I'll be taking a trip to London and need some help figuring out what types of beds are what.

I see the following:
Double guest room
Twin guest room
King guest room

I get the king part, but am surprised to see twins as an option. Aren't those the single sleeper beds? Do they push those together if there are two people in the room? It is a Hilton that I am looking at so had expected to see the king/queen option.

Any input is apprecaited.

Yes, twin beds are sized for a single person.

Sometimes two people are traveling together who are unmarried and prefer to share a room, but not a bed. Twin beds are a good solution in that case, as the rooms are often too small to accommodate two larger beds.

mdtravel -

jenifer is correct in that Twin beds are singles at 39"w, and often two singles traveling together and even spouses, prefer separate beds. Often these are pushed together to make a King, though I would assume that a Hilton does provide actual King beds at 78"w. And the Double is 54"w.

As to Queen size beds, guess it has to be the decision of the hotel, what works best for their property.

While Hilton Hotels in the States has fairly large rooms, this might not be the case in Europe.

What is being offered of late in many hotels worldwide are Three-Quarter beds at 48"w which are a great option over Twins and make one heck of a playground when put together as a Super-King with custom sheets to fit this very large size.

If not for this trip, keep this 3/4-size in mind for future bookings elsewhere around the world.

Many, MANY European hotels offer rooms with the classic "twin" bed..usually two of them for people who don't want to sleep with others...or at least don't want to advertise that they are.

Twin = single
Double = Double in U.S. 2 persons
King = U.S. Queen (5 foot wide in Ireland/UK)
Super King = 6foot bed (U.S. King?)

I of course have a 5ft 3 (supposed to be an italian size...anyone know where I can buy fitted sheets on-line? I am serious!

Lots of European hotels have twin bed rooms, that's not surprising but it would be very surprising if they didn't have that option. In some countries, they are more common than double beds in some hotels I've looked at, much to my dismay (eg, Poland).

Lots of people need twin beds if they aren't married to each other and/or don't want to sleep together -- friends, relatives of any kind, parent with kid, etc. Hilton would have to have some rooms with that configuration to suit them.

And there is also the California King which is a bit narrower and longer than the Standard US King -n great for tall men.

As to sheets for the 5ft-3in bed, which is about the size of a Queen, you might want to check out the extra deep sheets available for very thick mattresses.

Most bed linens are marked in both inches and meters here in the States, so convert your Italian bed to meters and then check the packaging details.

Twin beds are never pushed together if two people are occupying a room. Sometimes, if you want a double and only a twin is available, you can push the beds together - but mind the gap! Sometimes, fixed cabinets mean that you can't even do this.
I always prefer a double bed when travelling with Mr. AR as he is within kicking distance when he begins to snore. This may be an important point to consider?!

Twin beds are sometimes pushed togther to make a double bed. We have experienced it.

We've also experienced twin beds that were pushed together. I think this is fairly common.

I've experienced twin beds pushed together to make a double quite often. They usually have their own sheets(twin) but share a bedspread(double) so they appear at first to be a double.

Twin beds (39"W) pushed together become a King (78"W), not a Double (54"W).

If you want to keep the twins pushed together from separating, just pack some cord and tie the legs together, but don't forget to untie for the maid to make the bed and remember to take the rope/cord when you leave (you might need at the next hotel).

Actually many of the beds called "twins" in Europe are actually "singles". They are 30 inches wide not the twin sized 39. When they are pushed together you have a total width of 60 -- same as a queen. I think you will find those more common than two actual twins pushed together.

The term "double" just means that there's a bed big enough for 2 people to share--it might be a real double, or a queen, or a king, or some other combo, as opposed to 2 separate beds that only one person can fit into comfortable which is "twin."

I too have experienced the 2 twins pushed together to make a double. It was disguised with a single sheet covering both beds. I didn't realize that it was 2 beds until I rolled into the gap and got partially stuck!