One bedroom place-- 2 guests or 4?

[Laura2592]

Curious...

If you have a one bedroom house or apartment/condo, what is your max capacity? 2 guests or 4?

I always think "2" because (theoretically) if its a couple they can share a bed. If its 2 friends, one gets the sofa. 

Many hosts list a one bedroom space with 4 guests max and a sofa bed as the second bed. I sometimes travel with my siblings (3 of us total) and I assure you, no one really wants to share a bed after sharing bunk beds growing up. Even though we can fit in some of these spaces, 2bd listings are more desirable. 

So what do you think, hosts? One bedroom-- 2 guests max or 4?

[Sarah977]

@Laura2592  Personally, I'd say 2 guests. You are always going to have guests who ask if they can exceed the limits, so depending on the circumstances ("We have a 12 year old", ""My sister is in hospital and we are now looking after our teenage niece- could we add her to the booking?"), you could agree to an extra on the sofa bed.

Even if I went on holiday with 3 of my closest gal pals, none of us would be interested in sharing a bed. Maybe when we were 18, but now, no way.

[Debra300]

@Laura2592,

One of my spaces is a studio(queen bed) plus junior bedroom (full bed), and I allow only two people.  We don't allow children under 12.  I also have in my house rules that the sofa is not to be used as a bed.  This place is usually rented long-term.  We want to attract either business travelers, or people in between homes.

[Brian2036]

@Laura2592 

I would say 2, and if the guests insist on bringing 2 more, with or without permission, they should be charged double.

If you say four, people will try to cram 8 in, and blame the host because it was crowded.

[Anonymous]

@Laura2592 Serving the homestay crowd, I've been impressed by how many guests were perfectly happy to share a bed with a parent, sibling, or platonic friend. I've hosted every imaginable combination of genders and ages in all three dynamics, and surprisingly, never got even a whisper of discomfort in their feedback. I'm sure all of these visitors lived comfortable lives with their own beds at home, but they came to Berlin for a few days of la vie de Bohème, or they'd rather spend their budgets on dining and entertainment than on the place they go to sleep.

If I were offering a one-bedroom home for short stays (< 5 days) to budget travelers, I'd set the max occupancy at 3. Four is too much - even if the sofabed could technically fit 2, the space gets too cluttered with people's stuff and it no longer works as a living room. 

If I were doing longer rentals, or aiming for the luxury market, I'd cap it at 2. Not sure I'd even offer a sofabed - it's lovely to have one when staying with friends or relatives, but if you're splitting the cost of accommodation with your traveling partners, it's the fuzzy end of the lollipop.

Oh, and if I were running the White Lotus, I wouldn't have let the Mossbachers bring three teenagers into a one-bedroom suite.  Everyone who's ever worked in a 5-star knew minutes into the first episode that they'd wind up with a refund, even though none could have predicted why...

[Laura2592]

@Anonymous seriously! I found myself saying the whole time "they are rich, right? Why didn't they get an extra room?" 

[Anonymous]

@Laura2592  The super-rich are the world's biggest cheapskates when it comes to any expense that someone else might benefit from.

[Lorna170]

@Laura2592   I love your posts...

However, I have to mention that before deciding how many people to advertise for, what does ZONING say?  It is one thing to be living in a single family home and bursting at the seams with your own children, but another to be offering accommodation to transients and listening to the hype about adding beds wherever you can fit them.   I think that @Anonymous  has the best suggestion with 3.  

[Laura2592]

@Lorna170 yes! Some counties and jurisdictions do have fire codes that limit occupancy. And others just have the maximum number of people per square feet for rentals. I would not be surprised if many hosts are not aware of either of those things. We sometimes use the fire code as an excuse to guests about why they can't bring more people 🙂

[Sarah977]

@Lorna170  Yes, I cringe when I see listings where they've crammed in as many beds as possible, to the point there is little room to walk around and sometimes it blocks a door from fully opening. 

Or they've crammed a queen size bed in a space where even a double would be pushing it, there's no space to put a nightstand, and one side of the bed is against the wall, so one person would have to crawl over the other to get in and out of bed. 

Not only is it a fire safety nightmare, it looks incredibly tacky.

[Branka-and-Silvia0]

@Laura2592  I would say it depends on the location.... and price.

My friend went skiing in France, and she said the accommodation was expensive and there were as many beds as possible to squeeze in the apartment 😄

Zagreb is a transit destination and people stay 1-2 nights on average. They are satisfied with one bed in the bedroom and a sofa bed in the living room. So, 1 bdr apartment is usually set up for 4 guests.

In USA everything is big so I suppose 1 bdr apartment would satisfy 2 guests max 🙂

[Anonymous]

@Branka-and-Silvia0 Lots of ski  towns are in that special category of destinations that have to do almost all of a year's business in just a few months, so i guess that would put quite a premium on every inch of space that can be monetized. The US has lots of heavily seasonal places like that too, with similar results. And then there's New York.

[Sarah977]

@Branka-and-Silvia0  There are some areas where a hostel-type set up works for guests, like your friend's ski trip. I stayed at a friend's quite small and rustic ski cabin with about 12 other friends once, and it was a ton of fun. Hard to sleep,  though, as some stayed up late partying and some got up really early and stomped around the cabin in their ski boots 🙂

[Branka-and-Silvia0]

@Sarah977  yes, that's what I am saying .... besides, it's warmer in the crowd 😄