Types of hotel rooms

There was a period in hotel history types of hotel rooms were clear concept. Hotel rooms were standard products—one bed room, two beds room…. Now good days are gone, no hotels want to offer standard products. Even its exactly “standard room”, they have one thousand and one ways to name it differently, and insist you call it that way.

How would they call a “double-double” or “king” type in reality?  “Prestige at The Palazzo - Bella Suite with Two Queen Beds”, “Palazzo Luxury Suite with a King Bed” or “Palazzo Luxury View Suite with a King Bed” (The Palazzo at The Venetian® hotel), those are 3 different types of rooms.  Even though, hotel rooms can still fall into following categories.

Bed oriented classification

Single room: Referring to single bed (A standard single bed is 3 feet wide and 6 feet 3 inches long (91 x 190), hotel single bed is larger than this, but it’s still relatively small). Single room is for one guest to stay, at most time there’s only one single bed, all equipment and amenities are barely enough for one person.

Double room: Named after double-size bed—also called full beds, are used from the 1960’s. They have about 4, 050 square inches surface area, are around 54 inches wide (15 inches wider than a single bed) and 75 inches long.  It can accommodate 2 customers cozily at most with it’s one double bed room.

Triple room: Normally it’s one room with 3 beds, or with one queen bed and one single bed. It’s designed to accommodate 3 guests.

Quad room: Can accommodate up to 4 persons, having two or more beds. Few hotels offer this type of rooms.

Queen room: Suggesting a room with one queen-size bed.  queen-size bed is 60 inches wide and 80 inches long. It has a surface area of 4,800 square inches, being 6 inches wider and 5 inches longer than double bed. It’s wider by 21 inches and 5 inches longer than twin beds as well.

King room: Boosting its king-sized bed. One room with a large bed for one or more people.

Twin room: Having two single beds, usually prepared for 2 persons.

Double-double room: With two double (or queen) beds. For 2 adults to stay comfortably.

Studio room: It's adjacent room—a living room with sofa, coffee table and chairs, and a bedroom. The sofa can be converted into a bed.

Murphy room: This rare category includes rooms with only a sofa bed or a murphy bed

Area oriented classification

Single room: a relative small room, if it’s a big room, they prefer to call it “junior suite”.
 

Adjacent room: Closing rooms connected by a door that when required can be unlocked.

Adjoining room: Rooms that are next to each other, most likely side by side, separated by a wall without doorway.

Suite room: with at least 2 relatively independent areas, and one or more beds.

• Regular suite room: the standard type of suite room.
• Penthouse suite room: In architecture, the term penthouse is used to refer to a structure on the roof of a building that is set back from the outer walls. penthouse suite usually means accessing to terrace space above the suite, private elevator, a bird’s eye view of the city and many luxury amenities.
• President suite/Royal suite room: The only one most expensive in a luxury hotel. Usually spreads over one floor and includes couple of bedrooms, dining room, study room, full kitchen, in-room bar, private fitness, spa and plunge pool. Featuring private concierge or dedicated butler.

Villa room: Commonly seen in resorts, separated houses with large space and extra privacy.

Service oriented classification

Standard/Classic room 

Superior/Executive room

Deluxe/Luxury room

Other classifications

Non-smoking room

Roughly all rooms of hotels are non-smoking, only one floor at most will be reserved as smoking rooms. Non-smoking room should never be assigned with an ashtray to a guest who smokes. Despite smoking-rooms are designed and decorated differently, it’s almost impossible to eliminate the smell completely from bed, carpet, curtain and wallpaper, that smell some non-smoking guests abhor. You can barely sell it to a non-smoking guest again without spending a small fortune to redecorate.

According to the latest report from the AHLA (American Hotel and Lodging Association), the share of non-smoking has steadily risen from 74% to 97% over the last decade. And the proportion of hotels that only offer non-smoking rooms has jumped from 38% in 2008 to 85% in 2017.

Marriott’s Smoke-free policy strategy, which took effect October 16, 2006, includes all of the company’s lodging brands in the United States and Canada—in more than 2,300 hotels and corporate apartments and nearly 400,000 guest rooms under the Marriott, JW Marriott, The Ritz-Carlton, Renaissance, Courtyard, Residence Inn, SpringHill Suites, Fairfield Inn, TownePlace Suites and ExecuStay brands. The initiative includes guest rooms, public spaces and associate work areas.

Other high-end brands like Four Seasons, IHG, Hilton have similar policies.

Choice Hotels announced in 2017 that 1,800 of its Comfort Inns and Comfort Suites in the USA and Canada are 100% smoke-free, making it one of the largest brands to say no to smoking.

Wyndham Hotel Group’s full-service and lifestyle brands—including Dolce Hotels and Resorts, Wyndham Grand, Wyndham Hotels and Resorts, Wyndham Garden and TRYP by Wyndham—are smoke-free in North America.

Smoking room

Most states in the U.S. permit hotels to allow smoking in some guest rooms, and only five (Indiana, Michigan, North Dakota, Vermont, and Wisconsin) require that all hotel and motel rooms be 100% smoke-free (State and local 100% smoke-free hotel and motel guest room laws enacted as of July 3, 2017).

According to the CDC, as of 2015, a total of 15.1% of U.S. adults (16.7% of men and 13.6% of women) smoke, which is down from 20.9% a decade earlier. Of U.S. smokers in 2005, 80.8% (or 36.5 million) smoked every day, and 19.2% (or 8.7 million) smoked some days.

Disabled-friendly room