Hotel room configurations: 2 parents, one 13yr old- your experiences ?

Well, it isn't your imagination, triples and quads are definately hard to find, and most of them, especially in the smaller budget hotels are still just double rooms with an extra bed shoehorned in.
You must be sure to book a triple though , don't book a double and assume they can squeeze a bed in,, in many rooms it would be completely impossible!!
Most small hotels may only offer two or three such rooms, so it is more important to book ahead.
That said there are chain hotels that accomadate families easier, Citidines is one in France.
you MUST start booking now, actaually you have left it a tad late. You will find a room, but it will be more difficult. Last year I waited till March to book a hotel for hubby and son and friend in Paris for June, it took me quite a bit of legwork. They got a room, in a decent area etc, but hubby said it was so tiny they literally had to crawl over beds to get in and out of room!

Check out the hotel reviews on tripadvisor.com , very helpful.

It's not that European hotels "cater" to couples. Hotel buildings and rooms are generally smaller than what you might be accustomed to in Northamerica. So it's only sensible to not try to squeeze too many beds into one of these smallish rooms. We are travelling as a family of 4 and usually try to rent an appartment as it's sooo difficult to find quad rooms and just too expensive to book 2 double rooms. It's a little easier to find triple rooms than quads but they aren't everywhere. Definitely book one of those if you come accross it. And I second the warning to not book a double assuming they can add an extra bed.

Bill-do not rely soley on the website. When you find a place that you think you would like email them something to the effect of:

"We are a family of 3 (2 adults, one teen). Do you have accomdations that would be suitable for us on DATE? Thank you."

I have done this and many times I get a reply that includes a configuration not stated on the website. Just happened this past summer when initially we were traveling with just my daughter. There was no mention of triples on the website but they emailed back saying we could have one of the double rooms with an extra bed for x Euro more. We had to email back that actually we did want two separate rooms.

Even when we traveled with 4 I would sometimes get notice of an "apartment room" that again was not mentioned on the web.

In Rothenburg we stayed at the Hotel Kloster Stuble. It was a huge room with a double bed and then a loft on top for my son to sleep. I highly recommend them.

In Paris we stayed at Hotel du lys (www.hoteldulys.com) in a room I would call a triple (we have two kids but one was on a mattress on the floor). The room had a double bed in one area, and a single bed partially partitioned off, so a little bit private from the other bed. We loved the location of this hotel, although it is definitely old and somewhat rustic. No breakfast room, but some small tables in the lobby area and continental breakfast is served on trays. No elevator-the room we stayed in was probably three floors up (so big, heavy luggage is difficult).

We are a triple; parents and a 16 year old daughter. I haven't had any problems booking triples all through Bavaria, Austria and Italy. However, I look to see if they offer it, if they don't, I ask.

Three years ago we stayed with Maria and Olle Eggimann (on RS program of Gimmelwald). They brought in an extra, very comfortable bed. We had a wonderful experience with them.
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It's not your imagination, there are fewer triples and quads. Another option if you are going to be in 1 place for more than 1 night is try apartment rentals and B&B's. Sometimes B&B's have a loft room that sleeps 3-5. I have had good luck finding apartments for 3-4 on VRBO.com. You have to look carefully, sometimes an "Apartments for 4" is a 1 bedroom with 1 double bed and a sleeper sofa in the living room. I found apartments to be cheaper than hotels for 4 of us travelling. With more room to spread out. We have stayed in some Euro hotels that were just big enough to hold 4 single beds, so don't count on being able to add a cot.