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We have a busy Airbnb. It is a 3 bedroom house. My wife and I in one room and Queen beds in the other two rooms which we Airbnb. The beds in the guest rooms are getting very ‘tired’. It is time to replace them.
For one of the rooms we are considering those King Singles that can be zipped together to make a King Double.
Do we think that this is a good idea?
As it will be appealing to a different guest profile, is it best to create a separate listing? The separate listing would have to be more expensive if we are configuring with the single beds because of more linen, more work etc.
Do we think that two guests travelling together who would prefer single beds are likely to be prepared to pay more for this arrangement?
I really believe that my king bed is one of the reasons my guests book. It’s also a tempurpedic mattress. In regards to the option to zip it’s a great idea but remember it’s probably another 15 minutes of your time. I used to offer two twins with the option to make a king in the second bedroom and while it was popular, the 2nd bed was a trundle and It make turn over, laundry, etc much longer.
If you are already as busy as you want to be there is no need to try to appeal to a new demographic. I do think king beds appeal to many couples and are probably your best choice for appealing to the greatest number of couples who travel together.
As a single person living alone I’ve decided against having a king bed in my home (it won’t fit in the Air room but I considered it for my room). They are too heavy for me to lift my myself and all the linens are more expensive. But if I had someone to help me 24/7 I’d go with king.
EDIT; Feedback from guests is that they love that I offer a King bed.
I have two twin beds that are set up as a King in my listing. I have “zipped” them together using a mattress pad and the foam T insert to fill in the gap, then a 3" memory foam topper. So far all guests except one have loved the mattress. I did have someone want to stay and use the twin configuration at my regular price, but they canceled.
I think I might make a separate listing with photos of the twin setup and maybe charge $5 more? Or a bit more on the cleaning fee?
King definitely has more appeal, but I don’t know about the zippered twin configuration. The only times I’ve ever slept in the bed like that was in Germany, and they all felt weird in the middle. Either there was a noticeable crevice between the two single mattresses or it felt stiff because there was something stuffed in between to prevent the crevice.
That happens on cruise ships, too. I have a king sheet holding the 2 together plus the piece of foam in the middle and then a topper and then a mattress protector and sheets, so it’s pretty stable… People tell me they can’t tell, so if they’re telling the truth…
Busy … yes. Busy as we want to be … no. Our occupancy is 72% over the past 12 months down from 92% the year before. We are still on 4.9x (don’t know how to find the x by the way).
We are in a tropical vacation destination in northern Australia and 85% of our guests are younger travellers in the 23 to 35 age group.
If your guests are romanitc couples the king bed is probably nice. If you are getting groups of friends traveling maybe twin beds are nice. It seems that young females have no problem sharing beds, you might even get 3 or 4 who will all sleep in the king. But older folks who are traveling as friends don’t want to share beds and men pals don’t want to share beds.
Exactly. As you say, women in non-romantic relationships don’t seem to mind sleeping together but occasionally we find that men in a non-romantic relationship seem to find it a bit awkward.
Also, recently we had a father and daughter staying for 8 nights taking kite boarding lessons. She was in her twenties and we sensed that they would have preferred twin beds but couldn’t afford a hotel or motel.
There has been some great input here. Thank you everyone. Looks like we will go down the Split King route. Just got to work out the best way to solve that sinking feeling between the beds when they are together.
I do offer the twin beds on their own. I do not set a different price for them because my listing is a private room and en-suite in a home where I live and work. My area is known for full-house rentals and I’m competing with 5-6 other rooms (not as nice and all but 1 other don’t have pools, I have a huge pool. My price is competitive - I’m at the higher end with a cleaning fee, but I’m getting quality guests.
Whoever said “raise your prices, you’ll get more and better bookings,” wasn’t kidding. And yes, I know, it’s about 1/2 the people on this forum! But it’s true.
That definitely answers the question on the King Split
We don’t have ensuites so we don’t appeal to the older traveller.
Thank you Sailing Lady. By way of interest, one of my sons bought a $30K yacht in San Diego in 2008 and and we sailed it back to Australia. That was when the Australian dollar bought US$1.08. The Australian dollar today buys 68 US cents.
King split - I’ve been thinking of bringing it back as an offer, just posting the pics again and see what happens. The one inquiry I received was a father of a 5 year old in town for a birthday party. The booking fell through (he thought this was a “book, use the pool, stay with the rellies deal”) and no one else seemed interested. But my area attractsfamilies, weddings, large groups, snowbirds and tourists passing through, or people looking to move here.
In 2008 I was living in San Diego and racing sailboats out of SWYC and SDYC, mostly J105s, J120s, and a few “sleds.” What a great adventure sailing to Oz!! I was married to a sailing Kiwi, so I understand the blue water fever…
We were in a marina at Shelter Island for a few weeks before we left - great memories. Our yacht was a Downeast 32 built in 1979. Apart from the engine dying the day before we were to set sail she performed beautifully for the 99 day passage. Sorry Moderators … a bit OT there.
