5

I recently slept in a hotel in Berlin. The hotel is a 4 (maybe 4.5) stars respectable hotel which belongs to a known brand, near the Alexanderplatz. I specifically ordered a king size bed, but when I arrived at the hotel I got two single beds pushed together with two single blankets. After asking the receptionist about it, she said that one can only get twin beds in Germany and together they are king size (i.e. 190x160 cm and not 190x140 cm which is queen size).

While I respect the modesty rules of the locals, can one get a bed for two persons with single mattress (and a single blanket with the same "two persons" size) in Germany?

P.S. All your jokes about cuddling and twin beds are already in this thread.

Improve this question
9
  • 2
    Now, do you want a double bed or a king size bed? And more importantly, do you just want to know whether somewhere in Germany there is a hotel with a "real" (whatever that means) double bed? Or do you want to know how to book something like that in Germany? It'd be also helpful if you could specify the terms.
    – martin.koeberl
    Commented Nov 7, 2017 at 21:05
  • 3
    It would be great to know exactly what you booked. Did some (english) website display "king size"? Maybe even the official hotel website? Or did you enter "king size please" into a text field when booking a double room? Having two separate mattresses is pretty much standard in Germany.
    – Sabine
    Commented Nov 7, 2017 at 21:52
  • 4
    "While I respect the modesty rules of the locals" - genuinely, "modesty rules" are of least concern here. It is simply for additional flexibility that there are two separable beds.
    – O. R. Mapper
    Commented Nov 8, 2017 at 7:15
  • How did you "specifically" order a king size bed?
    – Neusser
    Commented Nov 8, 2017 at 9:21
  • 1
    @Mosh You know that the history of the question is public, right? So everybody can see that first you asked for a double bed and not a king size bed. But thanks for specifying.
    – martin.koeberl
    Commented Nov 8, 2017 at 21:19

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
14

There is no direct translation for "king size" in German. The term doesn’t exist in German, and when you order it, they try to do as near as possible.
German beds for two adults are customarily separate mattresses, and - especially in hotels - separately moveable, to allow separation as needed.

The same applies for the other US bed size terms - be it queen, twin, or whatever. There is no one-to-one equivalent. Bedsizes do not follow an international standard.

Improve this answer
8
  • 1
    King Size, Queen size etc also fully exists in the UK and we have a monarchy. I have stayed at a range of hotels where this can mean an actual large bed and also two mattresses put together, so it can vary though.
    – Tim
    Commented Nov 8, 2017 at 11:14
  • 2
    "German beds for two adults are customarily separate mattresses" - in hotels, yes. Not so much in private homes.
    – O. R. Mapper
    Commented Nov 8, 2017 at 14:10
  • 3
    In private homes we don't have names for larger mattresses. They are just described by their width. A queen size is a Eins-Vierzig-Mattratze. These wider sizes (as opposed to the traditional 90x200) have become more popular over the last years, a traditional double bed (Ehebett, from marriage) has two of those in a fixed frame next to each other. Since the bed base (Lattenrost) and the mattress will wear out more if two people sleep on a wide bed, older people probably stay with that double bed concept.
    – simbabque
    Commented Nov 8, 2017 at 15:59
  • 1
    If you make it over the ‘Bettritze’, @Mosh ...
    – Aganju
    Commented Nov 8, 2017 at 16:51
  • 1
    @simbabque: Of course, some beds are designed to hold two bed bases and one wide mattress. Still, 2x 1.40m seems extremely wide to me. I think an Ehebett is typically somewhere between 1.40m and 2m wide in all.
    – O. R. Mapper
    Commented Nov 8, 2017 at 17:04

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .