Vacations are great – not only are you much happier, but research states that you’re also more likely to get a raise if you take a vacation!

Regardless of what type of vacation you take – a quiet getaway or an adventure-filled trip – you get a chance to kick back and forget about the daily stresses of your work and home life. 

One of the most relaxing parts of a vacation is the stay at the hotel. The luxurious bed relieves you of any anxiety and tension and enables you to truly enjoy resting and sleeping after your day of travel. The pillows are specifically designed to make anyone laying their head on them fall asleep instantly!

Hotel managers and staff put a lot of thought into how they can tailor a comfortable experience for each of their customers. Also, hotels allocate a large chunk of their budget on bedding – especially sheets and pillows.

A good night’s sleep is really what makes or breaks your experience at a hotel, and the proper bedding, especially the pillows, often go under-appreciated.

In this post, we’ll discuss what makes your sleeping experience at the hotel different from your experience at home, and outline why the pillows at the hotel are so comfortable.

What Makes The Bed At The Hotel So Luxuriously Comfortable?

The Number Of Pillows

Hotel beds have a lot more pillows than you would have on your bed at home. 

In any hotel room, you will typically find four sizes of pillows: King size, Queen size, Standard size, and small, throw pillows for decoration. 

One reason why the bed at the hotel is so comfortable is the sheer number of pillows it has. You would count between eight and ten pillows per bed easily. 

The approach is apt: the hotel finds different pillows that complement each other style-wise, giving the bed a luxurious look. But by doing this, they also provide the guest with cushions of various sizes, and the guest can sleep on whatever pillow they find the most comfortable.

Excellent Pillow Maintenance

Unlike at home, the pillows at the hotel are cleaned regularly and maintained properly. Also, the cushions are replaced from time to time – which is something we don't do. People tend to hoard pillows regardless of its condition. Most of us can't even remember the last time we replaced our pillows!

Although there is little to no physical change in a pillow over time, pillows tend to lose their firmness after a few years of use – and the right level of firmness is what we look for in a comfortable cushion.

Since the pillows at the hotel are young and well maintained, sleeping on the hotel bed is much more relaxing than sleeping on the bed back at your home.

High-Quality Cushions

Five-star hotels only use top-of-the-line bedding and spend a great deal of money on pillows. 

The pillows the hotel uses are different from the pillows you'd have in your bedroom. Aside from the price difference, the pillowcase and the fill are also different from the typical bedroom pillow.

Everything is planned – from the pillow's color scheme to the number of pillows that are going to be used. Their high-budget and precise planning make a massive difference in the ambiance of the room and the feel of the bed.

Types Of Pillows

There are different kinds of fills and fabrics, and each fill and fabric has a unique set of benefits and drawbacks.

Hotels carefully research and find the pillows that strike the right balance between comfort, style, and loft. 

Most hotels use a combination of down pillows, down alternative pillows, memory foam pillows, white goose down pillows, and polyester pillows. The wide range of options hotels provide ensures that anyone staying the night will find a pillow that they like and sleep comfortably. 

Going into detail about the most common types of pillows used in hotels will help you better understand why they’re so comfortable.

Why Are Hotel Pillows So Comfortable?

The pillow's composition is what makes hotel pillows comfortable. Hotels don't use run-of-the-mill foam or polyester pillows, because they simply do not meet the quality-comfort standard expected out of a luxurious hotel pillow. 

You will find hotels using different kinds of down pillows. These are tested to retain their shape and loft over time and hence tend to be especially pricey. Their composition is also regulated to ensure that the pillow strikes the right balance between loftiness and conformability. 

There are three main types of pillows that hotels typically use: down pillows, feather & down blend cushions, and down alternative pillows.

Down Pillows

Down pillows are the most popular kind of hotel pillows and for a good reason. Down pillows offer unmatched comfort and tend to be durable. These pillows feature a fill made from the super soft feathers obtained from either goose or duck down, which makes them extremely comfortable to sleep on.

Down pillows are fluffy and lofty and tend to last longer than other luxury pillows. Big hotel chains like the Marriott and Hilton always opt for down pillows.

Down is expensive, and down pillows tend to be the priciest pillows in the market. Also, since down is non-hypoallergenic, the high-quality encasing used to keep the down in place drives the prices up further. 

For a lot of hotels, getting these expensive down pillows is out of the question, and they tend to look for alternatives that provide the same level of comfort.

Feather And Down Blend Pillows

Feather and down blend pillows are very popular in hotels since they offer an enhanced level of comfort and support. They’re extremely common because guests with allergies can sleep on them comfortably without having an allergic reaction. They also have a reasonable price.

The composition of the blend is typically 50-50 since a balanced blend makes for a medium-dense yet super comfortable pillow. The comfort they offer, combined with the benefit of being hypoallergenic, gives them a solid reputation in the market. 

These pillows boast high thread count fabric, giving the surface of the pillow a soft and smooth feel. The strong fabric ensures that no feathers poke the guest when they sleep and that the down stays in place and doesn't spill out.

Down Alternative Pillows

You can think of down alternative as a synthetic version of down. Down alternative pillows offer the same loft and comfort as down pillows, but they’re cheaper and hypoallergenic, which is why they dominate the hotel pillow market. 

Most hotels resort to these pillows because they offer support and firmness similar to that of a down pillow for a better price. 

Down alternative pillows feature a polyester microfiber fill, which provides excellent support and pain relief to those suffering from back, neck, and shoulder pains.

Now that you know why hotel beds are so comfortable and have learned about the different kinds of pillows hotels use, it'll be easy for you to try and recreate the luxury hotel sleep experience at home. 

When it comes to pillow shopping, it is better to plan first and purchase later. Once you know how many pillows you want, and have a rough idea of the look and feel you’re going for, getting your hands on the right pillows will become much easier and faster.