Sometimes we only have enough points to book one room at a hotel. If we want to stay for free, we “squish” into this one room. My kids are still young enough that we can still get away with this. (probably only for a little while longer). The best case, the hotel allows a cot in a room with 2 double beds, then there is a bed for each of us. When the hotel will not put a cot into a room with 2 double beds because of fire safety rules, we become a little more creative…
When the kids were really little, Rob used to sleep in one of the double beds with 2 of them. When they got too big for this, we started traveling with an air mattress and a pump. Sometimes, when we forget the air mattress, we set up a bed made of blankets, on the floor. My son, Mason, can thankfully sleep on anything.
We actually bought a portable bed on SkyMall (btw now in Chapter 11) but we have yet to travel with it. It looks like a piece of luggage. I think we will definitely bring it with us to Hawaii this winter. We have one room on each island. Gulp!
Although we do not flaunt it to the hotel staff, (we all don’t go up to the desk to check in), the hotel staff seems indifferent to the fact that we have a family of 5 staying in one room.
Many people think we are crazy to stay in one room. But, for me, my urge to travel for free trumps the inconveniences of staying together. After all, we are very active. We are out early and home late on most of our trips. We do not spend a ton of time in the hotel room anyway. And sometimes the togetherness is fun. 🙂