Rent a room
A room is a single space in a house that someone else lives in or runs. You share the way to it, and often the bathroom as well. Against a holiday flat there is no self contained unit with its own kitchen, and against a hotel room there is no front desk downstairs. What there is instead is someone who knows the area. The range runs from a plain guest room on a farm to a room in a small guesthouse with its own bathroom and its own entrance.
What to check before booking
- Is the bathroom yours alone?
- Some rooms have a bathroom of their own, for others it is along the corridor. Shared does not have to mean crowded, but anyone who dislikes waiting in the morning should check first.
- Do the hosts live in the house?
- In a private household you meet in the hallway and hear each other in the evening. A small guesthouse works differently. Both are rooms, and they are two different stays.
- Is breakfast included?
- With some it is part of the deal, with others the kitchen stays shut and there is nothing at all. The description says which, and it changes how the morning goes.
- How do you get in at night?
- There is no desk that is always staffed. Some hosts hand over the key in person, others leave it ready for you. Anyone arriving late does better to say so in advance.
- May you use the kitchen?
- With some rooms it is part of the arrangement, with others it stays private. Over a longer stay that is the difference you notice most.
Who it suits
Made for
Anyone travelling alone or as a pair who needs little more than a bed at night does well with a room. In the countryside this form carries particular weight, because farms and inns there have taken in guests for as long as anyone can remember. And anyone who likes asking where to eat gets the answer from a person who lives there.
Less so for
Anyone who wants to spend the day indoors or cook for themselves gets more out of a holiday flat. Families with small children run into limits quickly, because one room is one room. And anyone who dislikes a shared bathroom should look for a room with its own.
Where it comes from
Renting out single rooms came in with the summer retreat. When the railway brought townspeople into the countryside in the nineteenth century, the inns were not enough, and more and more guests stayed in private houses. Out of that grew a branch of tourism of its own, the private letting of rooms. The roadside signs reading Zimmer frei belong to it and still stand in places today.
Good to know
The bathroom is the key question
Your own or one along the corridor decides more about the stay than the size of the room. If the description does not say, it is worth asking.
Dogs by arrangement only
In a lived in house it depends on the hosts, and often on their own animals. Asking costs nothing and saves a refusal at the door.
Agree on your arrival
In the evening it is sometimes the taproom that answers, sometimes only the hosts' mobile. Giving a rough time saves both sides the standing around.
