, particularly for little people not used to a nursery environment, and their parents who may feel uncomfortable leaving them for long stretches. The joy of Scott Dunn’s Explorers Clubs is that, while adhering to a paid package (the club will need to work the child to carer ratio arithmetic each week), parents can check children in and out under their own steam. The flexibility removes any angst around booking young children in – when I felt my son wasn’t yet comfortable with the team, I initially left him for an hour or then gradually built up the time, and with it, his trust and familiarity with his environment. In my experience, Scott Dunn evidently ‘get’ that a lot of time-poor parents really want quality time with their children, not for them to be in the club from dawn till dusk during the trip, but equally, they wish to carve out some time as a couple or just an individual, free of dependents for a few hours of much-needed self-care. The Ovivio app allows this flexibility with smooth communication between parents and carers. At Daios Cove, I extended one Explorers Club session so I could shower properly after an oily spa treatment and be ready for supper (a real treat as it took me all of half an hour rather than the standard two hour dance with a baby and his various demands). Another time, I picked him up earlier than agreed as it made sense with my plans for the afternoon. Admittedly, I’d often leave him there for lunch as I knew he’d be getting pulped local organic vegetables… and a real holiday for parents is not having to source, prepare and clear those messy weaning or tot mealtimes situations. The flexible nature of the Explorers club ensured any cancelled boat trips or watersports with weather conditions could be rebooked and the children whipped out of the clubs to go in on a later date. But if ever there were a barometer for a Kids Club success, the standard sentiment at 3+ Explorers when parents arrive, children rarely want to leave.
To Book Your Stay at Daios Cove head to: scottdunn.com
Code: “MINI_EDITION26” when enquiring via the Scott Dunn website or by phone.
Offer: £500 flight credit plus a complimentary spa treatment per couple (T&Cs apply). Book by 31st July
READ NEXT: The Parent’s Playbook: Tips For Travelling With A Tiny Human With Scott Dunn Explorers
