Hahaha THIS! Glad I’m not the only one. It was an Airbnb for me, and the first time I encountered that type of mattress. Stuck in a me-shaped rut all night and could not sleep. I mean, I was so “sunk into a pit” that on my side, with my leg stretched out, my foot was actually sticking up. I couldn’t imagine why people like these things. Too bad because it was such a nice Airbnb otherwise. I thought, if I needed to stay there again, I’d bring my own air mattress.
And speaking of which, needing a new mattress for a hopefully-notmuchlonger period and not going to pay $$$$ for one, I got an airbed, put a sheepskin topper on it, and it is really cozy!
I have a pullout sofa bed which I personally don’t think I’d sleep well on, but have had at least a couple of guests who used it (no there wasn’t another bed available) and they thought it was fine. I was like “OK, great, glad you like it…”
I travel with an inflatable camp matress that packs down small and is light weight. If the bed’s not to my liking I just pull out my mat and inflate it to offset the hardness, lumpiness or softness of the bed.
I also travel with a small travel pillow and a silk sleeping bag liner. That way, I don’t have to adjust to a new pillow each time I move to a new place, and I always have the luxury of a top sheet.
It’s no trouble traveling with the mattress in a van. We have been nomadic sitters for almost 7 years. We take longer sits that would prove miserable if we didn’t have a comfortable bed. Matt and I can happily sleep on a twin.
I have slept in some amazing guest beds. So comfy. I have only had 3 sits out of 23 that had bad beds. Bigger issue is when the dog or dogs take up most of it and you only get a slice of bed.
This is soooo much a case of personal preference. I hate memory foam ones and the one we bought lasted only about a month, an expensive mistake. We (like Maggie8K) have a half and half type one which is great for us.
Recently our son and his wife stayed and said the guest bed mattress wasn’t very comfortable and then offered us their one which they had bought new and hardly used but needed to get rid off as new baby arriving is changing their needs. Great, we said and changed the mattress.
The very next set of friends to stay in the guestroom said they didn’t sleep well as the new mattress was uncomfortable, so next morning we swapped over the mattresses yet again.
In a couple of days our next sitters arrive and as they have been before I’m going to have to check with them what they think and leave it to them to swap mattresses round between various beds! They will be with us a month so plenty time for them to experiment!
We had a sit in January where we were offered our choice of two guest bedrooms. They suggested the smaller room as it was cozy and they thought would be nicer. The larger room had workout equipment in it and they thought it wouldn’t be as nice. My husband laid down on the bed in the smaller room and the mattress was sagging so much that it felt like he would touch the floor. We agreed it was terrible and that our backs would never survive. We tried the “less comfortable” room and the bed was great. I’m glad there was a choice as others may like the very very soft mattress instead.
I love it when the cats take up most of the bed though. Nothing makes me sadder than a sit where the cat is not allowed to sleep with me. I do ask the pet parents if the cats are allowed to sleep with me, and if they are adamant that they cannot, I will sometimes not accept the sit. I know my heart will break with the fluffs on the other side of the door wanting to snuggle and I also know that if I let them in the bed, the pet parents will never forgive me for training them that it was okay! OBVIOUSLY the beds were DESIGNED for the cats, and the humans are merely being allowed to visit their space.
I also wish HOs would take a shower in the sitter’s shower. In more than one location, the shower in the guest bath had serious drainage issues and despite minimal water use I’d have standing water up to my ankles when attempting to shower - YUCK. If it’s a longish sit I’ll say something and ask if they want to call a plumber, but for shorter sits I just do my best. A warm shower is one of the pleasures of the day but if you’re standing in a puddle of gunk it sure ruins the experience Most HOs never use their own guest bath so they have no idea. (They might also be unaware that the vent fan doesn’t work in the guest bath, either…)
Oh gosh I totally agree except the one I slept in recently was like a slab of concrete. I didnt make a dent at all and it was unbearably uncomfortable!!
We are the same, 7 years full time sitters and take our own mattress, topper, pillows and sleeping bags! Unfortunately too many poor quality mattresses and pillows
You don’t know what you might be missing. One of our many repeat sits has a sofa sleeper which is a lot more comfortable than many beds.
Something we don’t appreciate at all are ‘double beds’ that are only 120 or 140 cm wide.
This is a great tip, thanks! I’ve just done a longer sit where the HO had posted photos of their room, not the guest room, and I found out on arrival that I would be sleeping on a day bed. It wasn’t bad, but I would probably have passed the listing over if I’d known it was a day bed, so I’ve mentioned it in my review.
