What Bed Sheets Do Luxury Hotels Use?

It’s hard to beat a more luxurious and decadent experience than diving beneath the sheets of a luxury hotel bed.

A first class hotel bed is a place of pure extravagance. The restorative and decadent feeling that these hotels create is something we all strive to achieve in our bedrooms at home.

But why are hotel beds so luxurious? What bed sheets do hotels use? They’re just beds after all. Why is it that we can’t always experience the wonders of a hotel bed in our own home?

It’s entirely possible to buy exactly the same bed sheets as 5-star luxury hotels. You just need to know what you’re looking for.

5-Star Hotel Sheets: What Bed Sheets Do Hotels Use?

When researching bed sheets, you’ll read a lot in regards to thread count. Thread count does contribute to the quality of bed sheets but not to the extent that is emphasised by bed linen marketeers. The advice that the higher the thread count, the better the quality of the bed sheets is not always true, as it doesn’t take in to account the quality of the actual cotton - only the amount of it.

It’s possible to buy sheets with over 1,000 thread counts, yet luxury hotel sheets often opt for sheet with 200-300 thread count. If higher thread counts make for better bed sheets, why don't the finest hotels have the highest thread count bedding?

Because thread count is not the factor that makes bedding feel truly luxurious.

If you’d like to learn more about thread counts, you can read our “Bed Linen Uncovered” blog.

The quick answer is that too many threads can make sheets too thick, reduce breathability and make them uncomfortable. Additionally, using exceptional quality cotton in the volume required to weave high thread counts is very expensive. So, if a high thread count isn’t the game changer that hotels are using in their sheets, what is?

It’s all in the way in which the sheets are woven.

This is the deciding factor hotels choose for their luxury bed sheets. They will almost always insist on single ply woven sheets and long staple cotton, and more often than not, a percale weave over sateen.

For the latter note, percale isn't better than sateen, however percale offers that signature, crisp-hotel feel and does have greater longevity purely based on the weave structure - so is favourable for hospitality linens.

Can You Make Your Bed at Home Feel like a Hotel Bed?

Hotels opt for a percale weave over sateen as percale epitomises the cool, crisp feeling typical of a luxury hotel suite. A percale weave is also naturally longer-lasting as by definition, it’s a tighter weave (one under, one over - in comparison, sateen is typically three over, one under). However, we would recommend choosing the weave you prefer - bed linen that is made from long staple cotton will last many years, regardless.


Why does the weaving matter so much?

Another important factor to ensure your sheets feel as luxurious as the finest hotels is to source sheets woven in Italy or Portugal, areas of provenance for heritage cotton weaving and textile finishing. These countries have unrivalled heritage weaving the finest cotton bed sheets. Over centuries, generations have passed information to one another.

Their expertise in regards to the finishing techniques employed is exceptional. Finishing techniques enhance cotton’s natural properties and may offer additional longevity, softness and lustre to your sheets. 

Where to Buy Hotel-Quality Bed Sheets

Rebecca Udall exclusively sells fine quality, European woven and specialist artisan manufactured percale and sateen bedding. We work directly with prestigious mills and expert tailors who make for many renowned hotel and superyachts, for example. 

We offer bed linen ranges from heritage Portuguese and Italian mills as we strongly believe these are the best places globally for fine, hotel quality bed sheets.

We have two offerings for our bed linen i) Atelier bespoke bed linen collection and our ii) core stocked range.

REBECCA UDALL ATELIER partners with the most prestigious mills and artisan makers in northern Italy for truly exceptional bed linen - the best globally. Atelier bed linen spans almost limitless designs with a wide choice of fabrics and colour choices. Our cotton fabrics are exclusively woven by prestigious mills in Italy with long or extra-long staple cotton fibres, and available in a number of weaves and colours. This range is available in any size including European, American and Australian bed sizes. You can shop Atelier bed linen here.

Our stocked offering is available for immediate dispatch and is made in Portugal. Shop our Portuguese bed linen. 

Ready to upgrade your bedding and spend every night in hotel-level luxury? Browse our range of bespoke, Italian Atelier bed linen or our stocked, Portuguese bed linen.