TRM2 - glad for you that you like the beds. ^
however, it seems that all other respondents to my question agree that the beds are the worst thing about the HGI chain. It must be a real kick in the teeth for the management at Hilton to know that they spent ludicrous amounts of money on beds ($3800??? really???), built a marketing strategy around them and then found that the beds turned into the very reason that increasing numbers of frequent travellers will actively avoid using HGI.

I'm based in Europe and I will concede that I've had stays in HGI properties in the US where the bed was not defective (its a shame that I'm surprised and actually think that this is worth noting as a positive - the bed should be right, no ifs and no buts). I wonder whether the sheer number of HGI properties in the USA compared to Europe means that there's a beter knowledge level and American operators have a better idea how to maintain these beds. Or could it be that we Europeans are just getting much heavier and these tin-pot contraptions ("beds") are just not robust enough to carry our increasing European bulk@:-)

...I can't help thinking about that $3800 figure though. I'm going to devote the rest of the day to finding a product that looks and sounds brilliant and which I can sell to the Hilton chain for a ludicrously over-inflated price. I'm not much of a salesman but it seems to me that anyone who will spend $3800 on snake oil is going to be a soft target. This time next year, we will be millionaires, Rodney!