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I am buying furniture for my 3 bedroom and 1 large office house.
I’ve got so much mixed feedback on what size beds to use. One says always do all king size beds if they fit well. Another says it’s good to have twins beds so friends are comfortable sharing a room. And yet another says adults can’t stand sleeping in twin beds so never do twins if you are renting to mostly adults. Sigh
My town is a mountain bike town (Bentonville, AR). I imagine many renters will be mountain bikers (I would think mostly adults but not sure).
I am leaning to do:
King in master
King in 2nd guest
Queen in 3rd guest (not enough room for nightstands if King)
Sofa bed in office.
I feel like a traditional might be:
King
Queen
Twins
Sofa bed or day bed.
Americans and Canadians seem to like King size beds. Not so common in other countries. Kind of depends on the demographic of guests who are your target market, also.
One thing you can do to accommodate single guests who would be okay with a twin bed but also have flexibility for couples is that two extended length twins pushed together is the same size as a king. And I know there are ways to secure the two together and fillers for the resulting dip between mattresses- you’d have to research that.
What you want to avoid is a bed for two people that is too large to put bedside tables on both sides of the bed (couples don’t necessarily have the same bedtime habits and each needa bedside table and reading lamp) and leaves little room to walk around the bed.
A single bed, day bed, or sofa bed in the office room would be an idea, but I would stay away from trying to cram too many people in by listing a sofa bed in the living room- it renders the living room a private space when someone is sleeping there, and means the bed has to be folded up every day if they want to use the sofa to sit on.
I visited a ski resort in the Czech Republic, which doubles as a mountain-biking destination during the summer. All the rooms were furnished with single beds, each measuring 90x200 cm, and could accommodate one, two, or three beds. As @muddy suggested, the single beds were easy to join together for guests who preferred a double bed. I traveled alone initially, and my teenage child joined me after finishing their camp, so this arrangement worked perfectly for us.
The ski resort also had a small restaurant and a large office space that was cleverly arranged as a children’s playground. Since skiing is a sport that can be introduced at a very young age, this made sense. I imagine that many young people will also visit your property for mountain biking. Considering the size of your bedrooms, I’d recommend sticking with single box-spring beds and mattresses.
While a playground might not suit your property, providing a communal area for groups or teams would be a great idea. For example, my family always appreciates finding a foosball table, ping-pong, or billiards table at vacation spots. Of course, it depends on your building’s layout. A sketch of your property would be helpful in making more specific recommendations.
I would do a queen size bed in all three bedrooms and I would buy the same sheet sets all in queen size. It would just make my life a bit easier. Plus queen size sheet sets are easy to find on sale.
The sofa bed would be in the study which is off the living room and has french doors.
And yes I agree about nightstands, its a must for both sides of the bed.
How many bathrooms are you providing? That will be a big factor in how much bed space you are offering; a pull out sofa in an office that shares bathroom space with 2 bedrooms is not a good thing…
In the UK, there used to be - and probably still is - a type of bed that links to form a queen. See here.
Expensive but worthwhile, I think, for the flexibility. Because my apartments are one-bedroom, queen-bed it’s awkward when the guests are friends rather than a couple. (I find that one guest has slept on the sofa).
My STR house has 7 bedrooms and all twin beds. It is easier to take apart the beds and regularly inspect for bugs and put on fresh mattress protectors. For couples who want to share a bed, I oush the twins together and put a foam insert down the middle. Then I bind the beds together with a thick king size mattress pad. I am in a golfing community so get many groups of men who are happy to have twin beds. For my large den I have two queen sleeper couches with memory foam mattresses. There is a computer desk and TV so it is an additional room that people can use to get away from the crowd.
I have a 3 bedroom/2 bath. Two of the bedrooms have two twins each that can be matched to make kings. The third bedroom is two twin only, no room to convert to a king.
I use heavy duty zip ties to connect the bedframs together at the foot and heads of the beds. Mine fit so tightly, I do not need a foam insert, I use a very thick memory foam king topper under the fitted sheets.
I have mixed feelings on offering the twin-to-king conversion. 75% of my guests are sportsmen that are fine with twins. the other 25% are couples wanting a king. Its not hard to do the conversion, just a pain.
Then why not let the 25% enjoy the ‘joining together’ pains, as long as it doesn’t damage your beds? If the mattresses fit almost perfectly, you could simply provide a double duvet instead of two singles—but only if they specifically ask for it. I strongly believe that everyone likes to have some control when it comes to sharing a duvet . After the honeymoon phase, two separate duvets are usually the best option.
It is a case of lots of small hurdles. The supplies (zipties, mattress pads and king bedding) are stored in a locked owners closet with no place to store in the bedrooms. By the time I would put it all out in the bedrooms, I might as well do it myself and have the room look welcoming.
I was quite sure that I wanted to put a King size that could split into 2 singles in one of our rooms, in the end I didn’t - I stuck with two singles. Admittedly I was furnishing during covid when availability of beds was pretty limited.
For me, the hassle of storing the alternative configuration bedding and having to have additional sets of linen was prohibitive, alongside the fact that a last minute request to change the setup once it was already prepared the other way really put me off.
So each of my properties has a double and a twin. It works for families with children, groups of friends as well as couples. For us, having only doubles/queens/kings isn’t the most versatile and would really narrow our guest base. As a family of 5, if we go anywhere I find now that we have to be looking at properties that sleep at least 8 in order to get enough beds nowadays…
It also may be worth considering the price bracket and type of guest you are aiming for - if you only have three beds you may generally only get 3 guests sharing the cost rather than the six it theoretically caters for.
I struggled with this when setting up our 2 bed 1 bath SFH. Different layout than you but I did one king and then 2 twins. Additional floor mattress for a total of 5 guests.
I’m happy we did it that way and we’ve accommodated all kinds of groups… families, inter-generational families, two couples, girls weekend, guys weekend, one couple, etc.
We’re in downtown San Antonio and typical stay is 2-4 nights.
. After the honeymoon phase, two separate duvets are usually the best option.