Around the House: Make Your Beds Like a Five-Star-Hotel

By Yehudit Garmaise
Hospitality experts
report that luxurious, comfortable beds are the keys to success for most
hotels.
“The beds can make or
break a hotel,” William Rademacher, the general manager at the Talbott Hotel in
Chicago, says, “You could have the most beautiful, gold-gilded hotel in
the world, but if your beds aren’t to an exceptional level, it all falls
apart.”
While nothing is better
than returning home after a long trip to one’s own bed, BoroPark24 shares how
to combine the comforts of home with the feeling of luxury that five-star
hotels strive to achieve.
1. Choose your sheets wisely. Good sheets
can be worth splurging on. High thread counts, which indicate the tightness of
a fabric’s weave and quality, are crucial for softness and comfort. For a luxury
hotel look and feel: buy all cotton sheets that contain thread counts of at
least 600. Sateen sheets give a smooth, silky feel, but by ensuring the sheets
are 100% cotton, sleepers will stay cooler.
2. One way to keep your beds crisp and clean: Don’t sit down or
lie on your bed wearing your street clothes. Also, when in your bed,
do not eat or drink. Crumbs and stains do not create a luxurious
feeling.
3. Buy a featherbed mattress topper, or
make a faux one to transform your bed into a fluffy, comfy cloud. Mattress
toppers add a delicious layer of cushy comfort on many hotel beds. You can buy
mattress toppers or simply lay a few extra blankets underneath your fitted
sheets to further cushion you as you sleep.
4. To keep extra warm in the winter, and
make your bed look particularly plush and cozy, insert two duvets into one
duvet cover.
5. When making the bed every morning: For those who use sheets and blankets instead of duvets, pull sheets as taut as possible. Neatly fold down the top of the
flat sheet over your blanket. Make sure to neatly tuck all
sides of sheets and blankets under the mattress using hospital corners for
a smoother, tighter look.
6. For reading, resting, and napping,
place a soft, color-coordinated lighter blanket at the foot of your bed
for an inviting, luxurious look.
7. Each bed can get two pillows, which should be fluffed daily. When you make your bed, place one in front of the other, against the wall or headboard for comfort and a nice look. Tuck the ends of the pillowcase inside the casing for a uniform look.
8. Instead of mints on the pillow, hotels now often leave little sprays of sleep-inducing lavender oil, or other scents,
for guests to spray onto their pillows.
“A dried sachet near
the bed works, too,” said Lori Mukoyama, a hospitality-design principal at
Gensler. “Engaging
all the senses helps create a hospitality-inspired experience.”
9. Hotel rooms also can be relaxing
because they don’t contain all your belongings.
“Hotel rooms are
inviting because tabletops are clear,” Dobin pointed out.
10. For the full five-star experience, replace the clutter on your clean nightstand with a relaxing book, cut flowers in a small vase, a small lamp, and nothing else.