Tips For Bringing Babysitters or Nannies on Vacation

Have you ever taken a babysitter with you on vacation?

Getting away as a family means a lot of time together, and sometimes you just need a little time for mom and dad or an extra pair of hands.

Three families share the pros and cons of bringing a babysitter on vacation versus using a hotel or local babysitting service at your destination.

Meet The Families

Stephanie Fornaro is a mother of two children and the founder of Hello, Nanny! She didn’t hire a nanny until having her second child, and it was a game-changer for their family. Upon discovering that there was a disconnect between nannies and families and a lack of transparency in the industry, she decided to leave her corporate job with a passion to support moms like her.  

Neil Ayton is CEO of Mountary and a serial entrepreneur. He is a frame and interior design expert who started Mountary in 2014, a leading online custom framing service provider. Neil has a great passion for helping clients enhance their spaces through beautifully framed artwork and décor. He is a proud Irish immigrant to the USA. Neil and his wife have two children.

Dee Joubert is the Chief Operating Officer at DentalyGo. When she travels with her only son, she understands the value of making family holidays as stressless as possible.  As someone who likes a good balance between work, fitness, and family, she’s experienced her fair share of holidays when seeking childcare, which was needed to help her relax.

Bringing Babysitters on Vacation

Stephanie brought her nanny with them on a family vacation to Munich, Germany, and Venice, Italy.

She writes, “We paid her her normal wages, covered all of her travel expenses, including food, and provided an overnight stipend for each night she was away with us.”

Neil shares, “We brought our nanny on vacation when our daughter was a newborn. We went to visit family in Rhode Island during the summer,” Neil recalls.

Their nanny looked after two kids, a newborn and a 4-year-old, but the main focus was on the newborn. 

“We hired a nanny when our oldest daughter was born; she has become like part of the family as we don’t have family nearby,” he says.

Dee has enjoyed the benefits of bringing a sitter with her and hiring a local service on vacation.

She indicates, “I have experience with both hiring a babysitter and availing hotel services on family vacations. For instance, I had taken a babysitter along when I visited Hungary a few years back. We were there for around a week, and I wanted my child to see the place while I had some time to relax myself.”

Structuring Babysitting and Leisure Time

Bringing a sitter with you involves structuring their time, determining how much of their day is spent caring for the children, and what their general role is when out with the family.

Time spent with the family could range from being an extra set of hands at the zoo to helping at mealtimes.

Stephanie confirms, “We had our nanny a part of our family outings, and we had scheduled time without our kids so that my husband and I could also have one-on-one time.

“We also scheduled time for me to spend with our nanny enjoying the festivities. This was a great way for us to build rapport; after all, this is someone helping raise our son.

“My husband and I offered her down time and time off, but she rarely took it. Some evenings, we would trade having our son in our room, or hers. To give each other the night off.”

Neil and his wife treat their nanny like one of the family.

He states, “She is part of the family during the trip, she comes to do the fun stuff, eat out etc. She is an extra set of hands and part of the team. She helped with feeding, bathing, and staying back during naptime with the baby. After the kids went to sleep, she was relaxing at home and gave us the flexibility to go out on a date or even just for a walk.”

Dee notes, “I employed a sitter from a reputable agency, one who had worked with my son before and was really more of a companion than a sitter. I worked out her time so that she was spending the day with my boy while my friends and I took a couple of outings.

“At night, we would occasionally dine out or go to events, and she would remain with my kid in our hotel room.”

Benefits and Challenges of Traveling With a Babysitter

What are the benefits of traveling with a babysitter and some challenges of traveling with a babysitter?

Stephanie acknowledges, “There are zero challenges, in my opinion, unless there’s a ton of ambiguity going into it. As long as the partnership is clearly defined, it’s a breeze.

“The upside was support; we truly felt like we were vacationing with the support. Whereas without it, a vacation just felt like a work trip with no tools and resources.”

For Neil and his wife, traveling with a nanny had mainly upsides. The Aytons appreciated:

• An extra set of hands to help with everything
• Familiarity with the kids, so there was no “getting to know them” period
• Trust, she’s already a trusted member of the family

The only downside is cost, he says.

Dee reasons, “Taking a sitter on holiday does have advantages as well as difficulties. The biggest advantage is the ability to have someone you feel safe with, giving you reassurance while still being able to get a little adult time. It does get complicated when balancing their need for a day off and not overloading them but including them in the adventure.”

Budgeting For Traveling Babysitters 

How much should someone budget to bring a sitter with them? I asked our panel to itemize costs associated with bringing a babysitter from the trip’s start to finish, including compensation for their time off the clock.

Everyone’s budgets will be different, but here are the main considerations you need to make when you bring a babysitter with you on vacation.

“Wages, overnight stipend, room, flight, and food.” – Stephanie

“Flight, additional bedroom, meals, additional daily rate, and also a gift to say thanks after!” – Neil

“The expense of taking a sitter is different, depending on where you’re going, the level of experience the sitter has, and how much time they spend outside of work. It’s certainly more costly than having hotel personnel, but personally, I think it’s much more convenient.” – Dee 

Using Professional Babysitting Services at the Hotel

Have you ever used a professional babysitting service on vacation? What was your experience?

Stephanie reveals, “I did not, because we had our nanny. However, I am now the founder of Hello Nanny, a nationwide nanny agency that supports families with these needs.

Before deciding on a sitter service, Stephanie recommends making sure that the agency:

• Issues a comprehensive background check
• Performs a social media audit
• Supplies a MVR report (motor vehicle records)
• Has conducted a thorough in-house interview with the candidate

“Not just someone who signed up via an app and expressed interest,” she cautions.

Neil confirmed that his family has not used a professional sitter on vacation.

Dee hired a sitter from an agency on vacation, as mentioned above.

Are The Kids All Right?

It makes sense that you’d want your kids to be in the care of someone you know and not a stranger, no matter how good their credentials may be.

When asked how Stephanie’s children felt about being in the care of strangers, she replied, “Actually, we did use the daycare service on a cruise ship once. Our son didn’t like it unless his friend was there with him. But even then, he had a clear disdain for it.”

Not everyone has the same experience with the babysitting services provided by hotels or cruise lines, though.

In a recent study we commissioned featuring the 10 Best Waterfront Destinations to Travel With a Baby, Orlando, Florida ranked the highest for overall Baby-Friendliness with a score of 70.92 with Madison, Wisconsin (58.88); Fort Lauderdale, Florida (58.09); San Francisco, California (57.75); and New Orleans, Louisiana (56.83) rounding out the top five.

If you are curious about ratings and reviews for hotel babysitting services, you can look them up online or contact the hotel directly for more information to help find the best solution for your family.

Parents Weigh In: Travel Sitter or Onsite Babysitting Service

If it came down to preference, all of the parents interviewed agree that they prefer to bring someone they already know and trust with experience caring for their children.

“Bring a nanny without a doubt. The rapport and relationship you have with the person is superior to the experience and peace of mind.” – Stephanie

“We would always bring a sitter and have done so regularly.” – Neil

“If I could decide, I’d prefer to take a sitter with me. It allows me to have more control over my son’s care and allows them to be with someone they’re familiar with.” – Dee

This arrangement (bringing a sitter or nanny) is also best suited to families choosing to stay in vacation rentals located in remote areas where it would be difficult to source childcare, like staying in a cabin in the woods, at a lakeside retreat, and so on.

Find Your Lakeside Getaway

Now that you’re on the road to booking a vacation, it’s time to find the place to accommodate you and your sitter or nanny!

Your sitter will need her own bedroom, so factor that into the number of rooms you are looking for in your accommodations. You may even want to consider a separate bathroom for her use, complete with a shower and access to her own set of towels.

Another idea to consider is asking a relative to come with you (all expenses paid), perhaps an older niece or nephew that babysits already, or one of your children’s favorite aunts.

You could also vacation with your siblings so that cousins can hang out together, and you can take turns watching each other’s kids.

Check out these vacation rentals on Lake.com. Just pop in the city you want to stay in, the dates you’re interested in, and how many people will stay with you to see what’s available.