Does the Color of Hotel Bedding Affect Sleep Quality?

Vadim Liberman September 29, 2014

The Huffington Post insists that all-white bedding in hotels encourages better sleep.

What makes a hotel bed so comfortable? According to The Huffington Post, it’s not the quality of the mattress, the pillows or even the comforter. Rather, it’s the color of the bedding. If it’s white, then it’s more likely to feel right.

HuffPo bases its conclusion on the anecdotes of several of its editors and hints of research, as well as the premise that guests enjoy sleeping in hotel beds more than their own.

“You’ve probably never thought about it,” wrote HuffPo‘s associate travel editor, Suzy Strutner, “but try to imagine an ideal hotel bed that isn’t white, and you’ll see what we mean. And yet we all spend time trying to find colorful quilts and crazy bohemian-print sheets for our bedrooms at home… what’s the deal?”

Erin Hoover, vice president of design for Westin and Sheraton hotels, explained that an all-white bed signifies luxury and a good night’s sleep. She pointed to Westin’s all-white Heavenly Bed. Prior to its introduction in 1999, Hoover said that hotels primarily used colored bedspreads because they were easier to clean. Then, the company tested the Heavenly Bed.

“The all-white bed created this halo effect — people thought a room had been renovated, even if it was just the bed that had been changed,” Hoover explained.

Many hotels now feature all-white bedding, perhaps as part of what HuffPo calls a “move toward simplification, a subtle sign that hotels are the place to leave your worries and clutter of the world behind.”