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Post by RiverIsis on Jun 28, 2015 16:52:49 GMT
I have relatives working in the Hotel industry in the US. The bottom line, literally, is that US hotel rooms are made for conventions/school trips and how many kids they can pile into one room. I know the FFA recently changed their convention from Louisville, KY to Indianapolis, IN because of the number of "double/doubles" room availability. Hotels make their money on conventions not on family/business travel. The concession to the "double/doubles" is to be able to accommodate a larger range of people.
From my experience in England/UK it really is just a space issue. Heck, en suite is a luxury in many establishments!
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Post by RiverIsis on Jun 28, 2015 16:55:09 GMT
If I understand your question correctly, it is very common in the U.S. for a family to share a room w/ two beds-usually queen sized beds. Our family of four shared one room until our kids were in their early teens, and then we started getting two rooms, which increased travel costs significantly. When we travel with other couples, each couple gets their own room. I've never heard of couples sharing a room. We're travelling soon with four adults in the "double/doubles" room and maybe a pet. We are going to be taking an inflatable bed with us TBH. And yes, costs are ridiculous, but we just suck it up as we know it is a temporary situation. |
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Post by Jockscrap on Jun 28, 2015 16:56:07 GMT
If I understand your question correctly, it is very common in the U.S. for a family to share a room w/ two beds-usually queen sized beds. Our family of four shared one room until our kids were in their early teens, and then we started getting two rooms, which increased travel costs significantly. When we travel with other couples, each couple gets their own room. I've never heard of couples sharing a room. That's pretty much what I suspected to be the case. It was certainly really handy for us travelling in the U.S. as a family. I suppose most of the time these same rooms are much bigger than most couples need but the hotel has the flexibility to give the rooms to anyone...small rooms are only of use to single people and couples, but rooms with 2 large beds can sleep anyone. It's a good idea, but just not something I've seen anywhere else in the world. I didn't really think couples would routinely share...but then thought that could just be my British prudishness showing itself! |
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Post by littlemama on Jun 28, 2015 18:00:14 GMT
Americans would think a double bed is too small for two people. We are used to sleeping in king size (or at least a queen). A double bed is what you would find in a kid's room. A queen/king is what you would find in an adult's room. If I walked into a hotel and found only a double bed I would complain bc to me they are not big enough to be comfortable. This might apply to you, but it does not apply to all Americans. Dh and I sleep in a double bed and ds (17) sleeps in a twin bed. |
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valincal
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Post by valincal on Jun 28, 2015 18:26:27 GMT
I work in hotels a lot for my job and have seen thousands of rooms and no, I have never encountered just one double bed in a room. If there is just one bed, it is a king. I had a woman the other day ask for a room with 2 king beds but she was crazy. Why was she crazy? We just came back from vacation and our room had two king beds in it. We always have a room with either two queens or two kings. Most of the time we have queens, but there have been several times that we were assigned two kings. In the U.S. or elsewhere? I don't think I've ever had the option of two kings. I find more hotels are using doubles instead of queens so if you're traveling with bigger kids it's very cramped. AmeliaBloomer we traveled to Europe last year and rented an apartment in Italy. The owner was very surprised that our two sons wouldn't sleep together on the pullout couch, and that we requested a cot. Our 'boys' were 20 and 18 years old. I tried to talk them into it as it was a very large pull out but they were having none of it. Yes, many North American kids are spoiled by the amount of space they have to themselves. |
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AnotherPea
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Post by AnotherPea on Jun 28, 2015 18:57:32 GMT
Why was she crazy? We just came back from vacation and our room had two king beds in it. We always have a room with either two queens or two kings. Most of the time we have queens, but there have been several times that we were assigned two kings. In the U.S. or elsewhere? I don't think I've ever had the option of two kings. I find more hotels are using doubles instead of queens so if you're traveling with bigger kids it's very cramped. AmeliaBloomer we traveled to Europe last year and rented an apartment in Italy. The owner was very surprised that our two sons wouldn't sleep together on the pullout couch, and that we requested a cot. Our 'boys' were 20 and 18 years old. I tried to talk them into it as it was a very large pull out but they were having none of it. Yes, many North American kids are spoiled by the amount of space they have to themselves. in the US. Sometimes the 2-king rooms are more expensive, so I don't book them. But when dh makes hotel reservations, he does.  |
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Post by mrst on Jun 28, 2015 19:02:34 GMT
I've often wondered why there are 2 'big' beds in American hotel rooms! In Europe a 4 ft 6 ins is considered normal ....me and dh struggle a bit as we're used to a 5 ft bed. I just thought 2 couples must share the room in the USA!
We sometimes share and sometimes have a big bed each if we're really jet lagged!
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Post by anonrefugee on Jun 28, 2015 19:14:08 GMT
In the US a "double bed" is a specific size of bed. It doesn't refer to all beds large enough for two people. Bed sizes are twin/single, double/full, queen, king. That is funny terminology if you think about it. My inlaws have a guest room with a double bed and it just about kills my DH and I to sleep in it. People used to be thinner and smaller, a double originally accommodated two. Even the master bedrooms were smaller, as all of us know who tried to put a queen in a 1935 bungalow  My parents were married almost 20 years before they got a queen in mid 1970s, my grandparents over 60 year marriage never had one. I don't know when queen beds became the norm in the USA but I suspect it wasn't until 1970s as people and possessions started to expand. |
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Nicole in TX
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Post by Nicole in TX on Jun 28, 2015 19:56:03 GMT
That is funny terminology if you think about it. My inlaws have a guest room with a double bed and it just about kills my DH and I to sleep in it. People used to be thinner and smaller, a double originally accommodated two. Even the master bedrooms were smaller, as all of us know who tried to put a queen in a 1935 bungalow My parents were married almost 20 years before they got a queen in mid 1970s, my grandparents over 60 year marriage never had one. I don't know when queen beds became the norm in the USA but I suspect it wasn't until 1970s as people and possessions started to expand. I was thinking that a single is also called a twin, which means two, when it is for one person. And a full is called a double, when full implies it is more roomy than a twin, but really is not very comfortable for two people.  I think people have always gotten larger as we have gotten older, we just are more vocal about wanting more room as we sleep! |
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Post by melanell on Jun 28, 2015 20:18:31 GMT
I think it's pretty common for people to share rooms, hence the need for 2 beds. I think they are particularly helpful for families traveling together. When we stay in a standard hotel room our 2 kids will share 1 bed and we take the other. (And when i was a kid, I shared a bed with a sibling in many a hotel room.
I've also shared a bed with friends over the years...4 friends sharing one room. This was something I did primarily as a student.
I know other family members have had 2 couples share a room on occasion....parents and a daughter & SIL, for instance. Another time, grandparents in one bed, 2 grandkids in the other, and the 2 sets of parents of the kids shared another room.
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Post by crazy4scraps on Jun 28, 2015 20:26:08 GMT
When I travel with friends, we always get a room with two queen beds. My BFF is always hot and needs a fan blowing on her so she gets her own, her mom and I are both edge huggers who don't want the fan blowing on us so we share. It's really no big deal. Many, many times I've worked at trade shows and would be put up by the company I was working for at the time in a hotel sharing a room with another employee/worker and in that case we'd each get our own bed.
At at home I have a king bed in our master and the room is huge. We don't have a lot of other furniture in there though and could easily blow up a queen sized air bed for the floor and still have room to spare in there. Our old house was built in 1908 and the main bedroom was so small that our king bed barely fit in there. You'd literally have to turn sideways to walk through past the dresser. I agree with everyone else who has said that most Americans now are considerably taller/bigger than people used to be, so it makes sense that beds, chairs and other furniture have been sized up to maximize comfort.
And speaking of kids, when our DD outgrew her convertible crib/toddler bed, she moved right into a queen sized bed because we happened to be gifted it for free from friends who were upgrading their bedroom set. It's nice because if we ever do have a situation arise where we may need two larger beds for multiple guests (we have a guest room with a queen bed in it), we could boot DD from her bed if necessary and let her sleep on the air bed in the bonus room behind our bedroom. I'd rather have her in there than a guest.
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Post by AN on Jun 28, 2015 21:59:46 GMT
A double/full is equivalent to each adult having the width of a baby's crib. No thanks. I'm a grown ass adult and deserve at least a twin width. If that's all your home can fit and/or you're used to it because it is the norm in your country, good for you. But take it from us Americans, you are missing out.
If I lived in Europe we'd be getting two single/twins and pushing them together.
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Post by gar on Jun 28, 2015 22:20:22 GMT
A double/full is equivalent to each adult having the width of a baby's crib. No thanks. I'm a grown ass adult and deserve at least a twin width. If that's all your home can fit and/or you're used to it because it is the norm in your country, good for you. But take it from us Americans, you are missing out. If I lived in Europe we'd be getting two single/twins and pushing them together. If you had the space....  |
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kate
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Post by kate on Jun 28, 2015 23:24:02 GMT
Most of my traveling these days is to professional conferences. A room with two double/full beds is perfect to share with a friend - we each get our own bed.
I don't sleep well at all on the rare occasions when I have to share a bed with someone other than my DH or one of my kids.
DH and I had a double bed until a couple of years ago. We now have a queen. Our apartment building is nearly 100 years old, though - a king bed would fill the room!
My kids are used to twin beds, though - we don't have enough space for everyone to have their own bedroom.
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tincin
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Post by tincin on Jun 29, 2015 1:05:11 GMT
The only hotel I have ever seen a twin bed in is the Great Wolf Lodge, in their family suites. They usually have bunk beds for the kids.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 29, 2015 1:27:17 GMT
For whatever reason, I can not imagine myself and DH traveling and sharing a hotel room with another couple. That's just too close for me. Sorry.
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Post by Restless Spirit on Jun 29, 2015 1:43:13 GMT
If my memory serves me correctly, the last time I stayed in a hotel room with only one queen size bed was at The General Palmer in Durango, CO. It is an 1898 Victorian era hotel. The size of many of the rooms would make them very crowded if they tried to put 2 queen size beds in them!
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joelise
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Post by joelise on Jun 29, 2015 8:14:40 GMT
I agree that we have different definitions for a "double" bed than the UK does. A double bed in the US is quite small and pretty cramped for two adults. A queen or king size is more common. A king is the same width as two twin beds pushed together. A standard double bed in the UK is 4’6 and king size is 5', so a lot smaller than a U.S. king size. It is completely normal for a couple to have a standard double in their homes. Many modern homes would struggle to fit a 5’ bed in it comfortably. Bedding in most home stores is sold in single (3’), standard double and UK king size. You would have to search a little harder to find other sizes as they just aren't common here, so styles and ranges would be limited. 6' beds are also quite common in the UK, I have had one for over 10 years and have found that lots of bedding ranges do make the bed linen in Super King size. Having said that, most couples I know do share a standard UK double bed. |
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Post by brina on Jun 29, 2015 11:29:17 GMT
People used to be thinner and smaller, a double originally accommodated two. Even the master bedrooms were smaller, as all of us know who tried to put a queen in a 1935 bungalow My parents were married almost 20 years before they got a queen in mid 1970s, my grandparents over 60 year marriage never had one. I don't know when queen beds became the norm in the USA but I suspect it wasn't until 1970s as people and possessions started to expand. I was thinking that a single is also called a twin, which means two, when it is for one person. And a full is called a double, when full implies it is more roomy than a twin, but really is not very comfortable for two people. I think people have always gotten larger as we have gotten older, we just are more vocal about wanting more room as we sleep! We put a queen in the very tiny bedroom in our very tiny beach house. We had to take the door off and replace it with a bi-fold other wise it would not open and close. |
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Post by Scrapbrat on Jun 29, 2015 12:00:04 GMT
No, hotel rooms in the US with two double or larger beds are not primarily intended for two couples sharing a room. In most cases, a room like that is used by a family, parents in one bed, kids in the other. There is no specific thing called a "family room." But there are tons of different room arrangements with different bed configurations at hotels here, so you can usually get whatever you want. I much prefer having two beds in a room than having to book and pay for two separate hotel rooms for my family!
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I think people have always gotten larger as we have gotten older, we just are more vocal about wanting more room as we sleep! 
Time to get off the internet!
