I didn’t sleep in it but I would love it! I saw it on Facebook, not in person. 
@mars I am going to check them out! My husband will love me ordering more pillows 
The most interesting bed I’ve slept in on a sit, wasn’t exactly about the bed, but the dog. The bed was raised up pretty high and the dog slept underneath it. When she was ready for bed, she wanted you to be, too.
Molly the dog, was mostly sweet but had an “edge” you had to watch out for. She was a big girl made up of all the breeds you might have reservations about (Chow, Akita, German Shepherd, etc). I was warned to keep her away from children but was assured that she was otherwise friendly.
I really liked her and she only gave me a cursory growl, once, but it was a bit uncomfortable knowing she was sleeping directly beneath me (what if I stepped on a paw in the middle of the night or something like that). Fortunately it was only for a weekend and it all turned out fine.
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This is such a great question! I’ve never had a bad bed at a sit, but often have bad ones at vacation apartments and hotels/inns around the world. Now, after years of travel trial and error, we carry compact camping air mattresses, tiny silk sleep sheets, and half-sized crushed foam pillows. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve aired up the mattress and used it on top of a so-so mattress at rentals. That combination has made all the difference. Now I know where ever I am I can create the same wonderful sleeping area I’m used to, and I sleep like a baby (ear plugs and an eye mask are also part of my portable bed kit.) 
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I’ve noticed that more and more people are using mattress toppers. I bought a good one during the pandemic and it makes an uncomfortable mattress comfortable.
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Mostly good, now and then average. Just once or twice not good at all.
We once broke a bed 
but it wasn’t like that at all! It was an ancient bed in a French farmhouse, and I was reading in bed. Hubby came in and gave me a hug (that’s all, I promise!) and bam, suddenly that side collapsed and was on the floor! Yikes! We felt so bad, but at closer inspection we could see some repairs have already been attempted more than once. We told the home owners, who said not to worry, they inherited the bed when they bought the house. Luckily he was handy so he would try and repair it.
@ShulasMom imagine Molly would have been under that bed 
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Mine too! 
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You’re right. That would have scary. 
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Ear plugs fall right out and an eye mask would keep me awake.
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@Katie, this happened to me with some brands of earplugs, but I tried several different ones and landed on Loop sleep ones (they have different sizes for different ear canals) and they never fall out, I do not feel them during my sleep and they worked a treat! Hope you find some that work for you.
I swear by Hearos blue earplugs. They are quite large and squishy and fill my ears very well. It has saved my life since I started sleeping with them more than 20 years ago. I am a poor sleeper, but these really saved me. Hubby hates sleeping with things in his ears, sorry for him!
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Beds are one of those house sit things that are hard to control! We’ve slept in 55+ beds and i would say most have been fine. We always try and choose a sit with a kingsize bed for starters. The mattress is a roulette, but i think most ppl have firmer beds these days which suits us.
More of a problem has been the lack of blackout blinds or curtains…early wake up call when the light streams in! I think as a house sitter you just have to roll with lots of situations and this is one of them
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@botvot
Where did you sleep after the bed broke?
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@andrealovesanimals luckily the room was large, so we took the mattress off the bed and put it on the floor next to the broken bed! I think it happened within the last week of a 4-week sit, so not the worst outcome.
@Carla and @botvot: I swear by a mask now, too. I don’t know how I survived without it for the first 30 years of my life. I think I just put magazines over my face. 
But earplugs … I’m afraid I’d miss my alarm to wake up. How do you handle that?
What are your thoughts on white-noise machines/apps? I’ve been trying a Spotify “pink noise” song that’s 12 hours long, and I have it play out of my phone next to my bed. I think it helps drown out the cicadas and birds pretty well.
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@Karen_E: What are your specific recommendations for air mattress/sheets/pillow? Bonus for links. I think I’ve only used cotton sheets. I once stayed at a cheap Airbnb which had the best pillow I’ve ever used; I really should have asked them what it was; it was a weird Airbnb, though… Anyway, I know there are better pillows than the random one I got at Walmart; I’m not even sure what’s in it. Lol. I saw someone else uses buckwheat pillows?
BTW to anyone with an Apple Watch: If you wear it to sleep, it can track your sleep quality. I haven’t actually tried this myself, but here’s an official guide:
@geoff.hom Even wearing earplugs, you will still hear your alarm! You might not immediately jolt awake as you would, but after a few seconds you will sense it. If I were you, I would start trying it out on a weekend or a day where it’s not absolutely pertinent that you be awake by x am. And then you’ll get a feel.
When I’m really nervous about getting up, eg. for a very early morning flight, or a dog that needs to be let out early, I would only put in an earplug in one ear. That is enough to still signal to my body/mind that it’s quiet (or sleepies!) time now. But also enough to not miss anything in the morning.
As with everything in life, it takes a while to adjust.
@Carla thank you for this ear plug tip like @Katie I cannot keep ear plugs of any description in that includes ear buds and headsets, all fall out and are incredibly annoying … as for eye masks I am so claustrophobic that putting one on would have me hyperventilating mind you it would stop me being concerned about any uncomfortable mattress … if that was a problem.
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@Angela_L About things falling out of your ears…I wouldn’t have believed you, until my mother-in-law demonstrated this for us! Unrelated to anything in particular, she went on and on about how things fall out of her and her sister’s ears. And we just said oh, that’s weird. Until my husband’s new headphones (ear pieces) arrived and we said: try these, they’re really comfortable. She pops one in - whoops, fell right out! And again, pops one into the other ears, whoops, fell to the ground!
We were all crying with laughter - she surely made her point! So apparently all ears are not created equally, just as I can not wear contact lenses - apparently my one eye ball is slightly oddly-shaped, which means no matter what I try, it always scratches.
They fall out of my ears too, and are very uncomfortable