Ultimate Guide to Beds for Serviced Accommodation

When setting up your first, second or your next short stay property, the beds are top of the list of requirements. A good bed comes top with cleanliness and wifi for the most important things guest look out for when staying in any serviced accommodation.

So it’s no wonder many people spend time on this to get it right.

I have broken down what I do in my units and the 100 units I managed across the country to give you the head start of getting it right every time for a cozy sleep and great guest reviews.

Bed Sizes

The bed sizes in the UK go from small single (never used in any SA unit) to Super king. Some units may use larger beds but these are not normal sizes and you should stick to standard sizes especially if you are going to rent bed linen for you accommodation.

Bed Sizes	Imperial Size	Metric Size
Small Single	2’6″ x 6’3″	75 x 190 cm
Single	3’0″ x 6’3″	90 x 130 cm
Small Double (Queen)	4’0″ x 6’3″	120 x 190 cm
Double	4’6″ x 6’3″	135 x 190 cm
King	5’0″ x 6’6″	150 x 200 cm
Super King	6’0″ x 6’6″	180 x 200 cm

Beds sizes for Serviced Accommodation

When buying beds for serviced accommodation units it’s important to make things as easy as possible for yourself and your cleaning teams.

I would try to keep the number of different sizes of bed and duvets to the minimum. If at all possible I will have single, double and super king. I do have a small number of king size beds that I inherited, but I would prefer to have less variety, so my linen is easy to track. Also I have more of the same size linen to cover any property.

You might not expect it to be an issue, but easily through the summer months, I seem to never have enough linen, no matter how much I have, it’s alway a headache.

Linen

I have in various units the above 4 size beds, but do note that the king size beds are supplied with super king duvets and covers as well as using super king flat bottom sheets. We do not use any fitted sheets, they stretch, they can’t be ironed properly and stack on the shelf in a way that they are just waiting to fall off.

Duvet Covers

I use open bottom duvets covers (saves time buttoning up each time) and have hand holes for the very top on each side so a cleaner can pull the duvet into the covers of the cover quickly.

Bottom Sheets

The bottom sheets are alway flat sheets, these can be put onto beds just as fast as a fitted sheet and they iron better, stack better in our store and can be used on small beds if the need arises.

Remember fitted sheets mean they stay on the mattress better, but in a short-stay industry they are only going to stay for a few nights to maybe a week and so they will be changed more then many bottom sheets in a home.

Pillows

We alway have two pillows per person and as such you will need two pillow cases. The pillow cases are white and plain (as all of the linen is) and the case does not have the lip to hold the pillow in the cover – if you don’t know what I’m talking about have a look at your pillows at home and see how you can’t see the pillow itself when in the cover.

We are very particular about the pillows as this is what guests will put their heads on and will complain about if there is the slightest mark or dirt on – would you want to put your face into something that you thought was dirty.

Zip and Link Beds

The nightly zip and link bed turns a two person bed into two separate single beds. But hold on a minute, you can’t just do it with any bed.

You can get king size beds that are zip and link but this will make two small single ie 2 and a half foot wide (75cm) the size smaller than standard size single beds which are 3 foot wide or 90cm. To get a usable single bed you need to get super king zip and link beds and when these are separated, these will make two standard single beds and be usable by children, adults as well as two contractors sharing a room.

Renting Vs Owning

So I have always bought the beds (and if you want to know who I use please contact me and I can pass their details on) it really is a no brainer to buy beds.

As for linen I have done both buying and cleaning our own and they turning to hiring. I would say if you have one or maybe two units you can get away with buying your own. But remember you will need at least three full sets of linen and possibly some spare – I would go so far as to say you will need 4 sets plus spares.

We seem to lose (read pinched) or have damaged or stained linen come back once every 5 months, and as most of our change overs are in the summer they always seem to be when we are already short of linen.

So we have went over to hiring linen and then it is the problem of the hire company to sort out stains (it will be our problem for missing lien as we can not return linen at the end of the contract, but that’s a long way off) we just need to ensure we have enough linen, while not paying too much each month to have it sitting idle on the shelf.

It’s not cheap for linen, but it is a requirement to have good, serviceable and clean linen on the beds for your guests.

Conclusion

So this is a quick, rough and ready overview of beds and linen for your serviced accommodation, short stay or holiday let business it is often a subject that is left to the last minute and then cobbled together to just get the guests through the door and this means you end up paying more than you need to.

When you get your first property and are looking to book an engineer for your wifi then you should be doing the same for linen and good few weeks to get it all organised will be needed

Finally if you have any suggestions or questions please ask me as I want to make this into the most complete resource on the subject.