Why Do Hotels Need "Hotel Mattresses"?

Perhaps you've asked yourself this question. Why can't Hotels just buy normal mattresses like everybody else? What is it about being a Hotel that means you need a "Hotel Mattress"?

Well, in the UK at least, a Hotel Mattress (or a Contract Mattress, as they're sometimes called) usually means that the mattress confirms to the higher fire regulations (Source 5, or Crib 5) required for mattresses to be used in a commercial dwelling of 6 bedrooms or more. That means that unless you want the Fire Inspector to call you up and force you to replace your entire complement of mattresses, you should make sure you buy them with the right regs in the first place.

Another reason is that bed companies tend to design hotel mattresses differently to domestic mattresses. A domestic mattress will most likely be used by the same person, for the entire duration of it's life. As such, the person just needs to choose the right kind of mattress for them, and stick with it. But a Hotel Mattress will be used by people of all sorts, shapes and sizes, and needs to be comfortable enough to hinder complaints, and strong enough to survive the mixture of uses it receives.

What you'll tend to find then, is that a Hotel Mattress meets the necessary fire regulations required for commercial dwellings of a hotel-esque nature, and that the design of the bed is traditional coil sprung, firmly filled and with a manufacturers guarantee of at least one year. If it's missing these things, it's not really a Hotel Mattress.

Hope this helps!