SUPPLIER ROUNDTABLES: Hotel beds
Hotel beds are essential, but this doesn't mean one size fits all: an expert panel of bedding suppliers and housekeeping professionals discuss what they believe to be the most important factors for a peaceful night's sleep, even for your increasingly discerning guests
Meet the experts
FARAH ASLAM, managing director, Dimara International. As a supplier and manufacturer of bed linen, guest amenities and room accessories, Dimara international currently serves more than 500 separate hotels across the GCC & MENA Region.
EVA-MARIA CASAGRANDE, CEO, Mühldorfer Gmbh & Co. KG Mühldorfer, a family owned bedding company based in Germany, has been producing bedding supplies to hotels since 1920.
SAMEER AHMED, sales manager, Restonic Middle East. For over 60 Years, Restonic Mattress Corporation has been a leading supplier of commercial bedding to the hospitality industry and maintains a long-standing tradition of researching, developing and engineering high quality bedding products.
PAMINI HEMAPRABHA, executive housekeeper, Kempinski Hotel Mall of the Emirates, Dubai. Hemaprabha has been the executive housekeeper at the 393 room, five-star Kempinski Hotel Mall of the Emirates since 2012, having joined from the Fairmont Heliopolis & Towers in Cairo.
MARIANA PAUNESCU, executive housekeeper, Grand Millennium Dubai hotel. Paunescu is the executive housekeeper for the 343-room, five-star Grand Millennium Dubai hotel and has extensive hospitality experience throughout the UAE.
Kulatilake Udopolage, executive housekeeper, Six Senses Zighy Bay, Oman. Udopolage (also known as Lucky), is the executive housekeeper of the five-star, 102-bed Six Senses Zighy Bay, Oman, a secluded beach resort built using traditional Omani-village style architechture.
Article continues on next page ...
Q: Which recent design trends have you noticed in the hotel beds and bedding market?
Farah Aslam: Most hotels, whether they are five- or four-star are opting for mattress toppers or feather beds to ensure their guests’ comfort and to alleviate guest complaints of “hard mattresses”.
Additionally, many hotels are opting for higher thread counts in terms of bed linen. Five- and four-star hotels tend to have the same bedding specifications now, meaning that four-star hotels are focused on giving their guest a five-star bed experience.
Eva-Maria Casagrande: Besides the trend of hotel beds becoming bigger, another trend is featherbedding which has been enjoying ever-increasing popularity among hotel guests.
Our heavenly soft under blankets are an excellent way of treating hotel guests to a relaxing, rejuvenating night’s sleep as they are ergonomically shaped for the back and provide an ideal temperature balance.
Washable up to 95°C, our under blankets are high on usability and easy to clean.
Pamini Hemaprabha: There has been a lot of focus on spring technology in hotel mattresses to further enhance comfort and to respond to the ever-changing needs of hotel guests.
In addition, we see some great decorative designs for mattress protectors, which enhance the overall appearance of the beds. Finally, mattress technology developments mean that mattresses don’t require periodic rotations anymore, which allows hotel housekeeping departments to be more efficient.
Kulatilake Udopolage: Over the last years, I have observed that pocket spring beds are increasingly becoming standard due to the fact that they are more comfortable, and the density of springs creates more support during sleep. Also, organic cotton and blends are becoming more common as environmental awareness, light weight materials and life span are demanded by guests and hotels alike.
Article continues on next page ...
Q: How do you manage the balance between ensuring bedding looks great but is comfortable?
Sameer Ahmed: To deliver a better guest sleep experience, we find that paying attention to the details in designing the mattresses and beds makes a big difference. This allows us to add plush quilting patterns and use high quality fabric coverings but without compromising on comfort.
Hemaprabha: In my view bedding is one of the most important aspects of a guest’s stay; it has a very strong impact on their overall experience at the hotel. From my perspective guests are looking for good quality linen and mattress comfort over aesthetics.
[That said], good quality linen, with good texture and nice designs attracts guests. Bed presentation is important as part of the overall room design and bed decorations like bolsters, runners and cushions enhance its appearance.
Aslam: The way that our products are designed, the aesthetics always goes hand-in-hand with the comfort of our products. Many hotel guests are looking to purchase the bedding that we supplied to the hotel for them to keep and use at home, so we feel that we have found the right balance between aesthetic value and comfort.
Paunescu: Comfort is essential. Whether the guest is travelling for business or leisure it is important to ensure their comfort and convenience. At Grand Millennium Dubai we focus on comfort and we offer a pillow menu as well where guests can select the type of pillow which works best for them.
Casagrande: Regarding bedding, there is no conflict between aesthetics and comfort. The more comfortable the bed/bedding is, the nicer it is. Bigger beds are also more comfortable. As explained before, a feather mattress topper is the perfect companion to this nice comfort, while hygiene and comfort point are also important for hotel guests.
Article continues on next page ...
Q: What materials do you use, or look for, when creating or sourcing beds and bedding?
Hemaprabha: The quality of linen is very important. Linen with good weaving and yarn count helps us to retain the quality for a longer period of time. Having attractive designs on linen also enhances the bed’s overall appearance, which is definitely an important factor as well.
Casagrande: Mühldorfer only uses 100% natural materials which we only buy from controlled and certificated farms. We also clean all down/feathers in our natural calcium-free spring water from the Bavarian mountains as well as sterilising, sorting and drying without using any chemicals.
Ahmed: We know how important high quality materials are so we try to always ensure our components are procured from leading suppliers in Europe, such as our 100% cotton fabric, high standard steel wire for springs, cotton felt and kiln dried Canadian pine wood.
Aslam: We try and provide whichever materials offer the most comfort for our guests such as Egyptian supima cotton in our bed sheets and goose down and feather primarily in the bedding (pillows and duvets).
Udopolage: New technology has allowed us to buy synthetic materials that are not produced in a destructive or chemical-laden manner. More specifically we would look for a synthetic blend (for durability), adding cotton, silk, wool or other organic materials.
Article continues on next page ...
Q: Has there been an increase in demand for specialised beds to cater for back problems etc and added extras, such as choice of pillow-type?
Paunescu: Hotels are beginning to pay more attention to offering their guests an increasing array of upgraded beds along with choices of linens and pillows. Because the mattress has a major impact on the quality and quantity of people’s sleep, hotel beds are generally already high quality, “orthopaedic” or “medically-approved”.
In addition, optional bedding filling varieties are offered to our guests such as wool, feathers and polyester.
Aslam: We currently offer a complete pillow menu for hotels to offer for their clients that certainly cater to back problems. The selection offers buckwheat, orthopaedic, pregnancy, silk, latex, memory foam, goose down, and cotton pillows. These pillows allow the guests to tailor their stay to any concerns that they may have with their back.
Casagrande: Seventy two percent of all hotel guests say a comfortable bed is the most decisive factor in selecting a hotel. With the right choice of quilt and the proper sleeping rituals you can help to make the night a pleasant transition into the new day.
Ergonomics plays an important role in a good sleep and a supportive and well balanced pillow supports perfect ergonomic position while an optimal climate and hydro-transport system guarantees a healthy and dry climate of sleep
Ahmed: To achieve the optimum guest sleep experience, our mattresses provide posturised zoning, offering extra support in the bed’s centre third where most of the body weight is concentrated. This results in a more restful sleep with less tossing and turning.
Hemaprabha: From my perspective guests are looking for good quality linen and mattress comfort and a growing demand for hard pillows is definitely a trend we see emerging.
Having a variety of pillows to respond to guests’ needs is critical to increase guest satisfaction and to offer that specific comfort each guest is looking for.
Udopolage: An average person’s night’s sleep is about eight hours, thus bed and bedding becomes essential to providing a frame of sleeping time that will help to improve memory and performance while increasing relaxation for body and mind.
Most luxury hotels now have a “pillow menu,” with options such as to reduce snoring or encourage neck alignment. Unfortunately most hotels and resorts are not also able to offer a full-line of specialty mattresses, but you will find this increasing as part of the growing popularity of wellness-oriented resorts or destination spas.
Article continues on next page ...
Q: What follow up services do you offer/ demand from your suppliers?
Udopolage: Working in the luxury industry, and considering the relative costs of high quality beds and bedding, in a perfect world training on maintenance, care and safety for the products would be provided.
In hospitality we believe that a genuine follow-up never hurts, and secures business long term; we encourage the supplier to do the same. As well, we would always welcome the latest news of the market to evolve and ensure our technology is safe and up-to-date.
Ahmed: Restonic believes that offering a personal touch is crucial and we work closely with concerned departments in the hotel to elucidate the benefits and features of a good quality mattress as well as innovations in the bedding industry which generates a sense of reliability and confidence in the customer.
Casagrande: Mühldorfer offers our ‘Pillow Menu’, so hotels can offer their guests again a better comfort and service. Resale is also possible as hotel guests increasingly want to buy their hotel pillow for private use.
Here we created for resale our special logistics system: when a guest directly purchases our pillow from the hotel, Mühldorfer produces and sends the pillow direct to the home address of the guest.
Aslam: We offer a “satisfaction guaranteed” policy for the products that we supply, and we are constantly getting feedback from our clients on how we can improve our services to tailor to their individual needs.
We also provide training on specialized products, as well as detailed instruction manuals to assist them in maximising usage for all of the items that they have purchased.
Hemaprabha: We expect our suppliers to be proactive and to follow up with us for the half-yearly and annual checks on products rather than to wait for us as hotels to contact them.
We also like our suppliers to take the time to share important customer feedback with us on a regular basis, this is very important for us, especially for new products they have supplied to hotels.
Having strong communications and one point of contact with suppliers is really helpful too and enhances the working relationship.
Article continues on next page ...
Hot Products
Dimara International: Dimara’s newest product launch for the hospitality market is the Bella Italy Organic Bed and Bath linen range.
Made from organic cotton which has been farmed using traditional methods, the Bella Italy range is especially beneficial for people with chemical sensitivities or environmental allergies and includes towels, bed sheets, bathrobes, duvets, mattress protectors, pillows, and other select items.
Mühldorfer Bedding: Mühldorfer’s newest product line “Bio-Nature” is produced on the basis of carefully chosen 100% cotton qualities, which are subjected to a particularly gentle manufacturing process, never bleached or coloured while no chemicals are used for yarning. In addition Mühldorfer also offers its Feather Mattress Topper and Non-Allergy collection “Imprima”.
Restonic Middle East: Restonic’s latest products are the Hotel Comfort care Loveland Pillow Top Non Flip and the Crystal Micro Pocket Mattress. Both products feature quality pocket spring units and come in a choice of Latex or Memory foam upholstery fillings.
Suppliers Strategy
Dimara International: For 2013 we have increased our manufacturing facilities and capacity to cater to the increasing demand for our products. We have also added additional designers to our team to allow for more tailor made projects.
Demand for speciality options have increased for bedding, as well as speciality fabrics. Our offices are also expanding with a presence in most of the Gulf countries, and that expansion will continue.
Mühldorfer Bedding: We want to remain as we are – to deliver the best quality
bedding and provide the best service to our customers. We only grow in production, as we invest in new machines in order to be able to produce the best quality products.
For example last year we invested in a brand new washing plant for down/feathers while this year we are planning to invest in new filling stations in order to increase capacity.
Restonic Middle East: We at Restonic celebrated a successful 2012 and we hope to maintain this momentum going in 2013 by introducing new products this year. We are also in the process of identifying new markets in the Middle East and Africa in order to consolidate our presence in GCC region.