A Plea for Better Beds
My air mat on the floor of an Airbnb in Sedona.
If anything could induce me to stop traveling and stay home, it wouldn’t be long security lines, delayed flights, or skyrocketing airfares. It would be the prospect of having to spend a night in another bad bed.
“Bad” is a relative term, of course. For me it means a soft mattress that leaves me with a backache after a restless night’s sleep. In four-plus decades of travel, I’ve found that the pricier the hotel (and Airbnb), the more fluff and frills they put on beds to coddle and impress their guests. What few hoteliers realize is that many people who travel have aging backs; and I, for one, hate frills and fluff on a mattress.
Forget memory foam, which is in vogue in most hotels these days. Such mattresses make my shoulders curve inward and my lower back sink in, encasing me in an awkward position. After a night on a memory foam mattress, I have to do stretching exercises to sooth my aching back muscles.
Almost as bad as memory foam are pillow tops, which are also in vogue. Instead of sinking into a mattress, I want a firm yet supple surface to support my shoulders and back. Pillow tops only work for me when they’re positioned on top of a mattress and can be removed, allowing me to re-make the bed to my liking.
Even at four and five-star hotels, I often end up sleeping on the floor instead of in the deluxe beds. Such was the case in Victoria, Canada, when I booked a hotel overlooking the harbor. At check in, I asked the receptionist if there were any rooms with firm mattresses. She proudly announced that all the mattresses had recently been replaced, but with only one type. The view from my harborside room was captivating, especially at night with colorful lights reflecting off the water. But when I lay down on the bed, I was engulfed in a plush pillow top that couldn’t be removed. Predictably, the next morning I woke up with neck and back pain.
My air mat on the floor of a hotel.
It happens to me in US hotels and in lodges and Airbnbs. That’s why I travel with a thin camping mat that can be inflated to a firmness I like. I use it on plush mattresses to make them more rigid across the shoulders and back. If the bed is simply too soft, I’ll ask the front desk if they have a twin mattress that goes with a rollaway cot. Such mattresses are usually firm enough if I put them on the floor with my inflatable mat on top.
Is it too much to ask that hotels offer several types of mattresses from firm to plush? I’d love to see an app that rates hotel beds, which travelers could consult before booking a room. At the risk of sounding like a privileged grump, when paying for a hotel, I’d prefer to get a good night’s sleep that leaves me pain-free in the morning. Forget memory foam and give me a firm mattress so I don’t have to use my air mat on the floor.
