I stayed in 5 hotels in 2 months – here’s how to get hotel-worthy bedding at home

Over the past couple months, I’ve been on quite a travelling kick as I’ve been fortunate enough to be invited to many exciting press trips. This has resulted in me staying in five hotels within the space of two months, and since I’ve slept so well in each hotel I’ve stayed in recently, I decided to figure out the tips and tricks that hotels use to make their beds so comfortable.

Here are seven bedding tips I’ve picked up from my most recent hotel stays that can boost the comfort and luxury of your bedroom.

1. Choose a good quality mattress

It’s almost impossible to pick a mattress that caters to lots of different people, but somehow, hotels manage to do it! What type of mattresses hotels use varies from hotel to hotel, but more often than not, hotels tend to use innerspring or hybrid mattresses.

Spring and hybrid mattresses offer comfort and support, while catering to a wide range of guests and sleeping preferences. They’re also quite durable, and spring mattresses in particular are typically less expensive. Latex mattresses are also quite common in hotels, which is mainly due to their firmness and hypoallergenic properties.

Hotel mattresses tend to be on the harder side, so if you want a similar feel, I’d recommend choosing a medium-firm or firm mattress. Some hotels have teamed up with mattress manufacturers to make their own mattress, for example, Simmons Beautyrest partnered with The Four Seasons and The Ritz-Carlton on their own bespoke models – it’s unlikely you’ll be able to buy one, though.

2. Layer your sheets

The amount of sheets hotels use can feel a little excessive, but it’s done for a very comfortable reason. Hotels use multiple layers of bedding for extra and customisable comfort, for example, if you run hot, you can sleep under just a sheet or you can snuggle up under a duvet if you feel the chill.

To layer your sheets, start by choosing bed sheets with a high thread count to increase the softness of your sleep set-up. Once you’ve got high quality sheets at the ready, put a fitted sheet on your mattress before layering a flat sheet on top of it. From there, make your bed using the hospital corner technique – more on this in the next tip.

3. Try ‘hospital’ or ‘hotel’ corners

‘Hospital’ or ‘hotel’ corners is a sheet technique where you overlap the folds of your sheets to create a flat surface and neat creases on your bed. It gets the name as these corners are most commonly used in hospitals, hotels and even military bases. To find out more, check out our step-by-step guide on mastering hospital corners.

4. Opt for down duvets and pillows

The sheets are on so time to get to the other sleep accessories. Hotel duvets and pillows tend to be made from a down filling, so duck or goose feathers. This gives the pillows a softer and more cloud-like feel and makes them easier to fluff and stack. For those who have allergies or would rather not use real feathers, you can find synthetic feather duvets or ‘feels-like-down’ pillows which replicate the feel.

5. Get duvet and pillow covers in a size too big

Another clever hotel bedding trick is putting on duvet or pillow covers that are a size too big for the actual duvet or pillow. This is typically done to make your duvet or pillow look fluffier and thicker, so it feels more luxurious and covers you and your partner more fully.

For pillows specifically, some hotels will double up on pillow cases, just like adding a flat sheet on top of a fitted sheet. Adding an extra pillowcase on an existing one is not only more hygienic but it adds extra softness and bounce to your pillow.

6. Stack your pillows correctly

Depending on the hotel you stay in, you might find your bed comes with multiple pillows with different fillings. Hotels will typically lay this out on the bed with a ‘harder’ pillow like memory foam or microfibre models on the bottom with a softer down pillow on the top. This offers better support to the head and neck, and makes your bed look more inviting, plus if you have lots of pillows lying around your home (like me), it means they won’t go to waste!

7. Add blankets for cosiness and colour

Hotel bedding is often all white as it makes the room and bed look clean and inviting. But a plain white bed can look a little boring which is why hotels typically add blankets on the end to add colour and match the bed to the room’s decor.

If you’re like me, you’ve probably made a quick pitstop for a nap in your hotel room before, and you don’t always want to get straight into bed. A cosy blanket does the trick instead of getting completely under the covers, so if it’s good enough for a hotel, try this at home, too.