There is a lot of difference or alternatively very little. The answer largely depends on how closely you examine the pillows.
The highest quality luxury hotels in particular demand a lot from their pillows, as they cater to the most demanding and quality-conscious guests. These guests pay several hundred euros for a night at a hotel, so the sleeping experience must meet the customer's expectations.
Many holidaymakers feel particularly refreshed after a hotel stay. Part of the reason is of course the relaxing break from everyday life, but at least as big a reason is often a good night's sleep. Why do hotels make sleep taste so good?
Hotel pillows are manufactured with different priorities than regular pillows. Hotel pillows must withstand dozens of washes, as high-quality hotels wash pillows frequently, even with a pillowcase. To ensure that a pillow can withstand washing without any problems, attention should be paid to the filling material of the pillow, as well as the weaving and finishing of the outer fabric.
When talking about hotel pillows, one must take into account an undeniable fact; hotel pillows come in just as many quality levels as regular pillows, ranging from a few to several hundred euros. The cheapest hotel pillows use ball fiber as the filling, which is the cheapest of the synthetic fiber fillings, and naturally also the worst to use. It does not deform much under the sleeper's head, but mostly just flexes. Due to its large fiber structure, it is unable to recover from washing, and often, as its name suggests, balls up in the first wash.
When sleeping in a hotel, you can easily detect a ballpoint pillow by testing the pillow as follows.
- Squeeze the pillow, does it feel cottony and flexible? -> If yes, it is a ball fiber pillow.
- Press down on the center of the pillow with your palm (as if you were imitating placing your head on the pillow), does your hand sink into the pillow or does the pillow press down evenly around your hand? -> If yes, it is a ball fiber pillow.
- If the pillow has a zipper, open it and take a small piece of filling in your hand. Can you see a single fiber? If so, it is a ball-fill pillow.
After the ball fiber pillow, the best filling is microfiber, which is the most popular filling material in Finland, even in the highest quality 5-star hotels. As the name suggests, microfiber is an extremely small-structured fiber. It is a synthetic fiber like ball fiber, but with significantly better properties than ball fiber.
Microfiber is able to return to its original shape after washing again and again, even for years, because thanks to its extremely small structure, the fibers do not tangle together, like ball fibers. Another great advantage of a microfiber pillow is its unique ability to shape itself again and again according to the weight and shape of the sleeper. Due to the shape-shifting property of microfiber, the pillow is able to provide the sleeper with support exactly where it is needed.
The difference between ball fiber and microfiber is best noticed in the sleeping position. When sleeping with a ball fiber pillow, the sleeper often has to unknowingly tense their neck and shoulder muscles, because the pillow does not shape under the head, and support has to be created by muscle work. As a result of the muscle work that lasts all night, there is often pain and stiffness in the neck and shoulder area. A microfiber pillow, on the other hand, provides the necessary support when it shapes itself, allowing the muscles to relax during the night.
Many sleepers have found relief from neck and shoulder pain by switching to a microfiber-filled pillow. Of course, it should be noted that this solution does not necessarily apply to all neck and shoulder pain, and it is not medical advice or recommendation.
The third and final hotel pillow material is a feather/down pillow. Especially abroad, the highest quality hotels use down as a filling for their pillows. In Finland, filling is very rare even in the highest quality hotels, as many Finnish sleepers want to avoid down due to their allergies. Although it should be noted that a high-quality European down pillow is often safe even for allergic sleepers, of course, a completely synthetic fiber pillow can be recommended for the most allergic sleepers.
There are many differences in quality of down, and we will talk about these in more detail in a separate blog. In short, it can be mentioned that a down pillow often contains some kind of mixture of down and feathers. The higher the percentage of the pillow that is down, the higher the quality and more expensive the pillow. The more feathers the pillow contains, the cheaper and lower the quality the pillow. A high-quality down pillow can be considered to have a down content of over 85%. Of course, if you want a down pillow to be firmer, the only way to get it is to add down. In this case, high-quality manufacturers make the pillow with 3 layers, which means that the feathers can be hidden in the middle layer of the pillow and only pure down is closest to the skin.
Down pillows in hotels almost invariably use a blend without a 3-layer structure. Down offers much of the same sleeping benefits as a microfiber pillow, but is more laborious to maintain due to its unique washing requirements.
Hotel pillows are also required to have an SL1 fire safety rating. The fire safety rating can be met in two ways, either with a fire retardant, or with Trevira Cs fabric, which is a naturally fire-safe and chemical-free fabric. The fire-safe property of Trevira Cs fabric is based on its very dense, tight and thick weave. We always recommend hotel pillows that use Trevira Cs fabric instead of chemicals for home use. All hotel pillows and blankets in our selection are made of Trevira Cs fabric, as it has passed all the required allergy and skin tests without fault.
Due to the unique filling material and surface fabric, the sleeping experience with a hotel pillow often differs somewhat from a normal pillow. Of course, the sleeping experience is greatly affected by the filling material and surface fabric in the hotel pillow. It can be stated that hotel pillow X and supermarket pillow Y, both of which have the same filling material but different surface fabrics, are much closer to each other in terms of sleeping experience than hotel pillow Z and hotel pillow W, which have one filled with ball fiber and the other with down.
When choosing a hotel pillow, it is worth paying attention to the filling of the pillow and your own sleeping preferences. In general, however, it can be stated that the majority of sleepers are best served by a microfiber-filled hotel pillow with Trevira Cs as the surface fabric, which makes the pillow completely hypoallergenic, shapes itself to the sleeper again and again, is able to recover from washing without any problems, and is friendlier to the wallet than a down pillow.
Our selection includes different thickness versions of such hotel pillows, as well as larger giant pillows for reading or creating a hotel-like bedspread. Our Hotel Luxus hotel pillows are used in numerous top-quality hotels in Finland, as well as in the suites of some cruise ships!
You can try our selection of hotel pillows by making an appointment at our showroom in Helsinki, at Valimotie 21, 00380 Helsinki.
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