Tempted to squeeze your party of five into a room meant for two? Hotels are on to you.

Molly Gamache, a former housekeeper in Natick, Mass., told me that her supervisors required her to count the number of toothbrushes in the bathroom. "If there were more toothbrushes than stated guests, management would decide whether to pursue it with the guests," she said. That sometimes meant a higher room rate for the visitors.

But not always. Jim Engel, the general manager at Bavarian Inn Motor Lodge in Frankenmuth, Mich., says that safety, not money, is his primary concern when he finds more people to a room than the law allows.

"Having too many roll-aways, cribs or the surprise child sleeping on the floor can become a serious problem if there's a fire," he said. If too many guests are discovered in a room, he tries to find a second room at a reduced rate. "Then we note the problem on their account for future reference in case they return," he adds.

Some hotels have begun catering to larger groups. The Park Hyatt Washington, for example, offers a special rate called "Families at the Park" that allows guests with several children to get an extra room for $75 a night. Average room rates are about $400.

I can see both sides of this debate. On the one hand, families are trying to save a little money when they're on the road. On the other, hotels want to stay in the black — and on the right side of the law.

Most hotels regard room occupancy as a gray area, taking a pragmatic "don't ask, don't tell" approach. Unless the room looks like a refugee camp, they won't make a fuss. They'll offer a second room if it's available, at a lower rate — and if they can't, they'll just look the other way until something becomes available.

"On the second room, there are no travel agent commissions or Expedia-type discounts, and the hotel is still able to make the same gross profit while providing a safe environment and good value to the guest," said Luke Knowles, the operations manager at Palos Verdes Inn in Redondo Beach, Calif.

The families I spoke with that have bent the maximum occupancy rule — and I include myself in that group — say they've never been kicked out of a hotel when they were caught.

Still, many big families would prefer to find a place to stay where they don't need to lie about the size of their party. Internet entrepreneur Theresa Jorgensen, who travels with a family of six, was so frustrated with the lack of family accommodations that she founded a site called SixSuitcaseTravel (sixsuitcasetravel.com), a directory of nearly 3,000 hotels that can sleep at least six, and sometimes as many as eight, in a single room.

Another solution is to skip the hotel and rent a condominium or cabin. These accommodations usually also have full kitchens, which means that you don't have to subsist on takeout pizza and overpriced restaurant food during your vacation.

Christopher Elliott is the ombudsman for National Geographic Traveler magazine. You can read more travel tips on his blog, elliott.org, or e-mail him at celliott@ngs.org.