There is valid truth to what you say some pillow tops are firm especially over the last half decade as the industry on the whole dictates that product direction
I look at the last 24 years historically @ Hotel pillow tops with where the industry was with the pillow top bed like The Westin Heavenly Bed ,Sheraton Sweet Sleeper The original W bed ,The Hilton serenity bed,Hyatt Grand bed etc all were medium to soft
I personally don’t equate necessarily firm with proper support though many do and have throughout time.

That was proven in my own perception during the 80s when I was younger when I had a very firm Sealy Mattress
Was brain washed by salespeople that it’s good for my back and I eventually got used to it
I believed at the time that had to be comfortable yet it wasn’t for myself
But I was young and more flexible and could sleep on a park bench if need be
We are fed marketing as to what is good typically and we all make our own choice by what we perceiveto be comfortable or supportive.Hotels showed me otherwise that their are indeed other options

In the 90s I discovered Duxiana beds while traveling in Stockholm in hotels
I fell in love with the deepest most beautiful REM sleep in my lifetime.
They have been around since 1926 making beds for royalty.
Their sleep studies are worth a read. I bought one and shipped it home the rest my own personal history
One can experience them at The Langham in NYC and other select premium hotels worldwide
They don’t make them as comfortable as they did back when
I believe Scandinavia still has some of the best beds sleeping systems in the world 👍
But just like someone who believes a stick shift is the only way to drive it’s really subjective opinion and at the end of the day a personal choice.

In the past 3 years I discovered Canopy by Hilton after reading about a guest in Chicago who hated their stay as they found the bed not firm.I absolutely.Booked the hotel immediately!l Love the bed so much there I became a guest!I’m not saying in the end that there is really a right or a wrong decision for each of us

These days I believe costs drive hotel decisions more typically and firm probably has a longer life span in hotels
The Sheraton has made the once Sweet Sleeper hard as a brick now.
Duxiana offers a choice of firmness and the beds have 5000 hand wound springs that offer support not from hard or soft but adjusting to the contour of your actual body form and proper padding around the parts of your body regardless if one believes soft or firm is better We spend a great deal of our lives in bed so I take sleep very seriously as quality sleep gets harder with aging and athletic injury etc