A SOFA BED IN THE LIVING ROOM IS NOT A BEDROOM! PLEASE?

[Julia708]

I'll admit I'm a guest, not a host, but I'm begging for your help. When I travel, it is usually with my family or friends, and we prefer at least two distinct bedrooms. I was raised to understand a bedroom as a room primarily for sleeping that could be closed off from the rest of the living space (studios excepted). But apparently on airbnb a pull-out couch or a twin crammed into the living room qualifies? I tried looking for a definition of "bedroom" on the site but I can't find it anywhere.

So I'm asking all of you hosts out there to help us guests out: please consider listing whatever bed you have in your living room as an extra bed in the common area, not as a bedroom. There are so many listings already, and having to wade through all the one-bedrooms masquerading as two is a huge waste of time. It's also not in the host's best interests: if people care enough to change the filter on their search to two+ bedrooms and then arrive to discover a one-bedroom-plus-sofa-bed, I'm pretty sure they're going to leave a bad review.

I hate to even bring it up, but I just spent hours looking for a true 2 bedroom in Zagreb. 

Thanks for listening, and thank you for hosting!

[Robin4]

@Julia708

Hi Julia, I am sorry you are having some difficulty in the description of sleeping arrangements with Airbnb Listings.

I admit some times it can be a bit confusing but the things you should be looking for when booking are....

1/. What sort of accommodation is it! It an entire suite, a Studio, a private room or a shared space. Remember hosting is not like a hotel, you are coming into somebodys home and the levels of space and accommodation will vary far more than they will in a hotel environment.

2/. How many bedrooms and beds does this space have!

3/. What are the sleeping arangement!

All listings will have this spelt out on in the listing description. Take a look at this screenshot of my listing page. All the information is here on this page to tell the inquiring guest axactly what the space is and what the sleeping arangements are......

  I basically offer my listing for 2 people with the option to accommodate a 3rd on a lounge which has the capacity to become another bed.

As professional hosts Julia, we try not to be ambiguoius about what we offer, because nobody benefits from misconceptions!

I am not saying every host is going to be totally accurate in their description but in almost all instances Julia, the information is there....you have to see and read it.

All the best Julia, I hope you have happy travels!

Cheers.....Rob

[Julia708]

Rob, thank you for explaining, but trust me, I read the listings very carefully! Plus, I always set the search filters to "entire apartment", "2+ beds", AND "2+ bedrooms". And yet I get listings like this (which is a one-bedroom with another bed in the living room):  https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/21825609?location=Zagreb%2C%20Croatia 
and this (which is a one bedroom plus couch): https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/3472145?location=Zagreb%2C%20Croatia&s=ZivVOmd9 In the latter listing, the only way to tell that the "second bedroom" is a couch is by reading the caption on the second photo!

I've found that this is much more common overseas, with US listings normally being quite clear and honest in their descriptions (for which I am very grateful!). Still, it would be helpful for those of us who live overseas if there were some sort of universal standard 🙂 

[Robin4]

@Julia708

I agree with you that the second of your examples is entirely misleading and in that instance I would flag the listing and bring it to Airbnb's attention and state that it should be a requirement of Airbnb to list all aspects accurately. If guests complain things get done, if hosts compalin they don't!

I suspect these hosts get away with it because they can, nobody stops them, reports them!

I did notice in that second example there was no box to display "Sleeping Arangements" and I am concerned about that....maybe that is an eastern european thing. I have not seen that ommision with other listings around the world.

Without that box a host can say anything he likes.

I think this needs to be brought to Airbnb's attention, we all need to be playing on the same field! Thanks for bringing this up Julia, as a first step I would say, report these inaccurate listings.

Cheers.....Rob 

[Brett3]

@Julia708

I had never actually thought about how frustrating things like this would be for a guest. That listing with the "Open Bedroom and spacious Lounge" is priceless.

What the heck is an "open bedroom"? The kids just hang out on the couch in the "spacious lounge" while mum and dad have some happy time in the "open bedroom". 

Someone really needs to have a chat with that host about the description.

Brett

[Julia708]

'The kids just hang out on the couch in the "spacious lounge" while mum and dad have some happy time in the "open bedroom".'---THAT is priceless!

I wish it were just these two listings, but there are scores of them in Zagreb. I don't want to get any hosts in trouble with airbnb; I just want it to be easier to find a true two bedroom. I'd write to them privately but I have a feeling they wouldn't really appreciate my input 😞 

[Valentin107]

@Robin4 Can you please help me with the description of sleeping arrangements? I have a similar listing with yours, but on the description i can see only 1 bed, even though I selected 1 bed for the bedroom and a sofa-bed for the living room, specified at the living room description.  Thank you in advance, Valentin!

[Robin4]

@Valentin107 

Hi Valentin, to set the number of beds you offer go to your listing editing page and the first item in the scroll line with be 'Listing Description'!

Under the photo selection section you will see this section....

If you click Edit in that section you will be taken to this screen.....

If you again click Edit you will be given all the available bed options. You can select those that are right for your listing and click 'Save' before you leave.

I hope this helps you Valentin.

Cheers.....Rob

[Valentin107]

Thank you a lot Rob! Very helpful comment.  

[Emiel1]

Hello @Julia708 ,

A sofabed in a livingroom is not a "bedroom". I think most listings do not bringing it up like this under "sleeping arrangements". Here is a "good" example: https://www.airbnb.co.uk/rooms/5260716

Can you provide a "wrong" example ?

Best regards, Emiel

[Julia708]

Unfortunately, many do 😞  I'm trying to book a trip in Zagreb. Here are two from just the first page of my search (with filters set to "entire apartment", 2+ bedrooms, 2+ beds):

https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/21825609?location=Zagreb%2C%20Croatia&check_in=2018-06-24&check_out=201... This listing calls a bed in the living room "an open bedroom", which is fine if it were a studio apartment, but it's not; it's just a one-bedroom with another bed in the living room. 

https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/3472145?location=Zagreb%2C%20Croatia&s=ZivVOmd9 This one is listed as a two-bedroom with 2 beds but it turns out the second bed is actually the living room sofa. But you'd never know it from reading the listing--unless you happened to read the caption on the second photo. 

With over 300 "2+ bedroom", "2+ beds" in Zagreb for my dates,  I now have to wade through all of them and read the fine print on all of them...

[Gillian19]

@Julia708@Robin4 Hi Julia, I couldn't agree more. I am a host in Australia of vacation rentals and I make it extremely clear what rooms there are and assumed everyone did the same - which is where Rob is coming from. Unfortunately this isn't the case. I was recently looking for accommodation in Prague and found it incredibly frustrating at the amount of properties that advertise as 2 bedroom but actually then had no lounge, as the second bedroom was the lounge. It was VERY common. So much so I almost started looking for 3 bedroom apartments only, just to make sure there were 2 bedrooms. I had to be so careful to spot that the bed was actually the sofa bed and not a bed in a room in it's own right. It wasted so much time I checked out some hotel options as well.

I always thought that a sofa bed in the lounge would be recorded on Airbnb as a bed in a shared space not as a bedroom as Rob indicates, but a large number of hosts (especially in at least Prague and Zagreb) ignore this.

@Emiel1 If you have 10 minutes to spare, do a search in Prague/Zagreb and you will see what Julia and I mean

I 

[Julia708]

Thank you! I wonder if it's primarily Eastern Europe? I came across a handful of such listings in Thailand, but they were the exception. In Croatia and Bosnia, it seems more like the rule... Changing the filter to 3 bedrooms is a good idea, but seems a bit unfair to the many honest hosts out there 😞 Maybe if I were a bit more fussy, it would be easier to find a place because I could set more filters, but I don't care about A/C, wifi, parking, or pretty much anything else--other than two distinct bedrooms 😕 

[Lilly28]

Julia, my advice is first to look at the pictures of the beds which are dispayed at the beginning of the listing.  In the search always state 3 beds, not 2, rooms might be 2, and never accept a sofa-bed. They are not comfortable to sleep on even when are in a separate room. I think that the idea of putting sofa-beds as to accomodate more people was very popular at the beginning of AirBnB - hosts now must change this and AirBnB should invent new algorythm as to make the surch easier for guests.

[Inna22]

@Julia708 In russia rooms are counted, not bedrooms. In fact, there is not a word in Russian language for a two (3, 4 whatever) bedroom place. Only total number of rooms is announced. I would say something like this about my place:  “I have a three room flat”. Which means I have two formal bedrooms and a big open area that’s dining room, living room, kitchen, guest bedroom, office, play room and a museum of grandparents artifacts. There is a word “bedroom” but it does not get applied to the lay out in a sense of what you are looking for. I would imagine that originated from having such tight quarters that all spaces were convertible. So that’s how I would justify it- they pick bedrooms without fully understanding the meaning. If you notice, the guy with “open bedroom” has stellar reviews and no one mentions it. Having said that, it is completely not helpful to you as a guest. I have gotten into a habit of thoroughly reading reviews before booking,  in that part of the world in particular as apparently some consider a hot plate being a full kitchen and a fully autonomous apartment can have a shared bathroom on another floor.