The Best Bedding Pieces for Your Short Term Rental Property
Make The Bed Of Your Dreams
We listed our first room on Airbnb in 2012, back when most people had never heard of short term rentals. Our journey over the past 8 years has lead us to finding and testing the best home products on the market. We want to share our knowledge so that you can have a leg up in the development of your own short term rental property.
For starters: bedding! Why bedding? We think that the bedding you choose is one of the most important factors in establishing your rental property. We tried many different brands, fabrics, and styles, always with the same goal in mind: perfecting bed linen combinations for the ultimate guest experience.
In this quest, we asked ourselves a lot of different questions: who makes the best sheet set? What color works with any decor? Which pillows hold up well and are likely to please the highest proportion of travelers possible? How do you choose a quality mattress that ensures a great sleep? The list goes on.
While you want your beds to feel soft and your interior to look stylish, you never want to forget that many different people will be using them. Choosing bedding for your short term rental property is challenging in that it should please a variety of different people while also being easy to clean. Maintenance and simplicity is key when you – or your cleaning team – have a few hours to get the house ready between guests.
The mattress, the pillows, the sheet set, and the duvet covers. Here are the items we recommend for your short term rental property:
The Open Air Homes Set
- 1 set of white sheets (1 fitted, 1 flat, 2 pillow covers)
- 2 linen pillow covers
- 1 linen duvet cover
- 2 firm pillows
- 2 softer pillows
It Start With The Mattress
In our commitment to a truly luxurious guest experience, we recommend Casper mattresses to all of our homeowners. Casper, in our opinion, has the best quality-to-price ratio. Casper offers a luxury mattress that, while not cheap, has help up very well over the years. There is no better feeling than when you get that first review that mentions just how comfortable the mattress was.
For those of us who are always busy managing rental properties, we’ve found no better choice than a Casper mattress. Your guests will thank you!
Now that you’ve decided to invest in a nice mattress, we recommend choosing a mattress protector. We buy the Recci at Open Air Homes. It’s made of bamboo and is luxuriously soft, unlike the typical plastic feel of many waterproof mattress protectors.
The Low-Priced Sheets That Changed The Game
The hunt for the ideal set of sheets was long and required tremendous research–we spent years searching for the right set.
Keep in mind that, as a good host, you will want replace it at the first sign of a stain. There really is no other solution. Therefore, price is a determining factor. Until the possible day we create our own bedding, we highly recommend this set of sheets from Clara Clark, in white.
The set is hypoallergenic, incredibly soft and breathable, and is fade, stain, shrink, and wrinkle-resistant. We use these sheets in our homes that cost upwards of $1000 a night, and we consistently have guests ask where we got our sheets! Well, the secret is out. Clara Clark is undeniably the best sheets we have found, at a very reasonable price.
The set comes with 2 pillow cases: 1 fitted and 1 flat. You can also buy the set of 6 that includes 4 pillow cases. We always buy it in white because it goes with every duvet cover and sham we may pair it with. It also allows you to bleach it, which you can do time after time without altering the fabric. We recommend buying two sets, so that for those quick turnovers, there is always a clean set ready to go.
Sticking to one great company for sheets will allow you to toss the occasional stained sheet, and continue to purchase more sheets that are all matching. We learned the hard way that sticking to one sheet brand, with countless matching sets at the ready, really made our lives easier.
The Case Against The Polyester Duvet: Go Linen!
When we are planning a vacation at a short term rental property, the first thing we see in a photo is the duvet. Did they choose a higher end duvet, or will we be sleeping on a low-end Polyester duvet? If the duvet looks lower end, I make the assumption that the home is filled with low-end products throughout.
The duvet is not the place to save money. It is the item that makes a bedroom feel inviting and comfortable. Guests appreciate when you give them a nice duvet.
Shams and duvet covers are where you get to be creative and choose a color that will compliment the decor of the room. We recommend muted and neutral colors. Remember, you are curating an experience that people from many different backgrounds and preferences can all enjoy. Capitalize on quality and tone down the aesthetic. Less is more!
We have a mild obsession with the Restoration Hardware Stonewashed Belgian Linen Duvets. They are on the pricier side, but they hold up well and last for years. This linen is perfectly weighted and feels incredible on the body. It’s not wrinkly and is perfect for every season. We order 2 shams and 1 duvet cover to pair with the Clara Clark set. The best part about this linen is that it dries so fast! We tried many linen beddings over the year, ,and the amount of dryer time needed is very important. Turning a house around between guests can be stressful, and you never want drying sheets to drag out the process.
We realize that a complete set from Restoration Hardware isn’t for every budget. The price of the set below is unbeatable! For $60 to $70, you get a duvet cover and 2 shams. The quality of this product is good and it comes in very similar colors to the Restoration Hardware line.
PRO TIP
Purchase two sets per bed and keep one set in a labeled box in the bedroom’s closet. Capitalize on those last minute bookings!
Two Pillow Options Are Better Than One
For pillows, some people prefer firm and others prefer soft. Therefore, we recommend buying two firmer pillows, and two softer pillows, so that you avoid complaints. Four pillows make the bed look fluffy, inviting and photographs better, so we definitely recommend splurging your guests with four pillows. There are a lot of pillow options out there and it’s sometimes hard to get a good sense of what is worth it or not, but here are our favorite two.
The combination we have had success with is using two Casper pillows and two Utopia Bedding firm pillows. With these 2 pairs, you will make everyone happy. Mixing higher end pillows like the Casper ones with more affordable ones like the Utopia Bedding is always a good idea.
A Great Comforter
Goose Down or synthetic? That is the question, and we have had success and happy guests using both. It really depends on what you are going for, the climate of your short term rental, and your budget.
Our top choice is the Cloud Comforter by Buffy. It comes in a very compact box in the mail ,and fluffs up after a couple minutes on the bed.
For a more classic feel that might be better suited for colder climates, Snowman makes a really great Goose Down comforter.
These are all the items we recommend to curate the perfect night of sleep for your guests. We stay true to our recommendations, and use these same products in our own home as well.
If you decide to give these products a shot in your short term rental, we’d love to hear about your experience. We aim to provide the best service to our guest our homeowner clientele, and always welcome any feedback.
For more products we use in our homes, visit our Shop.
Sleep tight,
The Open Air Homes team
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