Guest Accommodations

[JRon]

I noticed another thread on saving money veered off a bit into having room for guests in your home and thought it deserved some discussion. What accommodations do you supply for visiting guests?

We built a small 4 bedroom house, but have dedicated the 3 bedrooms other than the master for other personal uses of ours so we don’t have a guest room. We don’t have overnight visitors very often - the last being about 3 years ago. We decided in the future we would put them up in a nearby hotel if needed.

 

[ShokWaveRider]

We have a self contained guest suite. It does not have it's own outside door, but is in the opposite corner of the house from the main bedrooms above the garage. It is a "FROG". One could use it as a bonus, game or whatever room, we reserve it for guests, and have no other use for it, other than storage perhaps, we would not miss it if it was not there as we have 3 bedrooms on the main floor. It is the only room we have that is not on the ground floor of the house.

 

[Ian S]

We have a finished basement with a large "media" room where we have our main TV and HIFI equipment. There are two smaller rooms and a full bath; we have set up one of the smaller rooms for guests. Main floor has master and two BR's we use as offices.

 

[W2R]

We don’t have overnight visitors very often - the last being about 3 years ago. We decided in the future we would put them up in a nearby hotel if needed.

+1

Same here. I can see why our grandparents' and great-grandparents' generations considered the guest bedroom to be a necessity, but it's not like this is the Wild West any more. There are several very nice hotels and motels nearby and our very few guests prefer the privacy of staying in one of them. For me this solution is much less expensive and easier overall for all of us. It's a win-win decision.

 

[The Cosmic Avenger]

We have a guest room with its own bathroom, which is nice because sometimes we want to talk late into the evening with family or friends, and be able to enjoy a drink...or two! And it's at least 20 minutes to the nearest hotel, although maybe I should consider offering to pay for the room and a taxi.... But my friends and I tend to stay with each other when visiting, even though we can afford hotels, and the guest will usually try to take the hosting family out for a nice dinner or two, because we're also all frugal in that way.

 

[Aerides]

We have a 3rd/guest bedroom (my room when I wake up from DH snoring), and a 2nd bath which becomes a full guest bath when someone stays. But that's it. We don't have a big house nor room to host long term. 3 days, tops. There is a hampton inn about 5 mins away, but 15/20 for anything fancier, over by the beach.

When we visit FIL for more then one night, the last time since he had SIL there also, we opted for a hotel a block down the street. It made things easier, with more privacy, and no worrying about our backs on FIL's guest room murphy bed.

 

[mpeirce]

As most things are, it depends on the situation.

We renovated the family lake house and have four guest rooms w/ two bathrooms. One of the bedrooms is a "bunk room". And there's overflow for more (reunion weekend) with a few inflatable air mattresses.

Our main accommodation is that we have a small "suite" for our use that is off by itself. We have our sleeping area, a small sitting area, closet and master bath. And it's all away from the main living room. We can slip away to get some sleep while our guests (mostly family) stay up late if they like and not have to whisper.

 

[OldShooter]

At our city home we have a guest bedroom with private bath. We'll have something like that at the lake home we're building. One consideration is that our "guest" might actually be a caregiver for some period of time.

 

[Teacher Terry]

When we lived in our house we had a guest room/office and our motor home so have slept 4 people. Now in my condo I have a guest room so can only sleep 2.

 

[GreenEggs]

We recently moved into a larger home than we actually needed. It's on a lake & waterfront choices are limited, so the favorite home in our price range was a bit larger than we actually wanted. So, we have plenty of guestrooms. The one without an attached bath is being used as my office. DD moved in after graduating during C-19 to attend online MBA school. It's been great for the few times that we've had guests. Only the master is on the main floor, so we've given it up to our folks when they've visited. 84-year-old knees don't like staircases.

The mountain cabin is still a "work in progress", which was built in stages. We're at the stage where I need to sort out bathrooms... The guest room is the only one with a private bath. We still need to construct a master bath, construct a 1/2 bath downstairs, and redo the original bath. I think the next "guest" we invite up there needs "Plumbing Experience"!!

 

[disneysteve]

We do not host guests. We don't have a spare room or bathroom. Folks are welcome to stop in and visit but they need to find their own accommodations.

 

[ExFlyBoy5]

We have a Best Western 10 minutes from us and a KOA campground about 2 minutes from us.

In all seriousness, we have a guest room with a private bath. The bath is stocked with most of the stuff you would find in a hotel. No TV in the room but can put one in from the exercise room if it is "requested." We don't have too many over night guest and I use the room on occasion when the DW can't sleep/watches TV in our bedroom.

 

[braumeister]

I always chuckle when I think about the retirement party for one of my first commanders in the Air Force. He went on and on about the fantastic house they had bought and were moving to in Florida (this was at a very northern base so that meant something to us).

After describing the house and area, he talked about how he would miss us all and would love to see us again if we wanted to visit. "So please, if you can get down there at any time, please give us a call -- as soon as you've checked in to your hotel."

 

[CardsFan]

Our previous house was on a lake, but 45 minutes to an hour from our closest friends.
We finished the basement with a large bedroom, full bath, kitchenette and sitting room, so folks would come out and stay overnight.

Now we are in a townhome, close to everyone. We have one spare bedroom for guests (usually DS and DDIL).

 

[caninelover]

We have a 4 bedroom townhouse, with one dedicated guest bedroom downstairs with a queen bed. There is also a full bath downstairs. We don't get many overnight visitors (though my sister is coming in a couple of months with my niece and nephew in tow for a couple of days to look at colleges) so we often use that room for extra storage.

Our living room sofa has a pullout full size bed.

Upstairs we have three bedrooms, two are offices and then our master. In my SO's office he does have an old twin bed that we leave there.

So we could sleep 5 total without busting out an air mattress but don't see how we'll ever need to host more than that.

We prefer to have guests stay with us to relax and chat at night versus them having to go to a hotel, but that's just our preference and we wouldn't be offended if a guest chose to stay at a nearby motel instead.

 

[pb4uski]

Our lakefront summer home has a walkout basement with lots of windows on the lake side. Two bedrooms ( one with a full size bed and the other with two twin beds), a family room with tv and a full bathroom... becomes the guest quarters when we have guests.

We rarely go down there other than to do laundry.

 

[harley]

We built a big house at the MD Eastern Shore when we FIREd, and I invited a bunch of my relatives and coworkers to come visit us whenever. And they did.

It took us years to get out of that situation, but now we're down to DD and family, SiL, and one couple that are friends. I don't recommend having guest space available unless you are a hell of a lot more social than we are.

 

[Ronstar]

We have 2 guest bedrooms but only one has been slept in. And only 5 or so nights.

But our guest bedroom in our former Scottsdale condo was used quite a bit

 

[tb001]

I thought that was a really interesting point re having dedicated extra space for guests. We have a large home.

One of the extra bedrooms we turned into a playroom for the kids. It’s the only first floor bedroom and very nice and airy, so if we ever have an issue with stairs, we’ll turn it back into a bedroom. Post kids it will become a place for morning coffee and watching the sun rise. It’s all windows with a beautiful view.

We have a dedicated guest bedroom that the kids call ‘grandma’s room.’ I love having my mom have a space that feels her own when she comes to visit.

We also have a studio casita that is a separate structure. DH has his office there, but in a pinch it’s great for guests and totally private, which is nice. I insisted on a place with a casita when we were looking as it didn’t increase our $ that much. I saw it as a place to rent out for extra income if our plan went sideways or for a caretaker to live in exchange for help.

In the two years we’ve been here we have once had all three in use as spare bedrooms and several times used two. I love being able to host friends and family. It’s fun for us and it’s nice to be able to stay up late talking and not have to worry about having to get to a hotel. The casita has been huge for DH with kids not in school and wfh.

So we went the opposite way and have been very happy we did. But not everyone enjoys houseguests…

 

[GreenEggs]

In my "perfect world", we'd have a reasonably sized home on the water with a boat that sleeps a couple or 2, an RV that sleeps a couple or two, and a pool house that sleeps a couple or 2.

Those alone would give us flexible accommodations for 3 to 6 couples, and I'm sure we'd have one or two guest rooms in the main house.

The boat & the RV would be fun toys for adventures & they'd also be fun housing for guests. It would inspire our guests to travel, with us perhaps, and would always keep past & future travels as topics to chat about.

Guests seem more comfortable with a separate space to retreat to, and hosts also seem to enjoy it. I think it would be a nice way to host folks, giving everyone the opportunity to interact in a more comfortable pace and setting. The variety of settings would make for a more relaxing visit, without the stress that can occur when folks feel confined to being under a single roof. Longer visits would be encouraged because guests & hosts alike would feel more relaxed and comfortable.

It looks like I've made a list of my wants in a home. I wish hunting for it, and selling off the ones we currently own wasn't such a chore. I wasn't really looking for more chores...

 

[mountainsoft]

I've never understood the desire to have family or friends stay overnight in our house. I wouldn't dream of staying with family if I was visiting. It's awkward, uncomfortable, and there's no privacy. I would always get a hotel room.

Besides, a hotel room is cheaper than it costs to build that extra room, heat it, clean it, etc. for the rare times someone stays overnight.

That said, even though we haven't had a guest in years, my wife wanted to be able to host someone if they visited. So I built her a desk/crafting table that can double as a guest bed if the need arises. June 13, 2020 - Building a Craft Table/Guest Bed

So far, only my daughter used it once when her car broke down. My wife insisted she stay overnight instead of driving her the 10-15 minutes to her own apartment.

 

[HawkeyeNFO]

That said, even though we haven't had a guest in years, my wife wanted to be able to host someone if they visited. So I built her a desk/crafting table that can double as a guest bed if the need arises. June 13, 2020 - Building a Craft Table/Guest Bed

Good stuff there, Softy!

 

[pacergal]

mountainsoft--that video was great and the table/bed looks fantastic.


We have a two other bedrooms--one is now a kids toy and play room, the other one is for grandkids bedroom /guest room. The only guests we have now are our kids/grandkids.
Adult friends who come from out of town stay in hotels.

 

[LRDave]

Wow. We hosted family and guests quite often before Covid and things have picked up again for us starting in late Spring. We are hosting some friends from FL now as I type. We have 4 bedrooms and 2.5 bathrooms and figure it out. We love having friends and family stay with us and our guests seem to enjoy visiting.

 

[tb001]

In my "perfect world", we'd have a reasonably sized home on the water with a boat that sleeps a couple or 2, an RV that sleeps a couple or two, and a pool house that sleeps a couple or 2.

Those alone would give us flexible accommodations for 3 to 6 couples, and I'm sure we'd have one or two guest rooms in the main house.

The boat & the RV would be fun toys for adventures & they'd also be fun housing for guests. It would inspire our guests to travel, with us perhaps, and would always keep past & future travels as topics to chat about.

Guests seem more comfortable with a separate space to retreat to, and hosts also seem to enjoy it. I think it would be a nice way to host folks, giving everyone the opportunity to interact in a more comfortable pace and setting. The variety of settings would make for a more relaxing visit, without the stress that can occur when folks feel confined to being under a single roof. Longer visits would be encouraged because guests & hosts alike would feel more relaxed and comfortable.

It looks like I've made a list of my wants in a home. I wish hunting for it, and selling off the ones we currently own wasn't such a chore. I wasn't really looking for more chores...

I love these extra bedrooms!