Holidays- love being away but not sleeping in strange beds- anyone?

[BandBChocolat]

Is this just me?

I've become unable to settle in a strange bed in either a holiday cottage or a hotel. This has got worse with age - in my 20s and 30s I didn't give a hoot.
Now I'm mid 60s, have a lovely comfy home, and really don't enjoy getting into a bed that someone else has just vacated hours before.

Whether it's a 5* cottage or a luxury hotel, makes no difference.

This all came to a head a few years back when, at a cottage we loved and had visited for years, the owners started asking us to strip the sheets on leaving. The mattress protector was disgusting- stained as if there'd been a year or orgies.

I feel a bit pathetic but is this just me?

Definitely not just you, I am the same.
Hard mattresses, smelly bedding and lumpy horrible pillows. I've reached the point that I'd rather stay home!

Hate holidays because of this. Still go n holiday but never sleep

Usually takes me a couple of nights before I sleep decent

I'm with you. I'd rather be in our campervan than a crap hotel or Airbnb with horrible beds.

I try to only stay in 5 star or the campervan, nothing in between (I know this sounds like a stealth boast, but it's a lot more campervan than 5 star). At least I can kick up a fuss if the bed's terrible in an expensive gaff.

I have yet to work out why, in the height of summer, hotels and airbnbs all seem to have thick, hot, winter duvets. Even in the depths of winter hotel rooms are heated so the duvet is way too hot. And why hotels all seem to have the duvet tucked into the bed so tightly that when you pull it out it pulls the sheet out as well and you have to completely remake the bed. Somebody, please tell me why??

I'm usually conscious of it being not my bed for a night. But then I stop thinking about it and usually sleep very well on holiday. The best night's sleep I've ever had was in a hotel I stopped in for one night last month, actually - I've thought about that sleep very fondly ever since.

I probably wouldn't be so relaxed if I'd ever stopped somewhere where I was expected to strip the sheets and had to look at the bare mattress etc 👀

I usually sleep ok after a couple of nights but there are always a few niggles. Especially in self catering. Pillows too soft/hard or not enough. Curtains that don’t close or let light through. Noise from boilers, neighbours or traffic. Beds too narrow (I always filter by super king size now). No bedside light. Bed ends that I trip over in the night. Duvets too thick.
I wouldn’t want to strip the beds on holiday and would mention this in their review if they asked me too!

I've resorted to taking my own pillow which makes a huge difference and sometimes I also take a large flat sheet. Only possible in the UK and by car, of course.

I find some of the strong perfumes used on laundry quite off putting.

Main issue for me is light coming in at the windows too early.
I don't know why owners don't think of this!

The stripping of the beds did happen a lot during Covid and the reason was to cut down on the work the cleaners had to do as they were also 'deep cleaning' the entire house.

However, my grim experience was years pre- Covid and as the hosts were a very elderly couple who we knew quite well, I was too embarrassed to mention it. I honestly didn't know if their cleaners were responsible for changing mattress covers. We simply never went back.

As long as a bed is clean, comfortable and big enough, it’s OK for me. But I can’t share a standard double bed any more - it feels so mcramped. So it’s at least a king size, or a twin room for me and dh.

One of my pet gripes about holiday lets is that owners are often too stingy to provide a king size bed, even when there’s plenty of room for one. One reason we usually pick a Premier Inn if it’s just for a night or two, is the guaranteed nice big bed,

I save up for months to go away and as soon as I get there I dread bedtime, and it takes me ages to even lie down, just been away and slept on my own towel covering the pillow, it freaks me out who’s been in the bed etc, and I hardly sleep the whole time xx

I have started taking my own pillowcase. Easy and light to pack, even if you go abroad or need to pack light for a weekend away. When I get there I put it on over the top of the existing pillowcase so that I feel I have double 'protection' against the pillow! I have been really tempted to take a lightweight sleeping bag and use that as a duvet if I sleep on top of the bedcovers, but think that might be my final fall into insanity, so I have put it off 😅

Good idea, I may just take my own pillows so at least I can lay down without the anxiety taking over. It’s crazy how a lovely week away can leave you feeling exhausted due to not being able to fully relax or sleep with ease xx thanks for your response xx

At home we have two single duvets on a superking bed. Mine is very lightweight even in winter and at the moment I just have a sheet.
I find hotels abroad are fine (usually 4/5*) because they are often zip link single beds so plenty big enough, they have a variety of pillows and just s heet or thin blanket.
UK hotels or s/c are stingy with bed size and always a huge fat duvet and hard pillows. Worst of all is feather or down. I try to ask for no feathers when I book but sometimes forget.
My worst experience in recent years was a rubber mattress cover. I woke up in a puddle of sweat, yuck.

Bring your own pillow

Too right that’s my next plan, when you think of who’s slept on the holiday pillows omg I can’t cope xx

I’m so glad I don’t have anxious thoughts about this! I love hotel beds. Probably wouldn’t trust an Air BnB but that’s fine as I have no interest in contributing to wrecking the housing availability in tourist areas.

agree with a PP who likes a Premier Inn sleep. I’d consider booking one in the next town over if I wanted to disappear for 24 hours and chill out.

I love going away but I never sleep well! It’s just never quite right, normally too soft, too small, pillows aren’t right…..

Still love going away but I love coming home to my own bed.

I’m so glad I don’t have anxious thoughts about this! I love hotel beds. Probably wouldn’t trust an Air BnB but that’s fine as I have no interest in contributing to wrecking the housing availability in tourist areas.

agree with a PP who likes a Premier Inn sleep. I’d consider booking one in the next town over if I wanted to disappear for 24 hours and chill out.

I too hate the heavy duvets that some hotels put on their beds all year round. We stayed in an hotel for a couple of nights a while ago and the duvet was so bloody heavy I struggled to sleep and it wasn’t even that hot weather wise.
I’ve been known to take my own pillow to my MIL’s as hers are awful but now I just won’t stay there as I never get a good nights sleep, bed too small, too uncomfortable, curtains are way too thin.
I agree with pp who mention Premier Inns, I quite like them and usually sleep pretty well in their beds.
I love my own bed and although I usually sleep ok when away, there’s nothing g like your own bed to come home to.

Same.

I’ve taken a flat sheet in my suitcase before. I can’t sleep without something covering me, and it doesn’t take it up that much room.

I find with pillows I usually have one fat pillow at home, so in hotels I put a folded up towel underneath and sometimes one on top too! Always take my eye mask and earplugs too.

Premier Inn are fab, and Novotel are usually good too (on business).

I’m exactly the same.

I spend ages when we go away checking for the ‘right’ place to stay - type of bed and frame (dh moves loads during his sleep and if the bed moves it wakes me up. Ever damned time), room curtains, hotel placement (quiet, pref side room), opening windows or air con etc.

takes bloody ages. And I even used to be able to sleep on trains, sofa’s etc.

I’m currently on holiday at a Eurocamp site. I’m sleeping in a onesie on top of my own duvet cover to keep away from the plastic covered mattress🤢

I often sleep a lot better when I'm on holiday. Often as they have bigger beds eg a super king. At home our bedroom is only big enough for a double. The only time I don't sleep well is if the temperature in the room is too hot in some UK hotels

We are just back from holiday and the single beds were awful. You could feel the springs just by touching the mattress. 90% of the windows were not in use-awaiting repair. It was so stuffy and combined with the beds was a recipe for a bad back and not one decent nights sleep. The apartment was otherwise amazing.