Behind this rather cryptic name, we want to answer a question that comes back repeatedly and that we assume is a question for almost every american who makes a hotel reservation in Europe.
In France, the name of the room (i.e. ‘double standard’) refers to the bed in the room. A ‘Double’ bed is somewhat the equivalent of a queen bed in the US. So a Double room has a queen bed, whereas a twin room has 2 twin beds. Both rooms are for 2 people. A room where 3 people can sleep is called a triple room, etc.
The matter gets more complex with suites, executive suites because there is no standard and the room with the same name can mean
2 different things with different hotels.
Today someone wrote: "My husband and I will be spending two nights in Nice. We are from California, USA and had a question regarding the room types in France. Is it okay for my husband and I to book a single room (especially if it says it has a large bed) even though there are two of us? Some hotels in the USA are very strict about that but I was wondering what the general policy was in France. We don’t need such a large bed and end up always paying extra so we’re hoping that we can just reserve a single bed even though both of us will be staying there. "
And the answer is that you need to get a double room, no matter how petite you may be or how snuggly you want to stay with your other half. Not reserving the double room, you may end up having no place to stay because most hotels will not let a couple sleep in a single room and if the other rooms are already booked, you’ll need to find other accomodations.
Cheers!