When the going gets tough...

What is a room count? I realize that listings are still forced to use it due to system requirements but do the end users still use it? I would think most people use bedrooms and bathrooms combined with square footage as key benchmarks.

LOL.

300, in answer to your question, most end-users don't use it, but those that do, really do. I have had clients tell me to look for the best possible fives instead of the worst possible sixes. Clients who use it will indeed shake their heads at the very idea of the above as an eight.

Is this a 7 room? If they open the kitchen to the living room, will it become 6 as Kitchen is not a room any more?

There has been a lot of "room inflation" over the past decade or so. A living room is a room, a bedroom is a room, an actual separate kitchen is a room (actually I think only a windowed kitchen is a room and a nin-windowed kitchen is half a room), an alcove which can be converted into a room is half a room.
So:
Studio = 2 rooms
Alcove studio = 2.5 rooms
1 BR = 3 rooms
Junior 4 = 3.5 rooms (that's where the name comes from)
2 BR = 4 rooms
Convertible 3 BR = 4.5 rooms
2 BR + FDR = 5 Rooms
3 BR = 5 rooms
1 BR + FDR + Maids Room = Edwardian 5
2 BR + FDR + Maids Room = Classic 6
2 BR + FDR + Library + Maids Room = Classic 7
2 BR + FDR + Library + 2 x Maids Room = Classic 8
3 BR + FDR + Library + 2 x Maids Room = Classic 9
Etc

The unit in question was originally LR, FDR, 2 BRs, Kitchen, Maid's room (6).
See original floorplan in this listing:
https://streeteasy.com/sale/37226

Calling it a 6.5 would be inflationary. Calling it a 7 would be bullshitting. But calling it an 8?

This, above, exactly. It's a Six. I am somewhat tolerant of the idea of calling it a 6.5 to convey its size by pointing out the usefulness of the gallery and foyer as transition spaces.

Thank you. It is very interesting to see no importance being placed on the bathroom count in the room count calculations. I also would have thought maid’s room counted as half due to its typically small square footage.

Speaking of bathrooms, one would think with all the programming talent out there, that there would be better ways to describe bathrooms in the common databases.

this, for example
https://streeteasy.com/building/588-west-end-avenue-new_york/5a

is in a building built in 1922, so it has one bathroom for the owner and one toilet for the maid. I'm not the listing broker, but I would call that 1.25 baths if I were trying to explain it to someone. However, that's not even a possibility given the way the computer systems are set up.

I thought a powder room was a half bath(?)

The maid's has only a toilet, no sink, so not a powder room and not a half bath.

Then how does the maid wash her hands after going to the toilet before cooking food?

@anton, EXACTLY. It seems so weird to our contemporary way of thinking. I am not mentally flexible enough to imagine myself of a generation that would be horrified if the maid used the shareholder's toilet but that wouldn't be horrified if she washed poo and pee off her hands in a sink that was then used for cooking.

But how convenient! Sit on the terl and cook at the same time... https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-cambridgeshire-25186153

Sorry. I was looking at the floor plan further up the thread.