How big is a "small" room?
 

Virtually all descriptions of hotels on this site identify the rooms as "small". I know what my "small" means but I haven't a clue what your "small" means. Why can't you be more exact?

And what, pray tell, is a "reasonable" hotel or meal?

Very small to me is when a double bed or two twins just about fill the room, with hardly room to open the suitcases. Small is a little larger than that! :-)

"Why can't you be more exact?"

I doubt that many people here or elsewhere would be able to firmly say, "the rooms are 9 feet 6 inches by 11 feet" or "the typical room in that hotel is 90 square feet not including the bathroom". On the other hand I know of few people who WOULD NOT define a "small" hotel room as being one where there is very little passage area all the way around the bed. To me that's pretty clear. Obviously sometimes people are talking about a five star hotel and mention that "for the price the room was a bit small". I would usually assume they mean that it is larger that those mentioned above, just not as spacious as a person paying several hundred dollars a night would expect. Now that last statement may not be "exact" either, but I don't thing the word "small" is an exact term anywhere -- and certainly not when being used as an opinion about hotels.

Small is when ,in order to get in the closet, we must walk on top the bed...

Very small is when the bed's IN the closet.

Somewhat cramped is when you do not need a remote for the tv because your toes reach and the bed tips into the wall to reveal the toilet.

Small is when you stay in bed, your husband takes a shower and you both get wet!

One way to think of "small"... imagine your bedroom at home. Then add a bathroom INSIDE your bedroom. This is exactly how many hotel rooms have been modernized to have private baths.

Reading this message board really makes me smile! such wonderful sense of humour!

My room in Paris was so small that had I wanted to swing a cat I would have had to hold the cat over my head and turn quickly around. No room to extend my arm.

I bought a banana and had to stand it on end against the wall because there was not enough space to lay it flat.

Also, the room was also so small that if two people tried to stand up at the same time and move, one of them had to walk on the bed.

I was so close to the TV that being far sighted, I had to take off my glasses and mute the sound.

To open the suitcases we had to put them on the bed, and then close them before putting them back on the floor.

While one person changed clothes, the other one had to stand in the bathroom to leave space.

Now that is small.

Now a truly small room is when the windows open inwards...........and they won't.

How big is a "small" room?

Far smaller than a big room, I'd wager.

A reasonable hotel would never require their guests to be dressed completely in gold sequins for breakfast. That would be unreasonable, in my opinion. I'm sure I've never had an unreasonable meal. Uncooperative, yes but not unreasonable.

I once rented a studio flat that was so small I had to walk sideways around the bed, and had to fold down the side of the dinette table to open the closet door.

It had a separate kitchen that was fully equipped - but you had to open the kitchen door so there would be enough room to open the oven door. It was perfectly planned in miniature - the oven was lined up with the door opening so the oven door opened part way into the bedroom. There was a 2 burner cooktop, an oven, a microwave, fridge, sink, electric kettle, a rubbish bin, and lots of cupboards in 4 ft by 5 ft.

A "small" room is one in that hotel that EVERYBODY told you that you simply HAD to stay in because it was "charming" and "delightful" and where you could "soak up local culture" (from the housekeeping staff, perhaps?) and that wasn't a member of one of those dreadful (gasp!) CHAINS like Marriott or Hilton where if you stay there everyone you tell will think you haven't really been to Europe.

There are many charming, delightful accomodations with rooms that are more than large enough (also with modern baths), and where you can soak up the local culture. You just have to research--you don't have to stay in expensive, characterless large chain hotels to have a nice room. You just have research carefully.

Jsmith asks

>I haven't a clue what your "small" means. Why can't you be more exact?

And what, pray tell, is a "reasonable" hotel or meal?<

If it is "cozy and quaint", it is small.

As a member of the International Standards Organization (ISO) Committee on Definitions, I shall bring up these points for consideration at our next quadrennial meeting.

Look forward to progress reports every four years.

PS,

A reasonable meal is one that doesn't bite back.

As can be seen above "small" may have many definitions. We had a room in Venice that was very narrow, but I am not sure I would have called it small. If I layed on the bed crosswise, my head touched one wall and my feet the other (I am 5' 7"). However, the room was long, with a window at the end that overlooked the Grand Canal. There was still room for an armoire, a small table to have breakfast at and room for the luggage. I think in 1999 it ran about $100 US. We were there 2 nights, the view was wonderful, the ambiance was great, and we have wonderful pictures.

Considering for the most part, you are there to sleep, shower, and in this case eat a light breakfast, the room was fine even though "small". When ever we talk about it (we traveled with another couple who had an identical room) it brings a smile of pleasant memories!

Think about it this way, a "small" room will encourage you to be out and about enjoying the city you are visiting.

SMALL is when breakfast is delivered to your room and you don't have to get up to open the door.

Lola, that room description sounds like a prison cell.

Bob Brown's is the funniest. I actually stayed in THAT room in Paris at the Bellechase Libertel. But in addition to not being able to lay the banana down, I had to go out in the hall to peel it. There wasn't enough room in the room to pull the peel down!

Oh, and I agree that the term "reasonable hotel" is even more meaningless. If I checked into a five star hotel and had a room the size of a small ballroom with a beautiful and comfortable king sized bed, a huge marble bathroom, fine antique furniture and a balcony to sit on that overlooked the grand canal of Venice and they charged me $ 750 a night -- that WOULD be reasonable. On the other hand if I paid $70 a night for a hotel with a room like those described above, had leaky and rusty plumbing, and dirty housekeeping, then that hotel would not be reasonably priced in my opinion. "Reasonable" has nothing to do with the actual price, but what you get for whatever amount of money you pay!

A small bathroom is when you have to sit on the "john" sideways if you want to close the door. We stayed in a hotel like this is Paris.

LOL, a prison cell? I wouldn't know about that but I do know about small hotel rooms!
OK, small is when you can sleep, get dressed and look out the window without getting off the bed?

Hah! You guys think THOSE rooms are small? You haven't stayed in a small room until you've spent the night hanging outside your hotel over a Latin Quarter street with your wrist wedged in the window frame because the room is only big enough for your hand.

LOL, capo, that is the smallest room I have ever heard of~
This is soooooooo funny:)

About the equivalent of a 2-person tent (about 4ft. wide, 7ft. long, 5 ft. high at the top) with a toilet, sink, shower, closet. Add in a family of 4. That's a small room.

I did go on a camping trip once where there were too many people in one tent because the other one was leaking in the monsoon.

This is not a small room: http://mightymac.org/gb001.JPG

This one is small: http://mightymac.org/gb091.JPG

This is the bathroom for a very small room. There wasn't room to get a photo of the room: http://mightymac.org/fr007.JPG

Keith

A picture really is worth a 1,000 words, isn't it? Loved it, Keith!

I am not amused. See if I start a serious post again.

Capo, you win. I can't stop giggling.

Thanks to all of you from all of us.

Keith, the small room looks exactly like the one I stayed in in Paris last year at the Hotel Europe San Severin. I loved that room -- it had a great view out over Rue de la Harpe and I took a lot of great photos of the crowds below from it.

Paris must be the small hotel room capital of the world! One room we stayed in required the sideways toilet position. Another had a shower so small that I could barely raise my arms over my head to wash my hair. And I am not making either this up!