You Don’t Need a Guest Room If You Have These Hosting Essentials

Jan 15, 2024

Not all guest rooms need to have four walls and a door. With the right attitude (and accessories), you can transform any communal space in your home into a cozy oasis that every visitor—from a rowdy college roommate to a nitpicky relative—will appreciate. Consider upgrading your basics, such as your air mattress and bedding, and then add some unexpected niceties to make everyone feel at home. From an efficient white noise machine for masking the sounds of a cat's midnight zoomies to a night-light for illuminating the way to the bathroom, we’ve rounded up a handful of Wirecutter-approved hosting essentials that’ll help you ensure that your family and friends enjoy their stay.

Don't subject your guests to the fresh hell that is a saggy, unsupportive air mattress. The Coleman SupportRest Elite, our most affordable air mattress pick, is as comfy as more expensive options we tested, but it inflates and deflates more quickly. It has the height and surface area of a real bed, and because it stays firmly inflated throughout the night, your visitors won't end up on the ground by morning. The built-in pump is a game changer: The bed blows up quickly with the flick of a button and deflates just as easily, which makes folding up and storing the air mattress a painless endeavor.

The Coleman's built-in pump makes inflating and deflating this mattress a breeze—and the mattress itself is comfortable enough that guests won't mind being relegated to an air bed.

*At the time of publishing, the price was $107.

Pull-out sofa beds aren't known for being the comfiest guest option, but adding a support board can amp up any sofa's soft, saggy mattress. The Meliusly Sleeper Support Board "beats the heck out of an old scrap of plywood," says senior editor Harry Sawyers, who uses one with his West Elm sleeper sofa. It slips between the mattress and the couch's metal frame, providing a stiffer surface for the bed to rest on and creating a barrier over the metal cross bars of the bed frame, which a person can ordinarily feel through the mattress. Once your guests are gone, the board folds flat for storage in the bed or under the couch cushions.

This board stiffens a sagging mattress and then folds up for storage in the bed or beneath the cushions.

*At the time of publishing, the price was $70.

Providing your company with cozy blankets, sheets, and pillows is essential if you want to ensure that they have a comfortable place to sleep. The L.L.Bean Wicked Plush Throw is so soft and snuggly that you’ll probably want to use it as an everyday throw even after your visitors head home. The XL size is big enough to fit an air mattress and costs just $40. Target's Threshold Performance sheets, a budget pick in our guide to the best cotton sheets, are super soft and especially durable; they’ll last for years as guest sheets. If you also want to supply your visitors with comfortable pillows that don't take up too much storage space, the Therm-a-Rest Compressible Pillow Cinch is a good option. Though it's a bit smaller than a standard pillow, this foam-filled travel pillow has a sewn-in cable that your guest can use to adjust its firmness.

This fluffy throw is warm and inviting, and it's tough enough to last for years of use. It's our favorite throw under $50 for grown-ups.

These sheets from Target are just as soft as some we’ve tested that are triple the price, and they’re impressively durable, showing little wear and tear after years of use.

This firm and supportive pillow packs down to half of its expanded size, which makes it easier to store when it's not in use.

price may vary by color or size

*At the time of publishing, the price was $30.

Friends don't let friends stumble around in the dark trying to find the bathroom. The Amazon Echo Glow is a night-light that's small enough to sit on an end table or on the floor beside an air mattress. You can program it through Alexa devices, so guests can verbally command it to turn on and off or tweak the brightness. It allows for manual adjustments, too: Tapping the top changes the color—it turns a rainbow of hues—and it has a power button on the back.

This tabletop night-light emits 16 different colors, and you can program and control it through your phone by way of an Amazon Echo device.

*At the time of publishing, the price was $17.

If your living space is tight, you might need to break down the sleeping arrangements every morning. The practical and polished-looking Seville Classics Foldable Storage Bench Ottoman can keep bedding, towels, and pillows organized and tucked out of the way. One of our favorite accessories to help maximize a tiny space, this ottoman can also double as a makeshift luggage rack; it's designed to support up to 500 pounds, so it's sturdy enough to hold a suitcase. And once your guests are gone, this ottoman folds up for stashing in a closet or underneath a bed.

Not only can the Seville bench store extra towels, sheets, and blankets, but it can also serve as a luggage rack. And because it's collapsible, you can easily move it in and out of storage.

*At the time of publishing, the price was $50.

No one likes desperately searching for an outlet in an unfamiliar room while watching their phone slowly die. Give your visitors easy access to open outlets with the Accell Power Air; they’ll have six outlets and two USB ports at their disposal. If visitors won't be able to reach the surge protector from where you’ve set up the air mattress or sofa bed, be sure to provide them with a 10-foot Nomad Lightning charging cable, as well. You wouldn't want to rob them of their pre-sleep social media scroll, after all.

The Power Air offers six AC outlets and two USB ports, giving your guests plenty of options to power up their devices. It's also small enough to keep tucked out of the way.

Not only can this fast-charging Lightning cable reach across rooms, but it's rugged enough to survive an apocalypse, too.

If guests have to sleep in the living room (or another open space without doors), a white noise machine and an eye mask can help block out distractions. The LectroFan EVO is a small but mighty machine that offers a multitude of fan sounds and ambient-noise settings (including zen-inducing brown noise), and the Nidra Deep Rest Eye Mask fits comfortably, blocks light well for a variety of face shapes, and can go right into the washing machine in between houseguests.

Compact and efficient, the LectroFan masks annoying sounds that might keep you up at night and features 10 fan sounds and 10 ambient-noise variations, including white, pink, and brown noise.

*At the time of publishing, the price was $45.

This mask has deep eyecups that allow the eyes to flutter during sleep. It's also easy to wash in between houseguests.

*At the time of publishing, the price was $18.

Your guests may feel better about bunking in a communal space if they’re not living out of their suitcases. Providing them a few hangers and space in the hall closet will give them the opportunity to spread out. The Container Store basic natural wood hangers come in a few different shapes, making them a good choice since you won't know exactly what kind of clothes your guests will bring along. They come in three variations: basic, barless shirt hangers; shirt hangers with bars to accommodate pants; and blouse hangers with notches and ribbed plastic to prevent clothes from sliding off.

These general-purpose hangers come in different shapes to accommodate various types of clothing. They also include non-slip, toothed inserts that keep blouses in place.

This article was edited by Catherine Kast and Annemarie Conte.

Elissa Sanci

Staff Writer

Elissa Sanci is a senior staff writer for Wirecutter's discovery team based in Denver. Her byline has appeared in The New York Times, Woman's Day, Marie Claire, and Good Housekeeping. When she's not testing TikTok-famous products or writing about car garbage cans, you can find her hiking somewhere in the Rockies or lying on the couch with a bowl of chips balanced on her chest. There is no in-between.

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