If your guests are unable to get a good night’s sleep in your holiday apartment, there is nothing else you can do RIGHT enough to offset it. It doesn’t matter if the rest of your online listing is immaculate. Generally, your guests will typically spend the day outside and the evenings sleeping in your property. So your guests typically spend the MOST time in bed, more than anywhere else in your property.
If things inside your property aren’t 100% spot on, you risk receiving poor feedback and ratings which are the most important thing when booking holiday accomodation.
Delivering a great sleep experience isn’t hard, and with a few thoughtful purchase decisions you’ll be able to offer the best experience to your guests.
Great Sleep Experience Starts with the Right Mattress
As we’ve already pointed out, the bed is the most important part of the holiday let. If you start with a horrible mattress, you’ll have difficulty in delivering the best sleep experience possible.
- Is your mattress more than 10 years old?
- Is your mattress uncomfortable?
- Is your mattress uneven?
- Had any complaints about the bed or mattress?
So what should you get? The best mattress in your budget. Here’s how you should pick your next mattress:
- One that fits your budget. If budget is an issue, it’s better to get a really good double than to get a mediocre king mattress.
- One with medium firmness. Get something that most of your guests will be comfortable with. Find a mattress that is somewhere between 5 and 7 on the universal firmness scale so it will be “too soft” or “too firm” for the fewest people. But if you’ll be using a soft mattress topper on top, get it in the 7-8 range for more support.
- One that fits within the service offered. Are you charging £500/night for your holiday apartment? Well, that blow up airbed is not going to cut it. If you’re charging under £50/night for your listing, find something on the more affordable side but still with great reviews. If you’re positioned as a luxury or premium listing, you need to get something more luxurious to fit your positioning. Recommendation: invest 5-7 nights of bookings into your mattress if you’re an affordable listing, 2-4 nights of bookings for premium listings. For premium listings, you may even consider adding an adjustable bed base to really take your guest’s sleep experience to the next level.
Pro Tip: Make sure to protect your investment from guest accidents as well as bed bugs by getting the right mattress protective cover.
Put on a Mattress Topper
Don’t have the funds to invest in a mattress right now? At least put a mattress topper on it. This works better for mattresses that are generally firmer as a topper will soften it up. But a topper will be unable to provide extra support that is already lacking in a mattress that is too soft.
If your mattress is otherwise in good condition but just doesn’t deliver that lush hotel like feel, adding a simple topper can completely change the sleep experience.
Don’t Skimp on Pillows and Bed Sheets
Your guests can tell right away whether they’re going to get a great sleep experience or not as soon as they lay down on the pillows. According to Dr. Michael Breus, author of Good Night: The Sleep Doctor’s 4-week Program to Better Sleep & Better Health, you should be replacing your less expensive pillows every 6 months your structurally more stable, premium pillows every 18-36 months.
So as long as you’re consistently using quality pillow cases, that extra £20 on the more durable, premium pillow may be well worth the investment to get 6 times the life of the pillow.
For bed sheets, getting them direct from manufacturers online can save money and give you more options. When choosing bed sheets, the quality of the cotton itself is more important than the thread count. Here’s how the type of cotton stacks up:
- Low End: 100% cotton. If it says nothing else on the label, then assume this is the lowest grade cotton. Least expensive, but rough and least durable.
- Mid Tier: 100% pima cotton, which is typically trademarked as “Supima”. Much softer than regular cotton and more durable.
- Top End: 100% Egyptian cotton. This cotton has long and thin fibres to give the smoothest, softest feel, yet still very durable. However, it is most expensive
