I’m in my second year of hosting and have recently realized that, instead of placing my twin beds side by side, I could line them up against the outside wall and produce a lot more space in what is a really small guest room. In my description, I say that the beds can be shoved apart or pushed together. I get all combinations of guest with the existing options (mother-daughter, two guy or gal friends, married pair, etc.). It would take a few hundred dollars to reset the wall TV and alter the built-ins in order to keep all the options available But the extra space feeling, a place for a cosy chair and table and better place to put luggage and drawers are intriguing. I think only the romantic pairs may be put off with this placement. Also, I suspect that once I make the changes (especially adding the chair and table) I won’t want to keep moving things around, even though the beds are on wheels. Would you make the change?
Only if you don’t mind losing the couples. I wouldn’t stay there due to that arrangement, but then, I do t think two single beds pushed together would appeal to me anyway. It sounds like your demographic is mostly people traveling as friends relatives rather than couples anyway is that right? If so, and you have calculated it won’t be much of a loss to miss out on the business of couples who want to cuddle, then it sounds like a good arrangement.
I would be more inclined to have it so the table and chair are also moveable so you retain the flexibility, and design your room around that option. Better still, do what most people do that find works best, and get a nice comfy full size bed. You just might find you are busy all the time with a proper comfy full bed. Couples will stay, and mother/daughters often travel like this (I get them), as do girlfriends. But if it ain’t broke…
Hi jds,
We have a trundle bed (a daybed with a bed that collapses so that it can be stored under the daybed. They are both twin mattresses.) We’ve found that this works well. Single guests have more room as our bedrooms are small. When we have a couple we tie the beds together with bungee cords. We’ve had a lot of people traveling together who don’t want to sleep together (parents and children, friends, work colleagues, siblings, etc.). Once we had a male and female friend who didn’t want to sleep in the same room and asked if one of the beds could be moved to the living room. The really strange part is that although we are very clear that we have two large dogs who are not low dander the guest who slept in the living room where the dogs have free reign was allergic to dogs.
Awesome EllenN. It seems you have found a distinct demographic of people that sharing a room as two people but not a couple really appeals to! It seems you must be priced right, and be doing things just the right way to attract those people. And yes, with good mattresses, the trundles can be comfortable so I have heard. I’m a real mattress snob due to pain, but it’s not a price issue on mattresses, just a comfort thing. If people say they are comfy and happy, then they are!
So really you are at a crossroads. Make the room even better for non couples traveling together, or keep it not quite living up to its potential as an all rounder. Could you try doing a percentage of all your guests and work out how many are couples vs non couples to see if it is viable?
Hi Sandy,
Thank you very much for the compliments. I’m blushing.
I haven’t tried to figure out what percentage of guests are couples, singles, or groups who don’t want to sleep together. We get a fair amount of all three. So far only one person has suggested that a bigger bed would be nice. She suggested a queen sized bed which would mean that there would be no room for a desk.
I was worried at first about that the mattresses on the trundle beds wouldn’t be comfortable, but we’ve had so many compliments on them. Several people have told me that they sleep better here than at their own house.
Here is a link to our listing:
Our house it pretty much the opposite of how you describe yours. Our house is small (975 square feet). We are very close to Los Angeles International airport so we get a lot of international travelers who are at the beginning or the end of a trip to the U.S. We also get a lot of students who are taking classes or doing research and people who are here for work.
Oh my goodness EllenN!! Could it possibly get any better? What amazing reviews, and five stars across the board don’t lie. I honestly don’t think you could do anything wrong as it is your amazing hospitality skills that have folks raving, and all the great features are an added bonus.
I love your gorgeous home, and wish to downsize one day - and move to the warmer climes Your kitchen, bathroom, yard cool red sofa are so beautiful, but your divine happy dogs take the cake. So cool about your dog training!
Hi Sandy,
Thank you so, so much for being so sweet. I’m pretty proud of my dogs, but I’m severely prejudiced. The one thing that some guests do that hurts my feelings (I’m pretty thick skinned) is dis pit bulls as soon as I tell them that our black dog is a pit bull mix. Fortunately, most of the guests fall in love with them and admit their prejudices were unfounded.
I can recommend a small house. When we moved in 20 years ago I thought I wouldn’t like such a small house. Now I believe that it keeps us disciplined to not keep things we don’t need (although I sure would love linens like yours).
Yours,
Ellen
I used to live in a small apartment in Sydney before I moved here, and I loved it! So easy to clean. I long to go back to simple days. And yes, much less stuff. Alas, here we are, and I love this home, but I would give it up in a heartbeat (if someone would pay me enough that is!). Hey guess what? We have the exact same trundle bed! I couldn’t believe it. I found mine on Craigslist when looking for one. Is yours heavy wrought iron? The trundle is very good quality isn’t it? I replaced the small mattress that came with mine with a latex mattress.
I can only imagine looking at the pictures that your dogs are total love bugs! Pit bulls have been so badly mistreated by people. They can be so talented. I love all dogs - more than people sometimes
Hi Sandy,
Your house sounds so incredibly beautiful from your descriptions.
That’s quite a coincidence that we have the same bed. We got it at a local bed store long ago. Yes, it’s heavy wrought iron, hence very sturdy. I see that you really like latex mattresses. My only question about them is that I tend to sleep warm so when I tried a memory foam mattress topper I was miserable. Does latex have the same quality of keeping you quite warm?
Thank you SO much for the kind words about pit bulls. I got her from the shelter. I wasn’t planning to get a pit bull. I’ve always liked them, but I didn’t want to battle people’s prejudices. She was and is such a great dog, I figures she’s worth fighting for, but it still stings when people utter stereotypes about pit bulls. Both of our dogs do love everyone they meet. We say that they are our secret Airbnb weapon because they are great ice breakers.
I would have kept the mattresses no problem if they looked alas good quality as yours do. The one that came with ours was just a thin little one so I chucked it. Oh I know about the memory foam!! We threw our tempurpedic away. So blooming hot. No, latex is rubber which doesn’t trap body heat anything near to the memory foam. It also has little holes down it, and ours is wrapped in wool, which breaths really well. I do really love it. Actually, so much so it’s difficult for me when we travel because I get a perfect sleep every night. I have a painful body, and a bad bed hurts me like crazy. But I have slept on lots of great beds. The ones that kill me are those new padded top beds. The cheap foam in them wears down so quickly, that pretty soon you’re on the springs. I have slept on some of those even in the Ritz. Just plain awful, lying in a canoe with a huge hill of foam between my husband and I that you can’t lie on because you roll off into the valley again. Nightmare!
I think there’s great quality foam now, akin to latex but much cheaper, and I’d have no trouble trying out one of those, like the tuft and needle type things. But what people don’t know, is you can so easily put together your own great bed at a couple of places that ship out a nice luxurious cover, and the kind of foam or latex you would like inside. It is likely cheaper that way. But tuft and needle seemed really reasonable, so being that easy it’s a great option I thought.
I’ve had night sweats due to an illness, so know all about how to sleep cool. Wool mattress pads or silk mattress pads are great for this, as foam and latex are a bit hotter than a spring mattress just due to more contact with the surface area.
Hope that wasn’t too much.
In regards to your beautiful dog, I have seen videos of police officers rescuing pit bulls, and a variety of different people rescuing them to be working dogs, because their incredibly high motivation makes them excellent for so many things. They can make great sniffer dogs for all sorts, and really anything at all. People would be surprised to see pit bulls doing some amazing jobs. I love videos with dogs in them
After I wrote the initial question, a lovely couple from Spain arrived who are visiting their married son and his family. The beds were pushed together. Later, when I checked, they had pushed them a foot or so apart. Go figure.
That may not be so unusual for Spain. My husband’s last girlfriend before me was Spanish. When I saw their sleeping arrangements, I got a shock. Besides all the beautiful beds in our home and bedrooms, they were sleeping on two twin mattresses on the floor, because she didn’t like to be disturbed during sleep, so couldn’t sleep together or cuddle. We ditched those! She also had to have it very dark for sleeping (I mean crazy, would tape things up over any light spots etc), as apparently a lot of homes are kept dark in Spain for the sake of being cool in the heat.