Best Mattress for Guest Room – Top 10 Reviews & Ratings for 2023

This is the first question you should ask yourself because the answer will dictate how important quality and durability will be in your decision.

For example, you already know that more expensive products are going to be built with better materials and last longer. As beds age, they tend to sag, so if you sleep on a bed nightly, this process is accelerated.

Many people find that bed feels comfortable the first few nights they sleep on it. However, over time low density foams and cheaply made coils lose their structural integrity, and you can be left with a bed that gifts you with a sore, achy back every morning when you get up.

So, if you don’t plan on having visitors over frequently, it can be cost-efficient to get a bed that has a lower price tag and immediate comfort. Yes, it can sag over time, but considering that even the cheapest mattress takes several months for this to happen, you can expect a lightly used guest bed to last for years.

Get More Info: How Long Do Mattresses Last?

For a guest room, a medium-firm mattress is usually a good bet. This firmness level works for firm mattress lovers, but also provides soft mattress lovers with a little more cushion.

Need more help? Check our complete guide to Mattress Firmness Scale.

If you want more bang for your buck, consider sizing down from a Queen to a Full. If you tend to host individuals, you can even get away with a twin-size or twin-XL mattress. You may be able to save $100 or more just by downsizing to a Full.

And to put things in perspective, it’s not much smaller. You’ll lose about five inches in length and seven inches across. For most individuals and couples, there will be plenty of room left over. Take a moment to think about the types of guests you’re hosting and decide if it would matter if you got a smaller size.

Check Out Our Comparison: Full vs. Queen Bed

As you seek out low mattress prices, it can be easy to forget the importance of durability and value. Before you jump on the chance to buy something cheap, you’ll want to ask yourself how long it will last and whether you’re getting a good-quality mattress for the price. This might mean you’ll end up paying slightly more, but it will be worth it to have a longer-lasting mattress that performs well.

When we describe a durable mattress, we’re talking about one that will not fall apart under regular wear and tear and one that will last a long time. Various mattress types have different lifespans. For example, one of the most durable types of mattresses is natural latex mattresses, lasting up to 15 or 20 years. Most mattresses, like innerspring, hybrid, and memory foam beds, last an average of seven years.

By shopping online, you are privy to tons of online sales and deals year-round, so you can find a well-made mattress for a lower price. Plus, there are holiday sales throughout the year, mostly on federal holidays, but also on days like Black Friday and Amazon Prime Day.

Keep in mind, when you buy a mattress for the lowest possible amount of money, you will not be getting some of the perks of a slightly more expensive or luxury mattress, like an extended or even lifetime warranty. You also might not get the benefit of a free, at-home trial. Consider things like warranties and free trials as part of the overall value of the mattress

This is easy to do if you have the same guests each time, but a little more challenging if you host different groups of people.

Here are some things to consider about your guests’ preferences:

• Cooling and airflow: If you live in a warmer climate or are hosting people that tend to feel hot, you’ll want a mattress that has either temperature-neutral or cooling properties. Coil and latex beds naturally sleep cool, but if you’re set on memory foam, look for a product that has either gel or copper infused in the top layer. Gel has cooling properties and copper draws heat away from the body, so both of these materials will help your guests stay comfortable.
  

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• Motion isolation: If you’re hosting couples, opt for a bed that has excellent motion isolation, meaning that if one person moves around or gets up, their partner won’t feel disrupted. Want to spoil your guests? Browse the best hotel mattresses, inspired by mattresses found in luxury hotels.
  

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This is an especially important feature because we don’t tend to sleep as soundly when we’re in a new or strange place. The last thing your guest needs is to be kept awake by a restless sleeping mate.

Memory foam performs best here, hands-down.

• Ease of movement: If your guests need to be able to move freely around the bed or they have health challenges that make it more difficult to get up, look for something that doesn’t cause the body to sink in. So, in short, avoid memory foam and seek out something like latex or coils.
  

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• Support and spine alignment: If you’ve ever slept in a guest room or hotel and woken up with a stiff neck or an achy lower back, it means that the mattress didn’t provide proper support and alignment for your back.
  

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The ideal bed will offer the perfect balance of comfort, pressure relief, and support to allow the body to remain in a neutral. alignment. Higher-density memory foams and hybrid beds tend to perform best here.

• Edge Support: Edge support is the amount of reinforcement around the outside of the mattress, or, the edges. This is what prevents the bed from sinking at the edges so that you can use the entire surface of the bed when you’re sleeping. Without good edge support, it will be more difficult to get out of bed, and you may even hurt your back trying to sleep on a mattress that sinks at the edges.Edge support will be important for those who are sharing a bed with someone else or taller sleepers who need more room to spread out.

Some mattress types, like hybrid and innerspring beds, have inherently supportive edges, so they may not need additional edge support. Be sure to look for additional edge support, though, if you’re shopping for a memory foam or latex mattress, which won’t be naturally firm around the edges.

The ideal mattress for your guest bedroom will depend on your budget and the preferences and needs of your guests. In this section, we’ll outline the different options you can choose. If you’re like most people who have houseguests only a handful of times per year, you may be better off buying a budget-friendly mattress, so we’ll share ideas on how you can get a great product at a more reasonable price.

Memory foam has universal appeal because it contours the shape of a sleeper’s body. There’s a wide range of prices within this category, so here are some things to look out for:

• Temperature – Memory foam sinks into the mattress, which can make some people hot. To help prevent this, some brands offer infusions of gel or copper material that conduct heat away from the body. If you live in a warm climate or will have people over who might complain about this issue, look for something that can keep your guests cool.
  

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• Support – Although memory foam gets top points for comfort, lower-quality foams don’t offer the necessary support. This mostly has to do with the foam’s density, so look for a product that has either a high-density support layer or a medium-density comfort layer.
  

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Ideally, the top layer’s density should be at least 1.8 pounds per cubic foot (PCF), and the support layer should be around 3.5 PCF or higher. If you’re looking at a mattress that’s a single layer, try to stick with something that’s over 2.5 PCF. The product description on the company’s website should readily have these specs available for you to review or you can contact their customer support team to get this information.

Check Out Our Guide: Best Memory Foam Mattresses

Latex has a look and feel similar to memory foam but with a few notable differences.

• The makeup and manufacturing process of latex usually results in a greener product than memory foam. This principle only applies if you get natural latex, which is sourced from the sap of a rubber tree. Latex is pricier but also more durable (though that might not be the most important thing for you).
  

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• Though it provides a similar type of pressure relief as memory foam, it is more responsive.
  

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There’s more bounce in this type of mattress, so if your guests are older or need help repositioning, this is a feature they’ll appreciate.

View Our Full Guide: Top Rated Latex Mattress

Also called innerspring, coil mattresses consist of springy coils as the primary support unit with a thin comfort layer on top. There are several types of coils available, but individually pocketed coils have some major benefits. The reason is that each coil will perform independently, allowing your body to sink into the mattress where it needs to.

A continuous coil system provides a flatter surface, which can feel overly firm when the bed is new and then over time, it can sag in all the wrong places. Plus, beds with continuous coils have more motion transfer because they move as one.

Most people consider these beds a great solution if they can’t decide between all-foam and traditional innerspring models. A hybrid will have a combination of materials, blending coils, memory foam, and latex, usually two of the three but sometimes all of them.

Within this category, some brands even offer customization options. For example, if you want something that’s medium-firm with some bounce and you’re a heavier individual, the company’s automated system will build a custom bed that meets your preferences.

Hybrids can be more expensive than other models, but not always, so it is good to do your research to get the best bed at the best price.

Read Our Complete Guide: Best Hybrid Beds

For households on a budget or those with limited spaces, airbeds are a perfectly good choice, especially if you follow our recommendations.

As the name suggests, these inflate, but they’ve come a long way in the past several years. There are models that self-inflate by plugging them into a wall outlet, meaning you don’t need special equipment like a compressor to put the air in.

Some models are thicker, so they better mimic the look and feel of a traditional mattress. The best part is that if your guest room serves another purpose other than housing sleeping visitors, you can deflate the air mattress when it’s not in use and store it out of sight.

If you’ve already got a bed in the guestroom, but it’s getting kind of tired, you can revive it with a mattress topper. These range from 20 dollars to more than 100 dollars, but even if you get one that’s top of the line, it’s still way cheaper than getting a whole new bed.

Toppers can be incredibly helpful in softening up a too-firm mattress or evening out the surface of a sagging one.

Having guests, especially children, can expose your mattress to accidents or spills. Having a waterproof mattress protector will create a barrier to damaging materials and help keep your mattress looking new.

Also, if you have a warranty issue, most of the time it will be voided if there are any stains on the mattress, so getting one can help create a safer investment.

Rotating the surface of the bed will help prolong its life. Since people tend to sleep in the same general area, that localized part of the bed experiences the most wear and tear. By flipping or rotating your mattress, you can balance the wear throughout the mattress.

We will warn you though; rotating a mattress is a bit of a hassle, and it’s not a necessary exercise for everyone. However, if you’ve got an aging or heavily-used sleeping surface, you might be able to extend its life by a couple of years.

If your guest room also functions as a sewing room, office, or workout space, you might not have room for a bulky piece of furniture.

A portable mattress for guests can provide ample comfort but be stowed away when not in use. Typically, a bed that folds and has wheels at the base of the frame is especially handy, so you can roll it into the closet when you don’t need it.

This type of bed is reminiscent of the cots that you get at hotels, but some are much more comfortable.

Read Our Full Guide: Best Rollaway Bed

Airbeds can serve a variety of functions other than just a guest bed. They’re ideal for camping, too, though if you get one for outdoor use, you might need to look for different features than you would for something in the bedroom. This option is ideal as a temporary sleeping solution but is not recommended for long-term, everyday use.

Since you’re probably storing it when not in use, getting something that’s easy to inflate is probably a top priority. Choose something that has the ability to auto-inflate or at least a brand that comes with a portable compressor.

Futons are the most basic form of bedding, usually consisting of just a relatively thin, no-frills mattress on a foldable base. We appreciate futons for their versatility. If you only need a temporary bed for guests and plan on using the spare room for other purposes, a Japanese futon bed can serve double duty as a sofa.

Over the years, companies have made a concerted effort to make them more comfortable and better simulate the experience of sleeping on a traditional bed. The only word of caution here is that these tend to be firmer than a regular mattress. If you have houseguests with medical or pain conditions, this might not be the best choice for them.

The answer to this question is a matter of preference, and it is a hotly debated issue in online forums.

There are two schools of thought, which we’ll explain.

• • Some say that it makes no sense to leave a bed naked when it would look so much nicer being fully made. They suggest that since no one is sleeping on the bed and it will be covered in a bedspread, the sheets won’t get dirty or dusty.

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  • Others say that the sheets do indeed collect dust and grow stale over time. They strongly believe in keeping sheets off the bed until it’s time for a guest to come over.

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Sheets can get dusty and lose their feeling of freshness if they’re kept on the bed for weeks or months. Therefore, you can cover your bare mattresses with a washable bedspread, and then a day or two before guests arrive, wash the bedspread and put fresh sheets on the bed.

Regardless of preference on this topic, it can be good to make sure the bed is made when your guests arrive, especially if they come over late at night.

For more information: Our list of Top Rated Sheets

Unless you have a permanent guest, you can save a lot of money by compromising a little bit on durability.

That being said, you should still make sure that the bed you buy is of decent quality, so your guests can get a restful night of sleep. A good rule of thumb is to buy a bed with a long, risk-free trial and warranty period of several years. Brands with generous policies like that tend to stand behind their products, and you should find some reasonably priced beds with some of the best policies around.

The answer to this question largely depends on your budget and how much space you have. If you have a dedicated “guest room” with a space for a bed, we’d recommend going ahead and investing in a good, quality bed (rather than a futon or air mattress).

Since this isn’t specifically a bed for one particular person, you might want to consider getting at least a Full or a Queen Sized bed, so that various people (including couples who are visiting) will sleep comfortably. Along those same lines, you’ll want a medium-firm bed, so that various people, no matter their size, sleeping position, or preference, will sleep well while they’re staying with you.

If you’re unsure of the type of bed to get, hybrids and memory foam beds can be great options for guest sleepers.

The answer to this depends. How often will somebody be using this bed? Will the same person be sleeping in this bed regularly or different occasional guests?

In general, if the bed is not your own and likely won’t be used full-time, you probably won’t want to spend an exorbitant amount on the mattress – at least, not more than you spent on your own bed.

The beds we’ve reviewed above range from around 800 dollars to 1,400 dollars; anything more than that might feel too luxurious for an occasionally-used bed, and anything less might not be the best quality.

As well as considering the sticker price, keep in mind the warranty and the trial period as these also add to the bed’s value. A good rule of thumb is to find a long, risk-free trial and a warranty of several years.

The guest room mattress is unique in that it needs to work for a variety of people, so it needs to be a very “middle ground” type of mattress, or if you like the Goldilocks metaphor, it needs to be “just right.”

That said, look for a foam or hybrid mattress that is medium-firm, since this will suit most sleepers well. In general, foam and hybrid mattresses are affordable (you can find a variety of them for less than 1,000 dollars). If you want extra savings, make sure you’re shopping online or during holiday sales.

You’ll need to ask yourself, who is going to be using this bed? If the answer is almost always individuals, you might be able to get away with buying a Twin bed and saving a lot of money.

However, most people will have some variety of guests, which include couples. If that’s the case for you, you’ll want to invest in a Queen or at least a Full. If you do decide to downsize from a Queen to a Full, it might mean saving 100 dollars or more, and the difference in size is not much. Again, though, picture the people who will be using the bed and determine how much space they’ll need.