What Guest Bed Should I Choose?

A practical solution if you're expecting visitors, guest beds are the perfect choice if you're looking for a place for your guests to sleep. When family or friends come to visit, finding somewhere for them to sleep can be hard - especially if you don't have a spare bedroom.

Guest beds:

  • Provide your visitors with a comfortable place to sleep
  • Can be set up in any room
  • Are easily stored out of the way when not in use

Not sure which guest bed to choose? In this guide, we’ll present you with a wealth of guest bed ideas so you can find the best bed for your needs.

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A white guest room
Find the perfect guest bed for your friends and family today!

Guest bed options: What type of guest beds are available?

Guest beds have been specifically designed to fit into every room, no matter how big or small. There are Guest beds have been designed to fit into most rooms, no matter the shape and size. There are many different types of guest beds available to choose from. Some of the most popular are:

  1. Folding beds
  2. Sofa beds
  3. Trundle beds

1. Folding bed

If you’re looking for temporary bed ideas, folding beds - also known as z-beds - are suitable for all guests, children and adults alike. These beds are constructed with a sturdy, three-part metal structure, so they are suitable for regular use.

Ideal if you don't have a spare bedroom, these beds can be easily collapsed and folded away until your guests arrive. They're easy to manoeuvre too since folding beds and z-beds often come with wheels.

If you are looking for the whole package, each of our folding guest beds comes complete with a matching mattress. These mattresses have been specifically designed to fold away with your bed without reducing the quality!

Find yourself with unexpected guests? There's no need to worry - all of our folding guest beds are available with Free Next Day Delivery.

The Jay-Be Supreme Folding bed with Micro e-Pocket Mattress in a white guest room.
The Jay-Be Supreme Folding bed with Micro e-Pocket Mattress folds away for easy storage until your guests arrive

Browse our collection of folding beds

2. Sofa bed

Sofa beds are sofas with a pull-out bed for your guests. Sofa beds are easy to unfold and set up when your guests arrive. They come complete with their own mattress.

Perfect if you don't have a large room, sofa beds are designed to fit into smaller rooms and blend in with your furniture to create a stylish look. Sofa beds are multi-functional: when your guests have gone, you can fold away the bed and use it as a sofa!

For more buying advice for sofa beds, check out our helpful advice page!

Novo Aldwalk Sofa Bed
The Novo Aldwalk Sofa Bed, a three-seater sofa for when guests come to stay

View our sofa bed range

3. Trundle bed

Trundle beds are children's beds with a spare bed underneath. You can pull out the spare bed to stand beside the bed, creating two beds instead of one!

As they are tucked away underneath your child's bed, trundle guest beds don't take up any extra bedroom space. When purchasing a mattress for your trundle bed, be sure to check the maximum mattress depth advised, as these vary per manufacturer.

Other guest bed options

Standard single and small double beds are also popular choices if you have a spare room and are looking for a more permanent guest bed. As space is usually limited within spare rooms, these types of beds are a good fit in most instances (always measure your space to check!).

We offer a range of single and double bed frames, along with a wide range of divan beds. Many divan bases come with built-in drawers, making divan beds a popular choice for spare rooms as they help maximise your available storage space.

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Guest beds: which do I need?

With so many guest bed options to choose from, it can be difficult to decide which one is best for you. Below, we outline what you should consider when choosing your guest bed:

  • How much space do you have?
  • Who will be sleeping on the bed?
  • What budget do you have?

Answering these questions will help you decide which guest bed you should choose.

How much space do you have?

Where will you keep your guest bed? Perhaps in a spare room or the living room? We recommend the following for each guest bed:

GUEST BED TYPESUITABLE FOR
Folding bedBedroom - of any size
Living room
Spare room
Sofa bedBedroom - particularly small bedroom
Living room
Spare room
Trundle bedBedroom - particularly small bedroom
Children's bedroom
Spare room
Single or double bedBedroom

Who will be sleeping on the bed?

How many guests will be visiting? Perhaps just one - or do you have the whole family coming to stay? There's no need to worry: many of our guest beds sleep up to two guests! Whether you choose a sofa bed or a folding bed, you can relax knowing there will be enough room for everyone.

What budget do you have?

It goes without saying that you’ll need to consider your budget too. If you rarely welcome guests, you may not want to spend as much on a guest bed as someone who, for example, has their grandchildren sleep over every week.

The good news is that there’s a guest bed to suit every budget here at Mattress Online. Below, we highlight some of our best-selling guest beds to give you some inspiration.

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Top guest beds

To make your decision a little easier, we've gathered a list of our best-selling guest beds, as decided by our customers:

Novo Aizlewood Sofa Bed in a guest room with a green side table and lamp next to it.

1. Novo Aizlewood Sofa Bed

  • From £909
  • Pull out sofa bed
  • 2-seater sofa
  • Comfortable foam sleep surface
Novo Del Rey Sofa Bed extended

2. Novo Del Rey Sofa Bed

  • From £389.95
  • Clic-clac sofa bed
  • 3-seater
  • Luxurious velvet upholstery
The Jay-Be Supreme Folding bed with Micro e-Pocket Mattress in a white guest room.

3. Jay-Be Supreme Folding bed with Micro e-Pocket Mattress

  • From £219.95
  • Folding guest bed
  • Available in Single and Small Double sizes
  • Complete with mattress

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Which guest bed is most comfortable?

Generally, the most comfortable guest beds are those that use standard mattresses, such as trundle beds or standard single and double beds. 

Although sofa and folding beds offer space-saving convenience, the mattress included tends not to be as thick as the standard mattresses we have on our regular beds. However, if you don’t have the space for a more permanent bed, there are ways of enhancing your guests’ comfort.

Adding a mattress topper is one easy and cost-effective way of making a folding or sofa bed mattress plusher. Opting for a memory foam topper can create that sink-in feeling while still supporting your guests as they sleep.

Investing in a good quality duvet, pillows and bedding will keep visitors feeling comfortable all night. Your guests will feel like they’re staying at a hotel!

Check out our range of accessories today


These beds are just a handful of the great range of guest beds and sofa beds that we offer. Can't find the guest bed you're looking for? Simply get in touch, and we'll be happy to help.