Best Mattresses for Guest Rooms (2025)

If you’re looking for a mattress that checks all the boxes for a guest room, look no further than the Helix Midnight. This hybrid has a balanced, medium-firm feel that should work for most sleeper types. Its sturdy coils should ensure it retains its shape and lasts a long time. Finally, it costs just $999 for a queen size. 

This mattress scored rather well across the board in our tests, with its highest scores in pressure relief (4.3/5) and edge support (4.4/5). Though this bed is designed for side sleepers, our testers found they enjoyed it on their back and some on their stomach.

Dr. Hannah Habeeb called this bed “fabulous” for side sleeping. “It’s soft and offers tons of cushioning and sinkage at the hips and shoulders,” she added. Our tester Matt Dustin preferred the bed on his back. “I don’t feel anything sagging, or any pressure or pain,” he said. 

Matt did note he wouldn’t sleep on his stomach on this mattress. “I could feel my hips slightly sagging, and a little bit of pressure in my back,” he said. “It would be fine for short naps, but I wouldn’t want to sleep on my stomach all night on this mattress.” Some stomach sleepers may want to opt for something firmer, but it could be doable for a night in a guest room.

Where guests won’t be let down, though, is the bed’s edge support. Matt tested the strength of the perimeter by sitting and laying down on it. Sitting, he felt a little bit of sinkage, but not enough to make things unstable. “I wouldn’t be able to tell I was laying on the edge of the bed, and I didn’t feel like I was going to roll off in the middle of the night,” he said. “The edge support is extremely impressive.”

This hybrid bed also has an impressive mix of motion isolation and response, the foam and coils balancing each other out. As Matt moved on the surface of the bed, he found that “the foam was pretty cushiony, but it didn’t feel too restrictive.” He only encountered some pushback when rolling from his side to stomach, so he rated response at a 4/5. Otherwise, combination sleepers should have no issue moving around and switching positions. 

If you’re housing multiple guests, they should also appreciate the Midnight’s thick, motion-absorbing foams. They keep movement from traveling across the surface of the bed, meaning that restless wriggling on one side won’t disturb the other. When Matt performed this test alongside a partner, he could only vaguely feel his fellow tester’s movements. “A light sleeper might wake up from the other person rolling over, but most people shouldn’t notice their partner moving around in bed,” he said. 

The one sleeper type who may not do well on this bed are those who sleep hot. Matt used a thermal gun to record a whopping 9-degree increase in surface temperature after lying on it (for reference, we typically see around 6 degrees). “It didn’t feel particularly cooling, but it wasn’t uncomfortable,” he said of his experience in the mattress. “However, a warmer sleeper may want to consider something with a bit more cooling.” 

If you’re looking for a more cooling bed for a guest room, consider the Nectar Classic. For more information, read our full Helix Midnight review.

Hybrid mattresses are popular because their combination of foam and coils creates a nice balance of softness and support. The DreamCloud is one such mattress, a hybrid that offers plenty of lift alongside contouring foams. It retails for just $649 for a queen with frequent sales, a rarity for a bed with coils. It’s built to last, and it earned a 4 and above in each performance category we tested, a sign of a well-rounded bed that should work for many guests.

The DreamCloud came in at a true medium-firm feel on our scale, 6.5/10. Physical therapist Dr. Hannah Habeeb was pleased by how much pressure relief the top foams provided. “It’s plush, it contours the body, and it provides a combination of cushioning and support,” she said. 

Our testers agreed, with lightweight tester Riley Otis noticing the most pressure relief while back sleeping. “I am feeling a lot of cushioning from the quilted cover and it’s filling in the space of my lower back,” she said. “It’s doing a really nice job keeping my hips in line with my shoulders.” She did add that there’s more of a lifted feel to this bed, rather than the slow sinkage of traditional foam.

This lifted feel is further complemented by the bed’s bounce. When our tester moved on top of the surface, she had no issues repositioning and rolling around on the pillow top. “I didn’t feel stuck in the mattress or that I was fighting the cover to move around,” she said. “The bed has great bounce and responsiveness so it adequately assisted me when changing positions.” Her results led her to give the bed a perfect 5/5 score for response, which should appeal to combination sleepers.

Despite the coils bringing plenty of bounce, we were surprised that this bed kept motion from traveling across its surface. Our testers climbed into bed together to mimic restless co-sleeping, with one saying, “This mattress does have quite a bit of bounce to it, so I felt my partner changing positions.” However, she added that it didn’t seem like enough to wake someone up, so she rated motion isolation at 4/5. If your guests need to share the bed, any tossing and turning shouldn’t disturb the other. 

If two guests happen to stay over, they should also benefit from being able to spread out on the mattress, thanks to its robust edge support. Our tester judged the strength of the bed’s perimeter by both sitting and lying down at the very edge. In both cases, she felt secure and stable. “This mattress has amazing edge support and helps lift you out of the bed,” she said. “It has a bouncy like feel and the edge barely collapses when sitting or lying down.” This edge support is a further sign of the bed’s durability, meaning it’s unlikely to start sagging at the edges or center with repeated use.

Finally, the DreamCloud mattress also keeps things cool for guests who sleep hot. When our tester rested on the mattress for a few minutes, she praised the bed’s breathable cover. “I did feel the mattress heating up while lying there but it more so went from cool to temperature-neutral,” she said. “I don’t believe this mattress would be a cause for concern with heat retention.” With a cooling score of 4/5, most hot sleepers will be able to sleep without incident.

Though a fine pick for hot sleepers, this mattress may not be a fit for guests who want an uber-plush bed. If they have pain concerns, are of a lighter weight, or need extra contouring for side-sleeping, they may prefer a hybrid with a softer feel, like the DreamCloud Premier. Read more about this bed in our DreamCloud mattress review.

A full-size mattress can be a great space-saving option for a guest room. It’s only slightly smaller than a queen-size mattress, which can also cost a bit more. If you’re looking for a full mattress that won’t break the bank, check out the Nectar Classic Memory Foam. A full-size retails for only $599.

I tried out this memory foam mattress myself. I found it has a medium feel that I felt was fairly comfortable in each sleeping position. It offers both cushioning and support, and it earned its highest score in the cooling department, a perfect 5/5. It’s rare to find a quality foam mattress that won’t hold onto heat, a feat that any guests who sleep hot will appreciate.

I tested out this mattress myself and rated it at a 7/10, just a smidge over the traditional medium-firm rating. However, it does have more of that traditional, slow-moving feel that contours to your body. Dr Hannah Habeeb found the bed most comfortable on her back. “It’s conforming to my lower back and prevents too much dipping at the hips.” I agree with her sentiments, but I was also surprised at how much I liked the bed on my stomach. The dense support foams kept my hips from sinking out of alignment.

Since the Nectar is a foam mattress, it’s unsurprising that it did well in the motion isolation category. I hopped in bed with a fellow tester to replicate what it would be like to sleep with a shifty partner. The doughy foams on top did well to absorb motion before it traveled across the surface of the bed, and I could just barely feel it when my partner moved next to me. When he got out of bed, I was jostled a smidge, so I rated motion isolation at a respectable 4.7/5.

With this slow-moving feel, I was surprised that the mattress did well in my response test. As a combination sleeper, I prefer a hybrid mattress since I like to be launched easily across the surface of my bed. You’re not going to get that with the Nectar, but there was little resistance when I switched positions on the bed. I had the most trouble rolling from my back to my stomach, so I rated response at a 4/5. It’s easier than most foam mattresses I’ve tested, so I’d recommend the Nectar to a combination sleeper who wants that traditional foam feel.

Ironically, foam beds are known for trapping heat, so I was surprised the Nectar earned its highest score in the cooling tests, let alone a perfect one. This bed features no gel memory foam, but it is wrapped in a cooling-fiber cover. I was genuinely surprised this cover could pull so much weight. Now, I didn’t find it cool-to-the-touch, but after lying there for a while, I wasn’t overheating.

We use a thermal gun to record the increase in surface temperature after taking a little nap on the bed, and that’s where the Nectar earned its 5/5 cooling score. After seven minutes of me resting on this bed, it only rose about 4 degrees. Since I typically see increases of 6 or 7 degrees, this is a sign that the bed doesn’t hold onto much heat. I think hot sleepers who want a foam mattress will be more than pleased with the Nectar.

The biggest downside to this mattress is its lacking edge support. I didn’t expect the bed to wow me, as most foam mattresses naturally have less sturdy edges because of their construction. When I sat down on the edge, it sunk quite a bit under my weight. The same was true for lying down, especially when I lay on my side. But in neither instance did I feel like I would slip off. As someone who sleeps with one leg over the side of the bed, though, I like a perimeter that doesn’t collapse under any weight.

Want better edge support? Check out the Bear Original mattress. For more information on this bed, you can read our full Nectar mattress review.

Is budget your deciding factor? Then consider getting the Brooklyn Bedding CopperFlex Foam mattress for your guest room. A queen-size CopperFlex usually retails for just a smidge over $600, but frequent sales can bring the price as low as $499. This makes it the cheapest pick on this list.

But don’t mistake a cheap bed for a low-quality bed. This all-foam mattress features layers of pressure-relieving and supportive, dense foams. It gets its name from its copper infusions, which have both antimicrobial and moisture-wicking properties. For a foam bed, it’s got surprising bounce, earning a perfect score for response (5/5), which should work great for your guests who are restless sleepers. 

This bed has a more on-top feel despite its use of memory foam in its construction. The denser nature of the foams won’t have you sinking into the bed, as our testers found out when they tried out side-sleeping. Back and stomach sleepers will probably have the best luck with this mattress. Lightweight tester Riley Otis agreed with this sentiment, praising the bed’s ability to keep her body comfortably aligned while back sleeping. “There isn’t any concerning sinkage in the hips, and it’s doing a good job propping them up,” she said. “It’s really firm but good for back sleeping.”

Conversely, our heavyweight tester Marten Carlson found the bed softer than his fellow testers. “Typically, as a bigger guy, I need more support in my lumbar area, and on my back, I feel really good on this mattress,” he said. “It does feel a little soft to me overall but great alignment throughout my body.”

Softer foams tend to be more slow-moving, meaning they might have you feeling “stuck” in the bed while you try to move around. A firmer foam bed like the CopperFlex is thus a better pick for those who toss and turn or toggle between sleeping positions. This is what our in-house tester found when she performed the response test for this mattress, wriggling and moving around on the surface of the bed to judge ease of movement. “It’s super easy to move around—the bed doesn’t cave in at all, and I don’t feel stuck,” she said.

Despite the responsive surface our tester encountered, she found that the motion isolation on the CopperFlex wasn’t anything to scoff at. She got into bed with a fellow tester blindfolded, taking the role of the sleeping partner while they shuffled around on the other side. She noted that she could feel when the other tester got into bed and some minor shifting, but it wasn’t anything that jostled her entire body. The bed earned a 4/5 score in this category, meaning most light sleepers should be able to sleep uninterrupted on this bed.

When our tester sat and lay on the very edge of the bed, she felt relatively secure. “There’s very good support overall, but there is some slight sinkage when placing all my weight on the edge,” she said. But when we had testers in higher weight categories sit and lay on the mattress, we noticed quite a bit more sinkage with the added pressure, leading to a lower score of 3.6/5. (The typical sleeper may be satisfied based on our tester’s testimony, but older adults and those with mobility concerns may want to look at a bed with sturdier edges, like the WinkBed.)

The CopperFlex mattress earns its name from its use of copper in the uppermost foam layers. Studies have shown copper to be a natural thermal conductor and antimicrobial agent. However, the results of our cooling test were mixed. We used a thermal gun to measure the increase in surface temperature after our tester lay on the mattress for a few minutes, and recorded a whopping 10.3-degree increase. This is well over the 6 or 7-degree increases I’ve come to expect. 

But our in-house tester didn’t feel like she was in a sauna. “It was cold in the beginning but did warm up the longer I laid there,” she said. “But it wasn’t uncomfortably hot.” I don’t think it will be an issue for most guests, but if your guests want a super-cool bed, they might be a little let down.

Read more in our Brooklyn Bedding CopperFlex Foam mattress review. 

Queen mattresses are another popular pick for a guest room. They can accommodate two sleepers, but won’t take up as much space as a king or California king. But most queen mattresses will run you at least $1,000, which isn’t always feasible for a guest bed. Not the Bear Original: A queen size of this all-foam mattress will only run you $599.

This bed’s slightly firmer feel and strong edge support (having earned 4.2/5 in our testing) will also help to maintain its shape over the years. The dense foams should also provide plenty of support for most sleeper types, especially those who sleep on their back and stomach.

Dr. Hannah Habeeb (DPT) most recommended the mattress for back sleepers because of the bed’s alignment. “My lower back actually feels really supported, and the foam is contouring this area,” she said. “This bed is pretty firm, so I’d recommend it to back sleepers who prefer a firmer feel for sure.” She also noted that the firm feel could help sleepers with back pain, as the bed won’t allow their lower back to sink out of alignment. 

This firmer feel also lends the foam a surprising amount of response. When I think of foam beds, I think of super-doughy, slow-moving surfaces, but this isn’t the case. Our tester Melanie Kassel discovered that the mattress didn’t propel you like a springy hybrid would, but moving around wasn’t too difficult. “Because the foam is firmer, I was always right at the surface rather than sucked into the layers,” she said. “It didn’t ‘hold onto’ me or make me feel trapped when I changed positions.” With a 4/5 response rating, most combination sleepers should be able to get comfortable without a struggle.

Even with this ease of movement, the all-foam nature of this bed still works to keep motion transfer low. Melanie hopped into bed with a fellow tester, who did their best to move around and create a disturbance. Aside from some slight tugging on the Bear Original’s cover, there was no jostling or quaking. “If I had been sleeping, I don’t think I would have woken up,” she said. “Multiple times, the other tester got up from the bed and I couldn’t tell that she had gone.” She rated motion isolation at a 4.3/5, meaning guests who share the bed shouldn’t wake each other up with their fidgeting.

All-foam beds are often motion isolation stars, but they usually falter in the edge support category. However, this wasn’t the case with the Bear Original. Again, the firmer feel is helping the bed hold its shape. We had testers of each weight category sit on the edge of the bed (or mimicked it with the use of weights) and only saw meager inches of sinkage, earning the bed a 4.2/5 score. 

Foam beds also don’t stun in our cooling tests, but the Bear Original surprised us here again. Melanie used a thermal gun to measure the temperature before and after she rested on the bed for a few minutes, and the 7.3-degree increase was an impressive reading for a foam bed. It’s a result we tend to see with hybrids, whose coils allow for better airflow. It thus earned a 4/5 score for cooling.

Melanie did note that lying there, she could feel the bed heating up a tad where she sunk in the most. “For a foam mattress, its temperature didn’t seem to fluctuate too much during the nine-minute cooling test,” she said. “But because it did noticeably heat up under my high-pressure areas, I wonder if it will retain heat when made with sheets and blankets.” If you’re especially worried about cooling, you might want to purchase the upgraded cooling cover with Celliant. Or you can choose a cooler bed from this list, like the Nolah Original. 

The Bear Original might not work for all guests, though. It’s not the softest foam bed out there, and if your guests want to sink deeply into a foamy cloud, they won’t get that on this bed. The low score in our pressure relief tests comes from side-sleeping, which many of our testers claimed would be more comfortable with a softer bed. Some side sleepers over 230 pounds may like the bed’s firmer, more supportive feel, and can glean more pressure relief from this bed.

Find out more about this bed in our Bear Original mattress review.

Maybe you have a bigger budget and want to trick out your guest room. The WinkBed mattress is a luxury hybrid that’s still reasonably priced for all that you get, coming in at $1,499 for a queen-size model. Its cushioning pillow top will let sleepers sink comfortably into their sleep surface, while they’re then lifted by the supportive coils underneath. 

This mattress is available in multiple firmness levels, but the Luxury Firm model should be a great pick for a medium-firm guest bed. The mattress also earned a 4.4/5 for edge support, a sign of its sturdiness that means it should last well beyond the typical lifespan of a bed. 

This bed’s promotion of proper sleeping posture led physical therapist Dr. Hannah Habeeb to recommend it for sleepers with both back and neck pain. “Since the spine remains neutral, there’s not too much sinkage anywhere along the body,” she said. The bed’s alignment should also benefit sleepers who rest on their back and stomach, as these are positions that need the most support.

Average-weight tester Sosha gave this bed  a 5/5 for pressure relief on her back, despite not being a dedicated back sleeper. “It is somehow firm with a light touch,” she said. “It contours well around my lower back, which is a problem area for me.” She also noted that side-sleeping wasn’t uncomfortable, despite the bed’s initial firmer feel. The pillow top provides a nice bit of cushioning and contour that helped the bed achieve perfect medium-firmness (6.5/10).

With how sturdy the WinkBed looks and feels, we weren’t surprised to see that it performed well in our edge support tests. Our tester Melanie Kassel initially had some issues sliding off the edge during our seated test, but she attributed it to the silky pajamas she was wearing after she moved to lie down at the edge. “It had really stellar edge support in all three sleeping positions,” she said. “If my eyes had been closed, I would not have been able to tell you I was near the edge.” She gave edge support a 4.4/5 score, which should allow guests to make full use of the bed’s surface area.

Melanie also found the mattress did well to keep her from overheating. She used a thermal gun to record the surface temperature of the bed before and after she lay on it for seven minutes. She recorded a 6.7-degree increase—while not the lowest we’ve seen, it’s a sign of good cooling—but she also noticed that the temperature was decreasing steadily when aiming the gun at the bed’s surface for the final reading. “It continued to feel nice and cool during my testing, which impressed me because the base feels so dense and solid under the nice plush pillow top,” she said, giving the bed a 4/5 score for cooling.

The results weren’t as clear in the WinkBed’s motion isolation test. Melanie performed two tests for the WinkBed to see whether it would work for couples. First, she placed a glass of water on one side of the bed, then moved around on the other to see how it behaved. She noticed that the glass wobbled and seemed liable to tip when she got in and out of the mattress, a sign that someone sleeping over there would feel that movement. 

But during the second test, she had a fellow tester join her in the bed to replicate sleeping alongside a partner. Melanie called these results a “pleasant surprise” compared to the water glass test. “I was able to feel my fellow tester get in and out of bed, as well as change positions, but the movement felt quite distant—almost as though she was farther away from me than she was,” she said. These mixed results still earned the mattress a 3.7/5 motion isolation score, so I’m hesitant to recommend it for light sleepers.

We often recommend hybrids like the WinkBed for combination sleepers, but we’ll have to deviate from the norm for this one. Melanie thought that the innerspring unit would really shine through in the response test, but the cushy pillow top won out as she tried to move around and switch positions on the surface. “It doesn’t trap me or leave me sunken into the surface, but it’s a lot less responsive than I expected,” she said. “Movement between all three positions had to come from my efforts alone.”

Want a bouncier bed? Check out the Brooklyn Bedding CopperFlex. For more about this bed, read our full WinkBed review.

If you’re looking for a mattress that makes you feel like you’re sleeping on a pressure-relieving cloud, then I highly recommend switching to the Leesa Sapira Chill Hybrid. At 6 out of 10 on our firmness scale (and that’s for the model billed as “Medium-Firm”), the Sapira Chill Hybrid is a slightly softer-than-average hybrid mattress that provides plush cushioning around pressure-prone areas, like the hips, shoulders, and lower back. During testing, it earned a 4/5 or higher in pressure relief and cooling.

Mattress tester Melanie Kassel gave the Leesa Sapira Chill Hybrid a 4.5/5 in pressure relief thanks to its ability to provide deep contouring around high-pressure areas. During testing, Melanie was particularly impressed with how comfortable it felt in the side-sleeping position. Side sleepers typically need a soft surface to prevent tension from building up around their shoulders and hips, and the Sapira Chill offers just that. Note that you could even buy a softer version of the bed if you opt for the “Plush” model—we tested the one labeled “Medium-Firm.”

“I loved this mattress on my side,” Melanie said. “It has a plush top, but the surface is still very responsive and springy, so my hips felt like they were getting a boost and a cushion at the same time. I don’t think I’ve ever felt that sensation on a bed before! It conformed to my silhouette and kept my spine aligned.”

The supportive surface of the Leesa Sapira Chill Hybrid is also a home run for stomach and back sleepers. Thanks to its sturdy corner-to-corner support, these sleepers should get enough lift around their hips and lower back to maintain their spines in a healthy, neutral position. Sleepers who gravitate toward the edge of the mattress will also find that they get the same level of support on the perimeter as they do in the center, which is why it earned a strong 4.3/5 in our edge support category.

“I felt secure on this mattress, even near the edges,” Melanie said. “Switching positions had no effect on the sturdiness of the edge support. If my eyes were closed, it might even be hard to tell whether or not I was on the edge of the bed.”

The Leesa Sapira Chill Hybrid proved itself to be a strong contender across multiple fronts during testing; however, its performance on our motion isolation tests was about average, earning it 3.8/5 in this category.

When testing the Sapira Chill’s ability to dampen motion with a colleague, Melanie noted that she could feel some of their movement ripple to her side of the mattress. While she didn’t think it would be enough to awaken most sleepers, folks who are easily disturbed by their pet’s or partner’s movements should opt for a memory foam mattress that is better at absorbing motion.

Interested in learning more about this model? Read our full Leesa Sapira Chill Hybrid mattress review to see how it performed on all of our tests. For something with stronger motion isolation, I recommend checking out the all-foam Leesa Original instead.

Memory foam beds are great picks for guest rooms because of their comfortability and reasonable price. The Nolah Original 10” mattress is one such bed, with a firm, supportive feel that should satisfy most sleepers. 

While it doesn’t have the usual slow-moving feel of memory foam, it earned a number of perfect scores in areas foam beds usually don’t: edge support, cooling, and response, yielding an overall rating of 4.9/5. It also costs just a little over $1,000 for a queen-size mattress, which will only go down with coupons and sales.

Dr. Hannah Habeeb (DPT) found the bed’s firmer nature suited to positions that required extra support. “My spine is neutral and my hips aren’t sinking too much,” she said while testing the bed on her back. “While there’s not a lot of sinkage, it is contouring which helps add support at the lower back.” She added that this could help alleviate symptoms for folks with lower back pain.

Dr. Habeeb also called the bed a good option for stomach sleeping. “You’re really well supported in this position,” she said. “I don’t see a divot being created in the lower back.” If you’re well-endowed, though, you might feel a bit of pressure along the chest in this position. 

It wasn’t just general support where the Nolah Original stunned, but edge support as well. Our in-house tester found that sitting and lying at the edge of the bed yielded barely any sinking under her weight. “I felt very supported and stable on the edge in all positions,” she said, rating the perimeter support at a 5/5. She did add that the cover of the bed feels a bit slick, meaning some older adults or folks with mobility concerns might be more liable to sliding off. 

Our tester also found that moving around on top of the Nolah Original was made easier by its surprisingly responsive nature. “The mattress was very easy to switch positions because it is very flat and firm,” she said. She likened changing positions to doing so on a “yoga mat,” and recommended the mattress for combination sleepers who don’t like sinking into their bed. She bestowed yet another perfect score for response. 

This bed still retained the motion absorption we come to expect from most foam beds, even with its springy feel. Our tester had someone join her on the other side of the bed to mimic co-sleeping, resting there blindfolded while they moved around to cause a stir. “I could barely feel the movement awake for this test, so there is no way I would feel this movement while I was asleep,” she said. Guests who are light sleepers should appreciate these results, which earned the bed yet another perfect rating for couples.

Finally, the foam in this mattress was actually designed to sleep cooler than its traditional counterpart, and we found it to be successful in our testing. Nolah’s AirFoamICE is made with larger pores and copper infusions to keep sleepers from overheating. Our tester found this mattress cool-to-the-touch. Using a thermal gun, she recorded a meager 3.7-degree increase in surface temperature after lying on it for seven minutes. For hot sleepers, this should feel like seven minutes in heaven. The bed earned its final perfect score for temperature regulation.

Though this mattress earned a plethora of perfect scores, it isn’t the perfect match for everyone. If you’re expecting a traditional foam mattress that feels doughy and uber-soft, look elsewhere. If you want a supportive bed that isn’t too firm, you might like the Nectar, which is closer to that classic, medium-firm foam experience. 

Read more in our Nolah Original 10” mattress review.