Add an Air Mattress?

1

I have 2 small bedroom/attached bath suites in my home that we rent on airbnb. There is enough space on the floor in each room for a twin sized air mattress, though it would make things pretty tight. Still, I’m considering getting one just to have it available.

Do any of you have a similar set up?

How do you make up the air bed when guests want to use it?

Can you/should you put a memory foam topper on an air mattress?

Do you get a lot of bookings for 3 instead of 2?

Do you charge extra for a 3rd person and if so, how much?

3

Paper plates? plastic cups? Oh @Robert_Dudley… you can do better than that.

If you have the space, an air mattress is worth consideration. I would be more worried about the bathroom. Can they handle three people or will your guests start finding other bathrooms in your house to use? I limit the number of guests based on what I think is a reasonable number of people using the bathroom. Too crowded, and guests no longer feel like they have gotten a good value.

4

Nope. Do not advertise an air mattress option, no matter what Origin Story Chesky wants to shill on talk shows. It attracts the wrong sort of guest. (Yes! on that red solo cup, analogy!)

Now, if you want to buy an $8 camping mattress at Walmart and keep it on hand for emergencies, that’s different. I just allowed a family of 5 to book my place and the four year old wants to sleep in the master bedroom with his parents, so I hauled out the mattress and set it up.

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5

Are you saying you would charge more per guest if you added mattresses? I wouldn’t. You have your hands full just renting one room…

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7

Ah… sorry… your humor went right over my head and I went into literal mode.

:flushed:

9

We get lots of reservations for 3 guests. We have a twin sized hide-a-bed. We also have a full sized air mattress (so technically could host 4 people) but I absolutely will not advertise it because I worry it might pop or something and it does make the place a little cramped. What I have done is offered it to folks with a 3rd person that are staying for a few nights and might want an alternative to either leaving the sofa folded out all the time or having to fold it every day. I’ve also had a few groups of young people that have asked about a 4th person and I’ve allowed it. I guess we’re lucky but so far even with the young people, we’ve had really great guests. We make up the air bed just like any other bed, we don’t have a topper, and we charge an additional $10 per person for more than 2 guests.

10

I have a spare inflatable air mattress handy for extra guests. I’ve used it a good number of times now and it’s been awesome! The guests have also liked the air mattress. Here’s what I use:

I also charge for extra guests. This air mattress has paid for itself many times over! (I actually have two of them now :slight_smile: )

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11

We use an air mattress in our house with 4 bedrooms - because often there are families with more kids/people than beds, but they are not usually disrespectful of the house.

I have found it to be a great investment (if you look at how many bookings have come from inquiries where a family asked specifically if we have an Air Mattress)

w/r/t the Red Cups - we make a point of screening our guests as effectively as possible - I don’t think having an Air Mattress will push you one way or the other, but rejecting a guest who’se profile picture is a photo of them chugging a beer…now that makes a difference!