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When you’re staying at a luxury five-star hotel, perhaps the best testament to the hotel’s service and amenities is the moment you sink into the cloud-like comforter, silky sheets and plump pillows that make up your heavenly hotel bed.
However, you shouldn’t have to wait for your next business meeting abroad or destination vacation to experience the most luxurious sleep of your life. We researched the best qualities of five-star hotel beds and found affordable bedding brands that will rival your recent hotel stay.
The Qualities of a Five-Star Hotel Bed
You know a high-quality bed when you see it – or rather, sleep in it – but what are the characteristics of a luxury bedding brand that make it so irresistibly comfortable? We’ve broken it down into five categories:
Pillows
Pillows are the perfect start to your five-star bed. More than a place to lay your head, your pillow is one of the more visual aspects of your bedding, so it’s important to make sure it sets the tone for your luxury bed.
Hotels are often equipped with two to four feather-down pillows and a few fiberfill pillows for a variety of sleeping options, based on what you find most comfortable. Look for pillowcases that are 100% Egyptian cotton for an optimal sleeping experience.
Keep it simple and classy with your pillows. Don’t overdo the number of accessories you place on your bed, as most hotels will only use pillows and a light throw blanket to top their masterpiece bedding sets.
Comforters and Duvet Cover
What’s more comfortable than a killer comforter and duvet cover combo? One of the secrets of luxury hotel bedding is pairing a particularly fluffy down comforter (or down alternative, if you have allergies) with a cotton duvet cover, according to Apartment Therapy.
Not to mention, the removable duvet cover is easy to keep clean and protects your comforter from general wear and tear. Fitting snuggly over your comforter, the duvet cover is the pillowcase for your comforter. It can be easily swapped out when you want to change up your room’s decor.
This makes the cover even more useful should you choose to redecorate your bedroom. Instead of having to purchase a new comforter, you’re able to simply swap duvet covers, which are more cost-efficient and allow easy seasonal decor changes.
When you’re searching for your power-pairing of comforter and duvet cover, Apartment Therapy recommends using a comforter insert that’s 2 inches wider and longer than the duvet cover, creating a plush, cloud-like sleeping experience. In addition, a lightweight down comforter is recommended for year-round use. That way, you won’t get lost in layers of heat and bulk.
Fitted vs. Flat Sheets
Fitted sheets have four corners that are fitted with elastic to ensure they hug the mattress. They’re usually used to protect the mattress and make the bed a bit smoother. Flat sheets are used for the exact same purpose as a fitted sheet, but instead of having elastic bands, they’re compose of a simple flat sheet that folds neatly under the mattress on each side.
This is why the correct dimensions are more important with a fitted sheet versus a flat one: the fitted sheet needs to be long enough to be tightly tucked around the mattress on all four sides. The exact size of a flat sheet is less important because you can use sheet sizes to your preference, like a queen size sheet on a double bed or vice versa.
According to Apartment Therapy, some hotels use two flat sheets instead of one, with the bottom flat sheet tucked around the mattress and the top sheet tucked in on the sides and foot of the bed. The effect is instantaneously luxurious, with the two sheets adding extra comfort and padding to the bed.
Should you decide to make the switch from fitted to flat sheets, Apartment Therapy recommends purchasing an oversized bottom flat sheet and a flat sheet that reflects the size of your bed. They also recommend putting the top flat sheet upside down so that when you fold over the edge of the sheet at the top of the bed, you see the correct side of the sheet.
Additional Qualities
Quality of Material
Your bill shouldn’t be the only three-digit number you encounter during a luxury hotel stay. Quality, five-star bedding will feature a thread count somewhere between 200 and 800, although others advertise thread counts in the early thousands!
Thread count is the number of horizontal and vertical threads per square inch of fabric. Most people believe that a higher thread count automatically means a more luxurious fabric. This is why most hotels usually advertise sheets with a higher thread count – to assure their guests that they’ll be enjoying a more comfortable sleeping experience. For example, the Ritz-Carlton boasts 800-thread-count sheets in their luxury hotels. However, you can get a pretty decent experience from sheets with a thread count of 200 to 300.
Another factor you should consider in your bedding is the material. It can seem a bit confusing when you’re walking down the bedding aisle, bombarded with silk, satin, linen, polyester and cotton, but across the board, Egyptian cotton is the best quality.
Egyptian cotton’s best qualities lie in its extra-long staples, or fibers. Longer fiber is stronger and more durable, leading to less pilling and general wear and tear. It’s also more breathable than other materials, helping you to stay cool while you sleep.
When you’re searching for the best sheets for your bedding, stick to tags that say “100% Egyptian cotton,” as the alternative might be a blend of various materials. Don’t get caught up in the hype of a high thread count, and pick from a range of 200 to 300 for a luxury feel with an even more comfortable price.
Color
There’s just something about the crisp, stark-white bedding found in most five-star hotels that emanates class and elegance.
For starters, the clean white bedding draws the eye. It’s a strategic color adopted by most hotels, bathrooms and hospitals, because it’s an unforgivingly vulnerable color that will clearly show signs of dirt. So you can almost guarantee that your bed is clean at first glance.
It’s also a color backed by psychology. Colors can determine a person’s opinion of a space, based on their experience with the color. If the hotel guest can visibly see how clean a room and bed is, this will positively influence their experience.
Not to mention, it just looks fancy!
When you begin your search for comfortable bedding, skip the drama of searching for the perfect matching set of sheets, pillows and throws and opt for the ease of a clean white bedding set that will add elegance to your room.
Get the Look
You don’t need to compromise your vacation fund to replicate the look and feel of your hotel room. These bedding brands and products have the luxury of a five-star hotel, but with a price that won’t break the bank:
The post Luxury Bedding for Your Home That Rival a 5-Star Hotel appeared first on ZING Blog by Quicken Loans.
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