‘Cold Feet’
After my experiences with the airlines and trying to book a holiday, I got to thinking about whether our society caters for any of the (over 50% of) the human race that are not the ‘average’ shape and size.
So, what do you do if you’re very tall and you want a weekend away from home without your feet hanging miles over the end of the end? I decided to investigate by calling a few hotels, to see what kind of provision they make for those of you who breathe the freshest air.
I began with The Hilton, if there was to be a hotel company that would cater for all, surely it’d be Paris and co….I was put on hold to start with, but felt hopeful when the on hold message informed me that they have disabled facilities. I go through to a lady in bookings, who told me that the biggest bed they did was king size. I told them about my imaginary Uncle who is 6 foot 7 inches tall (obviously I did not tell her he was simply a figment of my imagination; I’m just letting you all know that)! She said that my ‘Uncle’ needn’t worry; her husband is 6 foot 4 and has no trouble sleeping in a king size bed (lucky him).I wasn’t overly impressed with this, my imaginary Uncle is 3 inches taller than her husband (perhaps he’s imaginary too), and I cannot have my Uncle’s extra imaginary 3 inches hanging off the end of the bed!
I thought a king size bed was wider than a double, but not particularly longer, but she informed me they’re bigger all the way around. She then rambled on about how I could book a standard, deluxe or executive room for Uncle Tall. ‘Ah great!’ I exclaimed, ‘Does that mean they have bigger beds?’ She replied that with ‘No, the beds are the same; it’s just that there is more room around the bed.’ I wasn’t entirely sure how this would help my Uncle, but thanked her kindly and moved on with my investigation.
I now felt I needed more information, not being convinced that king size beds were particularly longer than doubles, I rang Bedstar who were lovely, and informed me that a king size bed is 150cm wide and 200cm long, and a double is 135cm wide and 190cm long. So there is 10cm in it, but it’s better than a kick in the teeth (or a toe overboard).
Armed with this information I called The Moat House. ‘Do you make special provisions for tall people?’ I asked politely. ‘Oh! I don’t think we do!’ was her immediate response. She pootled off to find out, and came back with the following response: ‘We zip twin beds together for big boned people, but there’s nothing we can do for tall people!’ Don’t even get me started on the whole’big boned’ thing….a ridiculous phrase. But hey, it looks like you giants get a rougher deal than us fatties in the hotel game! (But I bet you don’t have as much trouble on aeroplanes.)
The lady at the Holiday Inn was most concerned for my ‘Uncle’, ‘OOOOOH!!’ she squealed, ‘I don’t think we have any long beds, that means we’re discriminating against tall people, I must put that to the manager!’ (Bless her.) She went off to investigate, and returned sometime later with the information that they had ONE king size bed that zips up for a tall person, and if you book ahead you might get it!! So only one tall person can stay at the Holiday Inn at a time! I enquired about the ‘zipping’ of the bed, as it sounded like a body bag to me, but she really couldn’t tell me what that meant. She’d tried her best, and I felt she was on the side of the tall beings, so I let her off.
The Marriot Hotel had no time for me and my ridiculous family members, tall or otherwise, I was told to book a room with a king size bed, that’s it, end of conversation!
The Comfort Inn seemed to think I was some kind of imbecile, and told me that Hotel’s in general don’t do anything for tall people, and that they personally only do double beds, which are the same length as king size beds. (‘Oh no they’re NO-OT!!’ I smugly thought.)
Finally I called The Thistle Hotel, who played ‘pass the person’ as I was transferred around who I believe to be the same three people at least twice, non of whom could speak very good English. I was finally told that they do executive and deluxe rooms with king size beds. They have a 6 foot 4 man who sleeps in them comfortably. (I wondered if it was the woman from the Hilton’s husband….and whether she knew he’s been sleeping around!)
I had begun to feel for the tall people of the world, and did a bit of research into companies that sell extra-long beds, so that at least people can be comfortable in their own homes. So, for your perusal follows a list of companies and what they sell:
www.longbeds.com – Handmade bedas, mattresses and linen, standard inside length of 7′3″.
www.mattressman.co.uk – Up to 7′ beds in a range of styles.
www.thebigbedcompany.co.uk – Beds up to 7′3″. They claim to sell ‘the widest range of bed sizes in the UK’.
www.madetomeasurebeds.co.uk – Beds made to measure for all your needs (they will make specific heights, lengths or widths).
Tags: beds, hotel, tall people
