Rooms - Double, Triple, Quad Clarification

Chris, "Could a triple with a cot suffice?" I suspect that will depend on the Hotel. Some Hotels may be able to provide that easily, others perhaps not? Hopefully one of the group will have a more specific answer to your question. Cheers!

The only sure-fire way to avoid problems when reserving rooms for multiple people is to email the hotel and state exactly what you have. "Hello, we have a family of 2 adults + 2 children (7 years + 9 years). Do you have a room for us?" Let the hotel respond to you with the appropriate room recommendation for your family.

There's not really an industry standard for those terms. The best advice is indeed to ask each hotel. Good luck.

Also, ask for a family room. And make sure the hotel understands who is coming as previously stated.

We've traveled to Europe several times with our college students and have had a lot of experience with triples and quads. They vary so much from hotel to hotel and room to room within a hotel. Often times they were 3 or 4 single beds (or a somewhat uncomfortable sofa bed with single beds). It is best to do what previous posters have stated, email each hotel with the specific number and family group requirements in your party and ask for a family room. Let the hotel decide if they have the right configuration for you. I love the non-standard rooms of non-chain hotels in Europe but you can have some surprises. Some pleasant and some so interesting that you will have family memories for years...

With a family, you might want a small apartment. Usually a one bedroom will have a double or queen bed in the bedroom, and a sofabed in the living room. There are good two-bedroom values, too. This way you have a little more room to relax, take naps, store snacks and drinks in the frig. There are many apartment recommendations in the archives (see above) or you might want to divulge your itinerary and get some specific recommendations here.

Small transatlantic English lesson: Don't know how "cot" would be understood in continental Europe, but in England it may well be understood as a baby's "crib".

The comment by James made me think ((well truth be told, most comments by James make me think)) Anyway, we often stay at an Accor chain called SuiteHotels. Most have now rebranded as Novotel Suites. They have a large room with a microwave and small kitchen sink and small fridge, a double bed at one end and a pull out sofa at the other which makes down into a bed which is probably a small double. The best bit is there are tatami mats hung from rails in the ceiling which you can use to divide the room in half. There's a large TV on a wheeled stand with an umbilical so you can take it and point it over a wide range. Internet (Ethernet not wifi) is free throughout, phone calls within the country where the location is are free, there are a wide variety of channels, etc. About the only thing that that subset of chain has never really mastered is food. Maybe the tie-up with Novotel will improve that. We haven't stayed at one since the name change in the Autumn. By the way, if you are there over 4 nights consecutively, they let you use their Smart car. Logos all over it but who cares? Oh, and then there are the free massages on Thursday nights.... I could go on and on....

Thanks everyone for the responses. We usually go to Greece without any plans or reservations. My wife who is fluent in Greek would call ahead to book a places along the way. As the kids have gotten older, we find that we'll have to book in advance. We are looking at a 3 week trip to Italy this August: -Fly into Venice and stay for 5 nights. -Florence for 4 nights. ( Perhaps we'd have lunch in Bologna along the way; I have a desire to see the porticos ever since reading Grisham's 'The Broker'. ) -CT for 4 nights where we might head to Genoa one day to see the aquarium.
-Tuscany for 7 nights, stay in an agristurismo with car. See the Palio time trials in Siena. My kids are travel hardened having spent a month in Greece a few years ago. I originally wanted to do more places, but was informed by my wife that fewer stops would be better. Any thoughts or suggestions? Thanks