Luxury hotels add bunk beds

The new trend at luxury hotels draws inspiration from the least luxurious accommodations on Earth: dorm rooms.

At a time when consumers are looking for better value and hotels are dealing with unprecedented demand, the bunk bed has emerged a win-win design solution.

“In markets with really high room rates and really high occupancies, adding a few more beds to a room means you can fit more people in it and charge more,” said Alastair Thomann, chief executive officer of the hip hostel brand Generator, where custom bunks now stretch three high in some locations. “Suddenly, a little villa which used to sleep two or three can sleep five because they’re doubling up. The space allows it. So that’s the game, really — that’s the economics behind it.”

But it isn’t just well-designed hostels that are thinking vertically: It’s luxury and lifestyle brands that range from JW Marriott to Montage and Moxy. And the demand isn’t coming from budget travelers but from parents who want a luxe vibe without paying for multiple rooms. In these cases, bunk beds provide a glorious and rare compromise. They allow families to room together without getting in one another’s way.

Thomann, who got in early on the bunk bed trend, said the uptick in demand has been so sharp — from hoteliers and consumers alike — that it’s driven up purchasing costs and created a supply chain crisis. As a result, he said he now spends 40 percent more per bunk bed than he did five years ago. And there are so many orders that factories can’t keep up the production, leaving hotels waiting two to three times longer for their orders. Thomann said it’s like witnessing the emergence of a new cottage industry. “The companies that manufacture for us are producing fantastic numbers,” he said. “Their sales guys are really happy.”

Here are some high-capacity alternatives for your next family getaway.

• Tourists, North Adams, Mass.

This Berkshires weekend escape — a 48-room converted motel whose owners include the former bassist of Wilco — is all about comfortable minimalism, with a white-and-blond-wood look that’s full of clean lines and rustic accents. For a particularly smart use of space, book into the Caravan rooms: They have a lofted wooden bunk tucked between the king bed and the wall. Sure, it’s meant as a sleeping nook, but the boxy design feels almost like a fort or play area for kids who need a break from all the hikes, art classes and activities. The bunks are such a hit that when Tourists designed a new cluster of rental homes near the main hotel this year, they included a five-bedroom option with its very own bunked room. Caravan rooms from $196 per night.

• Moxy Hotels, New York City, N.Y.

“There is something about bunk beds that is inherently playful and camplike,” said Mitchell Hochberg, president of real estate group Lightstone and developer of Moxy Hotels in New York City. He thought the quad bunk accommodations at the 612-room Times Square property, which opened in 2017, would appeal to young travelers who’d also enjoy the nightly DJs at the rooftop bar. But the rooms, outfitted with two sets of twin bunks, have been a hit with a much wider demographic. “Much to our surprise, they’ve been embraced by a broader array of guests — everyone from families with small children to bachelorette parties,” he said.

The bunks were added as a riff on Yabu Pushelberg’s initial design for the hotel, which had an urban camping theme — think pegboard closets, retro phones and metal-framed tray tables with ceramic campfire mugs. They’ve proved so successful that the brand has added them to other locations around the city, including the Moxy Hotels in the Lower East Side, Chelsea, the East Village and Williamsburg. “The rooms become a win-win to both travelers and hotel owners, noted Hochberg. “They afford a lower rate to the individual traveler [in cases where multiple friends are splitting the nightly rate] and, in the aggregate, a higher rate to the hotel.” Twin bunk rooms from $264.

• Beaverbrook, Surrey Hills, U.K.

Just 20 miles outside London is this family-friendly manor with 470 acres in the scenic Surrey Hills. Since December 2023, it’s also been home to the Village, a collection of cottages inspired by literary and artistic giants, including C.S. Lewis and the Brontë sisters. Of the 21 rooms, a half-dozen are whimsically outfitted suites that feature bunks: pastel-colored beds adorned with sweet checkered blankets and seersucker privacy curtains.

The elevated design of the bunks proves that Beaverbrook is a place that knows how to play to fancy kids — or perhaps fancy parents. On any given week there are G-rated film screenings in a private cinema, bento box lunches in the dining room and a full slate of camplike weekend activities, such as survival skills training and beekeeping. That means parents get to explore the grounds on their own, whether that means enjoying an afternoon spritz at Sit Frank’s Bar, which is lined floor to ceiling in botanical paintings, or taking a jaunt to the checkerboard-tiled pool at the Coach House Spa. Village Suites from $1,512.

• JW Marriott Orlando Grande Lakes, Orlando, Fla.

Bunk suites have proved so popular among theme-park-bound families in central Florida that the JW Marriott Orlando Grande Lakes doubled its inventory just two years after first introducing them in 2022. “As we continue to see the rise of multigenerational travel, the need and desire for this style of room continues to grow,” said Michael Scioscia, the hotel’s general manager. Guests in the hotel’s two-bedroom suites — which have a king bed and twin bunks in one bedroom and a king bed in the other — get a dedicated hospitality team and VIP check-in experience. The renovated on-site water park is another perk: Its three waterslides, lazy river and aquatic ropes course rival options at its theme-park neighbors. Two-bedroom suites from $1,741.