It's Official: An Uncomfortable Bed is Main Problem For Your Guests

We've always suspected it, and now we know the truth; hotel beds (and what you put on them) are the main 'complaint fodder' for your guests.

Consumer Reports - the bigwig independent organisation that works for a safe and fair marketplace - has carried out some research into the foray of hotel guest satisfaction. They surveyed 22,000 readers about their stays at 44 hotel chains. The results showed that scores for service, hotel upkeep and check-in and check-out processes had improved over the last six years. A quarter of respondents had at least one complaint though, with inadequate beds, noise and outdated decor dominating the list.

Tod Marks, a senior projects editor with Consumer Reports says "The key thing about a hotel is how good a night's sleep you were able to get. An uncomfortable bed is one of the things that always seems to stand out in terms of problems."

So what can you do to improve your beds, short of investing in expensive all-singing-all-dancing pocket sprung / memory foam / orthopaedic / electrically adjustable divans?

At Tonrose, we provide textile solutions. From cosy duvets and pillows to mattress toppers and crisp percale sheeting, we can improve your hotel's comfort rating no end. Try our Sumptuously Snug range of filled products and our Ultima linens for impeccable usability and guest satisfaction.

Interested to see how we can work with any budget to provide a solution for you? Call 01254 239 900 and speak to our specialist Hotel Account Manager, Vicky.

What is Towel Day?

 

 

As you may or may not know, Tonrose's range includes some super quality towels which we are very proud of. You can imagine our delight, therefore, when we heard that today was a celebrated day dedicated to the fluffy things themselves!

Disappointingly, the day isn't connected directly to our towels, but came about through a science fiction book (well, they have always said that sci-fi geeks like to do things a little differently...). So what is it all about?

If you don’t know much about Douglas Adams, the most important thing to know is that he wrote humorous and fun science fiction books. This May marks the 11-year anniversary of Adams’ death. Two weeks after his death, his fans decided to commemorate him by making May 25th, Towel Day.

Adams believed that towels should be worn everywhere. In his most famous book, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, Adams wrote about the importance of towels. Have a look to see what he wrote:

"A towel, it says, is about the most massively useful thing an interstellar hitchhiker can have. Partly it has great practical value. You can wrap it around you for warmth as you bound across the cold moons of Jaglan Beta; you can lie on it on the brilliant marble-sanded beaches of Santraginus V, inhaling the heady sea vapours; you can sleep under it beneath the stars which shine so redly on the desert world of Kakrafoon; use it to sail a miniraft down the slow heavy River Moth; wet it for use in hand-to-hand-combat; wrap it round your head to ward off noxious fumes or avoid the gaze of the Ravenous Bugblatter Beast of Traal (such a mind-bogglingly stupid animal, it assumes that if you can't see it, it can't see you); you can wave your towel in emergencies as a distress signal, and of course dry yourself off with it if it still seems to be clean enough.

More importantly, a towel has immense psychological value. For some reason, if a strag (strag: non-hitch hiker) discovers that a hitch hiker has his towel with him, he will automatically assume that he is also in possession of a toothbrush, face flannel, soap, tin of biscuits, flask, compass, map, ball of string, gnat spray, wet weather gear, space suit etc., etc. Furthermore, the strag will then happily lend the hitch hiker any of these or a dozen other items that the hitch hiker might accidentally have "lost". What the strag will think is that any man who can hitch the length and breadth of the galaxy, rough it, slum it, struggle against terrible odds, win through, and still knows where his towel is, is clearly a man to be reckoned with."

—Douglas Adams, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

So do you know where your towel is? If not - call us, we have plenty! 01254 239 900

A Stolen Hour of Sleep...

Don't forget to put your clocks forward this Saturday night. Not just your watch and alarm clock, but the oven, the DVD player, the one in the car etc etc to avoid confusion come Sunday morning. The exact time the clocks spring forward is 2am on Sunday morning.

One area of confusion can be our mobile phones (which serve as many people's alarm clocks these days) - does yours automatically update or do you have to do it yourself? Here is our indispensible guide to those which update themselves - have a look for your phone here...

• Apple iPhone
• Most BlackBerry devices
• All HTC models running Android & WIN 7
• Most LG devices
• Most MOTOROLA devices
• Most Nokia models, including series 40 and 60 phones.
• Most SAMSUNG devices
• Most Sony Ericsson models

I was reading a recent Innocent (the smoothie people) newsletter and I thought they phrased the phenomenon of daylight savings perfectly: "Come Saturday night the workers from the Department of Time will be out in their masses, creeping through the darkness and wrestling exactly 60 minutes from our sleepy grip. They've assured us that the lost hours, which amount to over 62 million, will be stored securely in their vaults ready for redistribution come October, and that nobody should feel a thing when they carry out their work."

So faced with the fact that we will lose an hour's sleep, what can we do to make the most of Saturday night's slumber?

1. As above, put ALL your clocks forward before bed.
2. Start preparing your body clock by going to sleep and waking up 30 minutes earlier and taking a nap on Sunday. Once you wake up over the weekend, try to get some sunlight as soon as possible for extra energy. This should help with the early-morning jolt come Monday morning.
3. Mornings will be darker initially so use a natural sunrise alarm clock to alleviate the 'waking up in the dark' discomfort.
4. Improve your sleep hygiene, which is a term used to describe the actions we take to create sleep-friendly environments and enhance your chances of falling asleep, staying asleep and sleeping soundly. Basics include reducing caffeine and alcohol, exercising several hours before bedtime, relaxing before getting into bed and investing in good, breathable and comfortable bedding.
5. Though there is no evidence that certain diets will actually influence your circadian rhythm, carbohydrates tend to make it easier to fall sleep.

Sleep tight x

Its not too late!

Is your Restaurant and Hotel Bedrooms ready for those busy Christmas critics.  

Dont worry if your not, its not too late to place your order with Tonrose. Call us today on 01254 239900 to place your order and be ready for the Christmas Rush!

Sleep like a baby

Sleep like a baby…

Here at Tonrose, we don’t ‘just’ supply bedding, we’re interested in the science of sleep. The way we see it, if we can work out what helps you nod off, we can improve our products even further to give you the best night’s sleep possible.

We all know how precious sleep is, and when a baby arrives on the scene, slumber for both the parents and the new-born can become more and more elusive!

So what can you do to improve the quantity and quality of the shut-eye you and your new family get? Babies wake in the night for all sorts of reasons. Be assured that you are not alone!  About a quarter of children under five in the UK have sleep problems, in particular: refusing to go to bed or waking in the night, and the two often go together.

As your child grows and develops it's important to sort out any sleep difficulties, because it can put pressure on relationships between you and your partner, and even between you and your child.

There are different sleep strategies, from crying it out at one end of the spectrum to co-sleeping at the other. It all depends on which solution works best for you and your family.

The following tactics can help your baby to sleep well from as early as six weeks. Always remember, whichever approach you take, you must be consistent and stick to it at all times!

·      Give him/her a chance to fall asleep on her own with no fussing or nursing
·     Set a bedtime routine and stick to it!
·     Give her a security object, such as a baby blanket, stuffed animal or soother.
·     Let him/her out. This is suitable once your baby is four or five months old. If she's crying  after you've put her down, go to her, pat him/her gently and tell him/her everything's fine, but that it's now time to go to sleep. Be gentle, but firm. Leave the room. Wait for a set interval, anything from two to five minutes, then check again. Do this repeatedly until he/she falls asleep, extending the time between each visit.


Recommended sleep patterns for babies:-

Age	Night-time Sleep	Daytime Sleep	Total Sleep
1 month	8½	7(3 naps)	15½
3 months	10	5 (3 naps)	15
6 months	11	3¼ (2 naps)	14¼
9 months	11	3 (2 naps)	14
12 months	11¼	2½ (2 naps)	13¾
18 months	11¼	2¼ (1 nap)	13½
2 years	11	2 (1 nap)	13
3 years	10½	1½ (1 nap)	12

Could you be allergic to your bed?

We all see our bed as a place of refuge; a place to relax and recuperate after a hard day’s work. A safe haven of comfort, warmth and security. But is your bed as safe as you think it is?

Research has shown that over 12 million people could be allergic to something rather sinister that lurks in all beds… dust mites. An average bed has over 2 million of these little critters. They feed off your dead skin and set up home in your bedding.

59% of allergy sufferers said that their symptoms were worse in the bedroom. A shocking revelation that illustrates just how rampant these mites are is that your pillow will double in weight over a six month period due to the faeces they produce! A female can produce up to 100 eggs in her 10 week lifespan, taking over your bed in a matter of days.

Chris Kingsford of Tonrose linen advises that pillows should be changed at least once a year and all bedding should be washed once a week at 60°C. He adds, “The thought of these creatures in your bed is rather unpleasant, but there’s no way of preventing them. Buying good quality ben linen means it can be washed time and time again to get rid of the mites. Washing only goes so far though, and we agree with Allergy UK’s advice that bedding should be replaced frequently.” 

So what’ll it be: party in your bed tonight with 2 million mites on the guest list? I’m ordering new pillows as I write…

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