What do you think of duvets?
For those who may not know, a duvet is a combination bed spread and top sheet, sewn together with one end left open. It makes a cover that slips over a plush cushion. The end result like a really cozy comforter that you can take the cover off of.
When a guest leaves they take the cover off off to wash, and put a new one on each day.
Hotels have started using them to control bedbugs and such. Someone also commented that it does a better job of protecting us from other guests ex-body fluids.
However, I don’t buy into this. For one thing, when the hotels just used a regular bed spread, blanket and sheets, ALL of those can be washed. With a duvet, however, only the cover can be washed. The plush cushion that the duvet covers can’t be washed, or you end up with unattractive lumps. This is the bed that greeted us when we walked into our hotel room at the Hampton over the weekend. It was comfortable, but very unattractive. In short, it looks very messy.
I would prefer to sleep in a bed where all the covers can be washed.
So do you think duvets are self defeating?
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I think of a duvet as being a comforter, and what you describe is the duvet cover.
Hotels were not washing the entire bedspread (the old fashioned thin, gauzy bottomed flowery things) every time, and news magazine shows (ie 20/20) did studies with ultra violet light (or whatever highlights bodily fluids) and showed semen, etc on the bedspreads. They interviewed hotel management who admitted that the spreads were not laundered each time as they were too bulky, and therefore, the prospect of laying on or under fabric covered in dried semen is pretty unappealing.
The bleached-white, washed fresh for each guest duvet cover popular today (and more aesthetically appealing, too, IMHO), is better, more sanitary and more appealing.
That lumpy mess in your photo would warrant a letter with photo attached, to the CEO, if I were you.
No, the lumps weren’t dangerous, just unsightly.
So why couldn’t they make a white bedspread that they can bleach? I’d much rather ALL of the bedding could be cleaned after every guest. That would be more sanitary than the duvet idea.
I like them because they’re soft. :)
I discovered the joy of sleeping under a duvet in England and now have one on each bed in my house. I love ‘em. They’re soft, warm and fun to sleep under. Putting the cover on was a bit of a pain but thanks to a video on YouTube, I finally learned how to do it.
When the hotels just used a regular bed spread, blanket and sheets, ALL of those can be washed.
Of course, but do you think they actually wash them?
I’ve worked at two hotels and both of them had comforters that they didn’t put in the washing machine between guest stays. When stripping the beds, I would have to take out the sheets and put the comforter to the side on a table or a chair. The comforters would only get washed if someone spilled something on them.
At one of the hotels I worked at, they would also make me spray something on the comforters between guest stays, but I don’t know how much that did other than making the comforter smell like Hawaiian breeze.
And the spare blankets that were in the shelves? I have yet to wash one of those at the hotel I’m working at now. At the other place, rarely.
So for hotels, I think duvets are a great invention because now, it’s another linen but definitely a more sanitary advancement. I wish the hotels I work at now would get them. I thought it was brilliant from the moment I first heard of it.
The question was one of sanitation though @Pachy. I have a feather mattress on my my kind sized water bed. It has discolored spots on it from “body fluids.” I drag it outside a couple times a year and air it out (basically bake it when it’s hot) and I beat on it, but I can’t wash it. That’s the same problem I’d think they’d have with the cushion of the duvet…they can’t wash it. Maybe dry clean or steam clean once in a while, but not on a consistent basis.
Bedspread=bulky. Bulky= more laundry. More laundry= less profit and more labor= even LESS profit.
Also traditional bedspreads are not hardy enough to be washed daily.
I guess if one really has a problem with the duvet, one can just sleep with sheet alone.
@dxs I was going to ask if anyone here worked in hotel services. Were you SUPPOSED to wash the bed spreads and the blankets but just didn’t?
Bedspreads don’t have to be bulky @jca. They can be specially made to withstand constant washing, just as the duvet covers are.
If you don’t sleep with the duvet the only sheet you have is the bottom fitted sheet. In other words, you don’t got no covers.
I personally don’t have a problem with them, but I do not think they’re more sanitary than the old bedding.
@Dutchess_III I’m amazed that anyone believes that the blankets in hotels get washed! Whether comforter or duvet, I don’t think anyone is doing that.
All the hotels I stay in have a sheet and then the duvet. I think (but won’t swear to it) there may be a blanket, too). There are usually at least a spare blanket in closet, too.
@glacial ask @dxs if they get washed. They’ve always seemed clean to me and that’s all I cared about.
I bet if the staff can get out of cleaning the duvet cover they will. They have to be a terrible hassle for them to get on and off.
@jca check again. The top sheet is PART of the duvet cover. They’re sewn together.
@Dutchess_III I think having the cleaning staff remove and replace the duvet cover would at least double the amount of time they have to spend tidying the bed. Not changing it is more than a matter of the staff “getting out of it”, it would save the hotel the staff’s time and therefore money.
Or maybe not. I’m confused. All I know is that I didn’t have a separate top sheet. Just the duvet cover then the bottom sheet.
@glacial Ergo, it’s no more sanitary than the old bedding.
No, that’s what I’m saying.
Duvets are great. Sheets and blankets are old fashioned and cold. Also it’s perfectly possible to wash a duvet. They just take a bit of time to dry.
Now I’m wondering if I did have a separate top sheet and just didn’t know it. If it WAS separate then they tucked it in at the top, rather than folding it down like they usually do.
Yes you CAN wash the duvet COVER, but you can’t wash the padding @Lightlyseared. At least you could wash ALL of the “old fashioned” sheets and bedding if you had a mind to, not just parts of them.
Sorry, but I wash my duvet (the padding bit) every few months. You put it in the washing machine, dry in the dryer. Comes out great. I don’t see what the problem is.
Down. Synthetic duvets are so cheap it’s cheaper to buy a new one than wash and dry the old one.
@Lightlyseared I should have specified that we’re talking about the duvets hotels use. They need to be washed pretty much every day.
@Dutchess_III Nope. However, at the hotel that sprayed the comforters, we’d also wash them if a party stayed in a room for an extended amount of time (this means about a week or even just five nights). This is in a tourist trap, and I’d say that it is one of the cleanest hotels in the area, even cleaner than the big shot fancy hotel two blocks down that uses duvets.
@glacial I used to live in a hotel that used duvet inserts and they washed them each time they changed the bedding.
@dxs Interesting! I honestly wouldn’t have expected that much. Are you saying they washed the duvet, or just the cover?
I worked at a hotel and the wet spots where just turned upside down, the duvet cover was washed at the end of the season.
@glacial No just the cover. It seems to me that the whole point of a duvet is that you’re not supposed to wash the inside part. It’s the same idea as a pillow and a pillow case.
@dxs Yup, that’s my take on it, too.
Yep. Makes sense. But you still get body fluids on the inside part, on the padding and you can’t wash it.
Quite frankly I’d be more concerned about the mattress.
@Dutchess_III Yeah, but you can’t see it, so it’s all ok. :P
Staying in hotels is already a huge exercise in sustained disbelief where cleanliness is concerned. This is just a single aspect.
EXACTLY @glacial. You nailed it! So much of the crap we worry about is just our own groundless paranoia.
@Lightlyseared same with the mattress. Glacial’s comment applies.
I was making a comment on those who claim that duvets are more sanitary. They aren’t.
Except I DID get bedbugs at a Hampton in 1999. Itchy.
Duvet with cover that gets fluids on it , yet washed with each guest vs. Bedspread that is covered with fluids and washed about twice a year. Which one would I rather touch?
@jca….It depends on the hotel. Some wash them after every guest, some don’t. See comments above.
The photos of the lumpy bed are hilarious. Looks like that porn channel got more than your panties in a bunch!!
I’d send the photo in to corporate. That’s a disgrace. I probably would have phoned the deck and asked for a new one.
Oh shut UP @ibstubro! No. If I was going to throw a fit it would be about the porn, not a lumpy duvet. That’s just nit picking. Wasn’t hurting anyone.
I love duvets but I always use 2 sheets, underneath and on the top and then the duvet as the warmth factor. I had a friend that did not use a top sheet, I always think it would wear the cover out much, much faster if it was being washed all the time. When the sun is shining the whole duvet gets hung outside on the line to air it out.
Hell, I just use throw a sleeping bag on top of my bedspread! I have more coziness in that bed of mine. :D
Did you here the sad news about the Duke and Dutchess of Duvet?
Turns out they were just a really big sham!
Duke and Dutchess of Duvet!! ROFLLOL!!
I love duvets. I can switch them according to my mood or the season and washing them is also easy. A duvet provides good insulation in summer when it’s hot too.
Duvets, or as we call them doonas (one of those brand names that became so popular it became the name for all types), are basically the only things used in Australia. I don’t understand why you’re so worried about the down duvet itself not being washed every time when obviously the mattress is not going to be washed every time and the only thing between you and that is a sheet, just like the duvet cover between you and the duvet. A top sheet can also be used as well (we generally only do that in winter but most hotels I’ve been at use two sheets plus the duvet cover), maybe you can request that at the next hotel you stay at just to make sure. You should technically wash (dry/steam clean) the down duvet itself every now and again (like say 6 monthly) which I’m sure hotels are capable of in bulk. I’ve never had bed bugs from my own, friends, or hotel duvets in my whole life, and to be honest I doubt the average australian would wash the duvet itself that often (I know my family does once in a blue moon, only if say the cat has an accident on the bed).
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