If you don't have a spare room, where do your guests sleep?

[chicaguapa]

We've relocated and are currently renting. Our house is smaller than our old one and we don't have a spare room anymore. However, because we had one before, people are used to coming to stay with us. We don't mind them staying and don't want to have to suggest a hotel. But we're struggling with where they would sleep. I wondered how other people tackle this problem?

Surely your visitors wouldn't mind staying locally in a nice hotel/b&b, when they know your new situation?

Depending who it is...
Some stay at the local Premier Inn - about half a mile away. (PILs mainly)

Alternatively, we put our boys on their bedroom floor and sleep in their beds, leaving our tiny room free for guests. We have been known to also put our DD on the floor and give her bed to guests' daughter.

We don't do it very often, and can't find enough floor space to accommodate a family of 4. I would love a spare room. Sigh.

If you have a separate lounge or dining room that isn't essential in the morning then an airbed in there. If not then suggest reasonably priced hotels.

Sofa bed. Or in the girls' room while they sleep with us. Air mattress?

I don't have a problem with suggesting a hotel, I just worry that people won't come as they won't be able to afford it. And we like our friends coming to stay as we move around a fair bit so they are old friends from places we've lived before.

We had one family come and stay and we put them on an airbed in the lounge and they were happy with this. It just seemed a bit uncomfortable.

I don't have any guests.

When I was recovering from an op my family slept on the sofa bed in the living room.

And the airbed went down in the night so we need to find an alternative.

The problem with hotels too is that unless the kids are going to sleep at ours, the parents would have to leave before the evening is over to put them to bed. And we like to stay up till the early hours putting the world to right.

I don't have guests either-hatevhaving people on the house overnight.
My brother occasionally comes and he goes on the sofa bed in the loft, which is an office.
Airbed sounds acceptable.

We have an inflatable bed - we give the guests our bed and sleep in the living room. We have a double height one that plugs in to inflate - it is very comfy and never goes down. It was about 60-70 quid in argos - so not cheap but a very worthwhile investment as we have a family get together about once every six weeks and we also take it with us when we stay with other family members. Works out the same price as one hotel room - so maybe your guests would chip in to get a really decent one!

Taffy Interesting to get some feedback on those double height beds. I've been googling folding guest beds but the 'comfy' ones seem very expensive, plus you have to store them somewhere.

We could get a sofabed but I find them a bit hard to sit on (not as in difficult to sit on but too firm under the bottom). And we don't have space for 2 sofas.

We love ours! You plug it in to inflate and deflate - only takes a minute or so. It is quite big when folded down but would go in a small cupboard or large drawer - we keep ours in the drawer under the bed.

Its certainly comfy enough for a night or two (especially after a glass of vino!) - and much better than the normal ones .... where you end up on the floor in the morning cos all the air has gone.

Do you sleep on the bigger one? I guess so from the price you've quoted. We usually have 2 single airbeds when we go camping but put a double fitted sheet over them to hold them together. We find it better than a double so you don't wobble when the other person turns over. But buying two of the single double height ones is a lot more expensive than just one kingsize.

Friends who come without children sleep on a comfortable airbed (like the Taffy talks about) in the living room (which we never use in morning).
If friends come with kids, we sleep on airbed in DD's room, friends have our bed and their children sleep on airbed in our bedroom with parents.
If PIL come, they get our bed and we sleep on airbed with DD.

Those airbed things are fab! And, you can use them when camping.

Thanks. The kids can sleep in with DC on their ReadyBeds but hadn't thought about putting ourselves in DD's room too. DD has quite a big room but refuses to vacate it for anyone. Food for thought.

We have a single sofa bed thing in DD's room (well, a pull-out IKEA bed), and a double IKEA sofa bed in DS2's room.

We don't have people to stay often, although I'd like to more - just hate not having a spare room!

Always makes me laugh when you see those programmes about people buying a house and they have to get an extra bedroom for guests or a large kitchen for parties

They can sleep on the sofa or floor or get a hotel room.

We're coming around to that way of thinking ripeberry. I think DH worked out one year it would have been cheaper to pay for people's hotels than the extra mortgage we were paying for a bigger house with a spare room. Mind you, I do miss having somewhere to store junk stuff.

We've got a sofa bed in the back room, since we don't use it as a dining room. Guests either go on that, or go in our bed and we go on the sofa bed. Children squeeze in as and where - usually top to toe with the dds or all piled on the floor in dd1's room.

When we didn't have a spare room normally they slept on the lounge floor on a mattress we stored under our double bed or the sofa.

Also had someone sleeping in the bath (separate room to the loo!) and a tent in the titchy garden.

It's reassuring to know that other people put their guests in the lounge too! Lol at the bath! Makes me feel like we're not quite so rubbish after all.

Am definitely going to look at the double height airbed, seeing as it has been so heartedly recommended. Will probably put guests on it, but MIL wouldn't sleep on it so we'll have to give our bed up for her and sleep on it ourselves.