If your guest is unable to get a good night’s sleep in your Airbnb, there is nothing else you can do RIGHT enough to offset it. It doesn’t matter if the rest of your listing is immaculate. Your guests typically spend the day outside and the evenings sleeping in your unit. So your guests typically spend the MOST time in the bed, more than anywhere else in your listing.
If you were lazy with your bed situation, you’re likely going to hear about the uncomfortable mattress or sand paper bedsheets in poor review they’ll be leaving you.
But delivering a great sleep experience isn’t hard. It’s something that a few thoughtful purchase decisions can easily address.
Great Sleep Experience Starts with the Right Mattress
If you start with a horrible mattress, you’ll have a very tough time delivering a great sleep experience for your guests. If any of the following is true for the mattress in your Airbnb listing, do yourself and your guests a favor with an upgrade:
- Is your mattress more than 10 years old? Especially if you haven’t had a protective cover on it and if it isn’t even when you’re lying on it, the mattress is outlived it’s usefulness. It no longer has enough support.
- Is your mattress uncomfortable? Is this the mattress you didn’t want to sleep on so you put it in your Airbnb listing instead? Do you enjoy sleeping more on your sofa or even the floor more than this mattress? Look, if you don’t enjoy sleeping on it, your guests won’t enjoy sleeping on it. Quick test: invite an honest (and forgiving) friend who’s a frequently traveler to spend the night and ask them the next morning how their sleep was. Did they toss and turn? Do they wake up with back
- Is your mattress uneven? Do you feel lumps or cave-ins anywhere–the tell-tale signs of a mattress that is too old and in need of replacement? Mattresses will sag over time due to use.
- Do you sneeze in the morning whenever you get up? Find yourself with a stuffy nose every morning even though you have your window closed and it’s not allergy season? Chances are good that your mattress is dirty with dust and other nasties.
- Have you had more than one guest complain about the bed? One might just be a picky guest. But when you get several guests making the same complaints about an uncomfortable bed, it’s time to look for mattress replacement.
Mattress looks like this? Time to replace.
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. You don’t necessarily have to drop $1000 or more for a great mattress. There are very highly rated mattress for $250 or less. Do you really need a king size mattress? 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 your listing. Are you charging $500/night for your downtown loft listing? Yeah, 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 one of these adjustable bed bases to really take your guest’s sleep experience to the next level.
[su_box title=”Top Recommended Mattresses”]For Affordable Listings
LinenSpa Memory Innerpring Hybrid Mattress
Zinus Memory Foam Green Tea Mattress
Dreamfoam Bedding 10 Inch Cooling
For Premium Listings
Tuft-Needle Cool and Supportive
ELuxury USA Memory Gel Mattress
Pro Tip: Make sure to protect your investment from guest accidents as well as bed bugs by getting the right mattress protective cover.
At Least Put 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.
[su_box title=”Top Recommended Mattress Toppers”]Lucid 2 Inch 5 Zone Memory Mattress Topper
LinenSpa Infused Mattress Topper
Lucid 3 Inch Memory Mattress Topper
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.
[su_box title=”Top Recommended Pillows”]Affordable Pillows
Sleep Restoration Gel Pillow Set
Beckham Hotel Collection 2 Pillow Set
Premium Pillows
Coop Home Goods Premium Adjustable Pillow
Snuggle Pedic Ultra Luxury Combination Pillow
For bedsheets, getting them direct from manufacturers online can save money and give you more options. When choosing bedsheets, 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 fibers to give the smoothest, softest feel, yet still very durable. However, it is most expensive
[su_box title=”Top Recommended Bedsheets”] TasteLife Brushed Microfiber
Hotel Collection Deep Pocket Wrinkle Free
Egyptian Luxury Hotel Collection
LinenSpa Super Rayon Bamboo
Have you upgraded a mattress, pillow, or bedsheets recently for your Airbnb listing? Did you notice any change in guest reactions?
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Great tips. I’ll add an additional one. I stayed in one Airbnb place and really noticed how the mattress sloped to the side of the bed with the table light. Even in my more spacious bedrooms, guests I host tend to select the same side of the bed to sit and sleep on. Following the mattress manufacturer’s instructions about flipping or turning each mattress can prevent premature aging and ensure each mattress remains comfortable as long as it’s supposed.
Yes great tip Deborah! People do tend to sit and sleep on the same sides of the bed.
Wonderful ! Our guests love their bed but keep your suggestions coming! All good!!!
I have to say that one of the issues that I firmly believe has made my listing successful is the sleeping experience. With this said, I have to enlighten you when it comes to “microfiber” as your suggestions reveal. It is really a HORRIBLE option. The Tastelife Brushed Microfiber & Hotel Collection Deep Pocket Wrinkle free are exactly what I stated above.
Microfiber is the modern word used for polyester blend. Microfibers have basically all kinds of materials in them (part of which in fact is polyester) which make them wrinkle free, but extremely hot and “unfresh” The more thread count OF MICROFIBER they have, the more of a hotel feel to the touch, but once you are actually sleeping in them they get super hot and uncomfortable.
Please do not confuse microfiber with “Bamboo fiber” because this one is in fact organic materials where microfiber isn’t, and its a bit lighter in weight than cotton.
Sadly, due to the advertising, microfiber products get mostly sold and rated on the “wrinkle free” connotation than the actual performance of the product itself. These are nice sheets to look and feel at a first glance but are HORRIBLE for a magical sleeping experience.
100% cotton on the other hand is a bit tricky. Yes, I do agree that they can come cheaper by the dozen (as Amazon has them) but with this particular fiber the thread count DOES matter. My sheets are all 100% cotton and I’ve paid a good 70 dollars for a queen size set very thick with freshly silky softness and complemented more pillow cases ( I leave 4 pillows on each queen size bed) by purchasing by the dozen but not at the cheapest price and I make sure they state “100% combed cotton”, which does not have the freshly silky softness as it’s bold and clean as linen but the freshness,
crispness and cleanliness truly make for the most fantastic sleep experience even better than that of the “100% egyptian cotton”. They are very easy to wash and look fantastic even if they are wrinkled. The drawback is that they can get linty at the first few washes but then they “settle” after each wash. You do have to be careful to wash them with other white clothes to avoid this situation from happening.
I hope this information helps, as I did quite a bit of research for my own personal experience.
A great tip: If you have a clothes line, dry the linens under sun and rain and the sleeping experience is by far an incomparable one!
This is a great article, lots of helpful explanation. I don’t go for the “egyptian cotton” I find it too high priced for the level of quality you are getting. I’ve been using my home for short term rentals for about a year now and have never gotten any negative comments about my guests sleeping experience. I use only microfibre sheet and duvet sets that are durable to wash and suuuuper soft to the touch (don’t forget affordable). My mattress is one of those bed in a box foam thingys and it never let my guests down. I wash the cover every so often to keep it clean and give it a little refresh.
For those wondering where I get my linens its this awesome site, I found online called airbsupply.com not sure if they are associated with AirBNB. Just thought id share my little bedding secret weapon
Just wanted to piggyback on what Annie Lay said, but from a different angle.
Microfiber sheets are basically the “budget” option when buying sheets or sheet sets. They are cheap in both price and quality. They’ll work in a pinch, but ultimately you get what you pay for. The strands are very thin, and durability is definitely an issue.
Hospitality-quality sheets are manufactured with a 300 wash cycle standard (a minimum of 300 wash cycles before they tear or shred). Microfiber sheets usually last between 25-50 wash cycles.
For a busy rental where sheets are washed – at least twice a week or more – microfiber sheets are a very bad choice. A good set of sheets might cost twice the dollar amount, but they will last 3-4 times as long (if not more).
This is an extremely important topic. I’m looking to be a host in the future, as a business. However, I have used Airbnb quite often. The bed is the key to the whole experience. Other matters can be forgiven if a good nights sleep is available.
Polyester in whatever name is not acceptable whether a budget BnB or premium.
Question, in linen set up. Should it be bottom sheet and top sheet as well as the Duvet cover, or is the top sheet not needed with a Duvet. Had different experiences. Not sure which is appropriate.