Hotel holidays - two people on a sofa bed?

[Lochroy]

We’re looking at our first ever hotel stay holiday for next year. We’ve always had self catering stays before, whether cottages or caravans.

A family of four; the norm seems to be that two people have to sleep on the sofa. The purpose of saving up for a hotel was to have a bit of a break from the home stuff, but making up bedding each times isn’t fun. I guess this is just what most people deal with for a beach holiday hotel?

May be I just have to keep on cooking.

I would keep cooking, I mean looking. What you need is either an apartment with the agreement that you eat out all the time , or two adjoining rooms . How old are the other two people, I am assuming they are children. So two rooms would be better otherwise you would have to tiptoe around the room in the dark when they have gone to bed.

Another solution is a room with two decent sized double beds then top and tail the children in one bed. But you would still have to tiptoe.

Where are you plan on going ? I have been to hotels that have 2 double beds although not great if you want privacy, but if you are going abroad try looking for 2 bed suites or aparthotels

I would assume that the sofa bed would be made up as a bed for the duration of your stay, not remade every evening - at least that has been my experience in hotels when a sofa bed has been needed

2 x rooms or an Air BnB. Personally hate filling a room with people. But other people may be on a budget or have no qualms

Is this in the UK? If so this seems to be standard, and not too bad if it's for small children. You just leave the bed up. it's become a much bigger issue for us as my teenage DS absolutely will not share a bed with his sister (and I can't blame him!) and while I'd share with her no way am I sleeping on a sofa bed. When we went to the US I was delighted to find two queen beds to be reasonably standard, often with a sofa bad option as well.
Saying that, we try to avoid hotels if more than one night as a)it's a bit cramped and b)children go to bed much earlier than I do. Just because you get self catering accommodation doesn't mean you can't eat out. In fact I find it best of both worlds as can eat breakfast in the cottage/apartment, maybe take a packed lunch and have one meal out.

No way would I book this sort of room for 4 people. We did when it was just dd and I. I had the bed, she had the sofa bed. It stayed a bed the whole time as no need for a sofa. For 4 people, you need something with multiple rooms or you need to book two rooms and split up (each take a child) or you need a villa or just go back to self-catering.

If you don't want to cook, you could continue to stay in a cottage/caravan and eat out or get easy food, BBQs etc. The other adult could do their share of cooking as could DC if they're older.

Hotel bed making is over-rated anyway as it's more work to undo their bed making to get in it than it is to just pull a duvet back up. Plus they always seem to want to do it when you pop back to the room for 5 minutes during the day.

If you want to stay in a hotel, you'd look for adjoining rooms or a suite with a balcony if you have young DC, so you can sit out when they're in bed, and if you don't want to pay what that costs, I'd probably not bother tbh. You have to pay a lot to get good food and a la carte dining, rather than buffets 3 times a day.

What were you planning on eating in the hotel? Just do that but stay in self catering.

Assuming the two people are children I imagine that is quite normal, unless you spring for two rooms. As PP said you don’t make up the bed each day you just tell the hotel you want it as a bed and they make it up once.

How old are the children?

Plenty of hotels have a double bed then 2x singles with dividing doors. Try looking at family rooms.

the norm seems to be that two people have to sleep on the sofa.

not really
but it depends what you want from your accomodation.

Some people only use their room as a base and are never there apart from sleeping.
Some people plan on spending a lot of time, then you're better off in AirBnB or 2 adjoining rooms

Many hotels rooms have a bed and no sofa, even if it's just 2 of you, there's no lounge area?

Nah. If you must stay all in one room and there’s no true family rooms eg with bunks for kids, then you have double bed for parents, sofa bed for bigger kid and zed bed/camp bed or even a blow up mattress for the 4th. Sharing a sofa bed will not be fun for anyone. Personally I’d get two twin rooms or one double and one twin, depending on ages of kids and whether an adult is needed in each room. Or Airbnb with enough beds and rooms.

In my experience, whenever we've had a sofa bed in a hotel room, we just fold away the sofa each morning, with the bottom sheet still in place - then open it out again at the end of the day - duvet and pillows we just shove in a cupboard or corner until needed. Very easy to do, takes literally seconds, and has never felt like work.

Can you get adjoining rooms? Or a family room that comes with a double bed and bunk beds. Sometimes family rooms are divided quite well to give everyone some privacy. We did rooms like you describe when the children were very young and we only had 2, the sofa bed would just stay as a bed for the duration.

Whenever we've done this we keep the sofa as a bed and use the balcony or bed as seating

No, you book two rooms.

They're horrifically uncomfortable and means that you lose access to the living space when people are asleep. Did it once, never did it again!

Honestly I would avoid the sofa bed option if it is going to be a few days. They tend not to be very comfortable. Have you looked into hotels where they have little apartments/bungalows on the grounds. Some will let you do full board, half board and you have use of all the hotel facilities and they are cleaned daily so it is like a hotel just with two bedrooms.

You have to have a good look at the sofa beds. Often it is an L Shape more similar to two single beds with cushions on to make it a couch which is fine for our two kids, I wouldnt have two people on a fold out sofa bed.

I struggle to understand why families stay in hotels. Even if you book two rooms, youve no space away from each other, no privacy for the kids. No kitchen to fix a drink or a snack. Or sitting room to rest up in. Two bloody rooms for all four you and your clothes. Then you have to head to the pool, some floors down or a few minutes walk. Maybe the beach is very close so that’s nice.

I would much rather a villa with a pool, 3 bedrooms, two bathrooms, a nice terrace to sit out on. The pool is a step away from the house. I wake up before the rest of my family and sit out watching the boats sail by on the sea, take a swim in the pool and read my book before they rise. Once they are up my DP brews me a coffee and we will fix some yogurt and fruit for breakfast while we plan our day. All in privacy. Not in some buffet. Not o er eating because it there and paid for.

Just get a villa and eat out for dinner. It’s much more interesting. You can visit a new town for dinner or just wonder to somewhere local.

private pools are not that fun for kids, they're just..a pool.
Sometimes it's better to have a hotel on the beach, with toddler pool, pool with slides etc

You book a holiday as a whole, there's no right or wrong but depend what you want to do.

@Ellie1015 not everyone can afford a villa.

Not all villas are more expensive than a hotel. We often stay in bungalow complexes which are just a load of 1-2 bed units with private terrace and shared pool.

Usually cheaper than similar hotel accommodation. But otherwise our holiday runs as @fruitbrewhaha suggests.

My kids love having a ready made friends group of other kids at the hotel, they are social kids and want friends to play with

How old are the people that have to sleep on the sofa bed? Primary age is fine, teens or older I think it would get uncomfortable

DS1 (10) and DS2 (6) shared sofa beds on holiday recently and DS2 was fine but DS1 found it a bit uncomfortable. Not enough to not enjoy the hotel experience though (you could make your own pancakes in the mornings)