Double Beds - Austria...why?
 

Hi, Looking around at various hotels, including some pretty pricey ones in austria, all the beds in the pictures look like 2 twin matresses pushed together as opposed to one queen or king. Why is this? Do Austrians cuddle? Do couples on vacation really sleep on thier own "side"?
Thanks, perhaps an unusual question but I'm really curious.

In my experience this is increasingly common everywhere in Europe - or at least everywhere I go. It's to give the hotel maximum flexibility, so they can let out a room as a double or a twin. It's a rare treat now to get a proper double or kingsized bed.

and before you discount those "separated" beds, beleive me, they are darned comfortable! You get your coverlet...your partner gets theirs...no hogging! <GRIN> They can move or scruch about and you won't feel it...

I remember traveling in Europe extensively with my parents in the 1950s and 60s--the two beds pushed together were the norm back then, at least in the places we stayed. A real double bed was a rarity (Did king-sized ones exist at all back then?).

And I was going to ask why many US motels have two queen-sized beds in each room. That one is still beyond me.

Customs and practices vary between countries. In Italy and Germany, for example, a room for two normally has twin beds, though they're often next to one another but can be moved apart. In France, double beds (wide beds for two people) were normal.

I too rarely see a true queen or king bed. The beds in Germany were all twins that were pushed together, but they were still quite comfortable and, like Suzie mentions, its great having my own blanket! ;) You can still cuddle, even with the beds pushed together, because most of the beds come together nicely without a huge gap between them. We've never had a problem.

Tracy

I've seen "real" king beds ib various European countries; sometimes they are in hotels which some would classify as "business" establishments. But I also had one in my last B+B in the UK.

The floor of bedrooms sometimes offers more space for other activities and there isn't that annoying and distracting crevice in the middle, either.

Along with flexibility of room use, if the hotel is in an older building, i.e. converted from an old residence, it might actually not be possible to manipulate a queen mattress up the stairs (which could have a low overhang or a tight turn); and/or into the miniscule phone-booth sized elevators that serve many small hotels in Europe; and/or down a narrow hall and into a room. (This is in fact the case in our own house - a queen mattress will not fit up the stairway.) It isn't universal, of course: many old buildings have quite large rooms, halls, and stairways. Just not all.

Dukey wrote: "The floor of bedrooms sometimes offers more space for other activities and there isn't that annoying and distracting crevice in the middle, either."

Anything I said in response to this would be in questionable taste, so I confine my response to inviting other readers to think up (but not post) their own responses.

To get a double bed in Italy it is useful to specify a matrimonial bed.

<<< In my experience this is increasingly common everywhere in Europe - or at least everywhere I go. It's to give the hotel maximum flexibility, so they can let out a room as a double or a twin. It's a rare treat now to get a proper double or kingsized bed. >>>

This type of bed is the norm in Austria - and they aren't designed to be separated. Twin beds in a room has also been the standard for most city hotels for decades

It's a German thing, and that general part of Europe. Austria has that influence. I don't know why, but it's a cultural thing -- my German friend said it was just the norm there that they've always had beds that way (she's around 50 years old) because even German married people did not often sleep in the same bed, but in twins. It was a real revelation in the 60s, she said, when regular double beds became trendy and they were seen as "sexier" than the typical German furnishing. This is also why they commonly call a real double bed with a single mattress a "French" bed in Germany, because that was where they copied the style from of one big mattress rather than two twins, and French people were seen as sexier than Germans/Austrians, etc. It didn't have anything to do with what was convenient for hotels, it was customary in people's homes so that's why hotels do it.

Two queen-sized beds in many American hotel rooms allow for a family of 4 to sleep in one room. Or for 2 people to have their own space.

People want to really sleep now and then instead of just cuddle. I cannot stand those "queen" and "king" beds if I have to share them. That night would be lost to me.

Thanks Underhill.

Why worry? We have been ther many times and have enjoyed all of our stays no matter what the bed arrangement has been. Go and have fun, you'll be so tired from wandering beds will be the least odf your concerns.

I have always wondered about this myself. When looking at pictures in magazines or on hotel sites, seeing two beds together - I never understood the reasoning. Thanks guys

And not just in hotels - we do home exchanges, and so far all homes have had the same bedding arrangement in the main bedroom - a single unit that is made up of twin matresses on the same base, and twin quilts; also the same flat square pillows. But there is often a double bed in one of the other bedrooms . . .

It's always been like that. The space between the two beds is called "Besucherritze" in German. The space for visitors :-)

That's right. When that line is crossed, anything can happen.

As mentioned, this is not just in hotels but in private homes as well. I've always found this "interesting" and actually raised the question with my German friends. Here are some of the responses I got:
-it's easier to launder twin sheets and duvet covers. when you see how small their washing machines are, that does make sense.
- it's significantly less expensive to buy twin size bedding than queen or king, even if you buy far fewer pieces This I don't quite get.
- it's difficult to get king size beds into the apartments and through the bedroom doors. this I also find hard to accept given some of the huge armoires I've seen in Germany.

Now here's my personal theroy: as much as they are more comfortable with nudity (especially in public and semi-public places like parks and saunas), they are not a very sexualized society. As a matter of fact, I see all that comfort with nudity to reflect a "neutering" of the body. Therefore the priority in bed is it's comfort as a personal sleep space. Sex is secondary and will be accomodated as needed.
On a final note, it is kind of funny to enter an upscale hotel room to find these separate beds pushed together. It's hard to imagine those setting the tone for a steamy affair.

I have asked for and rec'd a double or "matrimonial" bed in every hotel we've stayed in, in Paris and throughout Italy. Just because the website shows it doesn't mean you won't have other choices.

I always ask for un letto matrimoniale in Italy but it's still most often twin beds pushed together.

It may be true in Paris or Italy or other places that they have other kinds of beds, but in fact, it often IS the case in some of these countries that do this a lot (Germany, Poland, Czech Rep, etc.) that it is indeed the ONLY kind of double bed available. I know, because I've stayed in all these countries and hate those two twins pushed together or the two twin mattresses in a large frame, and I have encountered hotels where that is all they have--even 4* hotels. It's the custom there, so they seem to think it is fine, and they don't have any reason to have other kinds of beds, although if you cater to a lot of foreign tourists, you would think you might. I don't think it's very sexy, either, and I don't like it at all. Those mattresses are separate in the frame for both, as mentioned, not the kind that are "zipped" together, which can be the case in some hotels or countries to make a "king size" bed.

When I was relating what my German friend told me (as I was curious myself), she said it was because they aren't very romantic or touchy-feely, also. Both sides of my family are of German heritage (emigrated around 1900, I guess), and my grandparents sure weren't very physically affectionate, either. They never hugged or kissed in public, and didn't touch their children much, either (I mean they wouldn't even hug children). They had twin beds themselves, starting at a pretty young age, also, according to my mother--it was just like the 50s on TV where married couples weren't allowed to have a double bed.

Hi Christina,

Nice stories from the past but times have changed. Even in Europe.

Nowadays, teenagers 17+ are allowed to take their boy/girlfriends home to spend the night in the same room. The parents say that if their kids are going to have sex, they might as well do it in their own home.