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With 81% of travellers regarding a comfortable bed as “the single-most important factor” for an enjoyable stay in a hotel room, it’s imperative to ensure the bedding, mattress and bed linen you offer is carefully thought out.
Though choosing the best bed linen for your bed & breakfast, holiday home or hotel is an essential process, it can also be a difficult one when weighing up the pros and cons of every style, colour, fabric and thread count available.
From polycotton vs cotton to choosing the right thread count, this extensive bed linen guide contains everything you need to know about choosing the right linen for you and your guests, so you can perfect that essential great sleep environment. In this blog we will cover the following:
The thread count of bed linen refers to the number of threads woven together per square inch, counting horizontal and vertical threads. Say, for instance, 100 lengthwise threads are woven with 80 widthwise threads, this would produce a thread count of 180.
A higher thread count is desirable in hotels as it is often associated with being softer, stronger and more luxurious than other bed linen.
The misconception, however, is that a high thread count is completely synonymous with quality, as quality can also be heavily determined by the standard of the fabric itself.
Our luxurious 400 thread count bed linen, for example, is produced from 100% fine cotton, giving a silky soft finish that is highly sought after in boutique hotels and B&Bs. While the thread count is a huge factor in the overall standard of a product, its combination with a superior fabric is what allows the quality to really shine through.
Linen with a higher thread count can also translate to a much higher price tag, so ensuring you consider, but are not driven by, the thread count of a bed linen is essential when weighing up the benefits of style and fabric, too.
Often confused as a type of fabric, percale refers to a specific type of weave consisting of a simple criss-cross pattern, used to create a durable yet soft fabric, tightly woven to ensure it is suitable for repeat use, washing and drying.
Authentic percale linen is defined as having a minimum of 180 threads per square inch, resulting in a superior finish.
Percale is not, therefore, defined by the fabric it is produced from, meaning it can be manufactured using polycotton, 100% cotton, or any other blend of fabric threads.
Both polycotton and cotton remain the top two choices amongst hotels, B&Bs and self-catering properties for two entirely different reasons. Polycotton, a blend of durable polyester and luxurious cotton, is a preferable choice due to being relatively easy-care, meaning little to no ironing is necessary to still maintain a crisp finish.
The fabric is also renowned for being incredibly long-lasting, withstanding the rigours of repeated use, washing and drying, serving as a great choice within commercial environments.
On the other hand, polycotton linen also has a reputation for having a rougher feel compared to cotton, largely due to the fabric containing the manmade synthetic fibre, polyester.
To combat this, however, our Easycare Expressions range contains combed cotton to retain the desirable silky soft finish while maintaining the advantage of being an easy-care fabric. The combing process removes all unwanted fibres from the cloth so the yarn is more even and, as a result, smooth to the touch.
Cotton, on the other hand, is often a popular choice due to the element of luxury it adds and the benefits that follow. Rather than being combined with a synthetic, man-made fibre like polyester, 100% cotton linen utilises a naturally occurring material, making it a great choice for guests with sensitive skin.
It is also favoured due to its ability to retain its softness, breathability and durability wash after wash due to the exceptional natural properties of the fabric.
On the other hand, cotton also has a reputation for being relatively high maintenance in terms of washing, drying and ironing time compared to polycotton. Ironing time, however, can easily be combatted with the use of a Blanca Laundry Press, which will significantly reduce your ironing time, while giving the finish of a professional launder.
Due to variances in fabric and style, our bed linen ranges vary in size, though they are typically the same, or slightly more generous in size, compared to the standard UK bed linen sizes. As cotton has a tendency for shrinkage when washing, we try and accommodate this specifically in our sizing.
You can find measurements for our bestselling collections below, though all products will contain the specifications you require on our website.
See measurements for:
Not only is bed linen a practical necessity in every bedroom, it can also serve as a decorative addition to tie into any room décor. Whether opting for plain or patterned bed linen in your bedrooms, it’s important to assess what fits best with your décor and, most importantly, what your guests will like.
Crisp, white linen is a timeless favourite amongst most hosts and guests alike, as it gives a sense of freshness and minimalism that’s sure to please everyone.
Though plain in appearance, less is often more with bedroom décor, and white linen can be livened up with pops of colour by adding soft furnishings such as runners, cushions and curtains.
If you fancy a change from traditionally plain bed linen, patterned bed linen can serve as a great statement piece. When done right, geometric patterned bed linen can really add a modern touch to your rooms, or if opting for a floral print, subtle patterns can be a great alternative to plain bedding without being too garish.
If all you want to add is a little bit of texture to your bed linen, ruched or seersucker styles are certainly the way to go.
Coloured bed linen, especially in pastel shades such as duck egg and minimal silver greys, are incredibly versatile and on-trend.
If you're looking for a bed linen range that's suitable for professional laundering, take a look at our selection of commercial laundry friendly bed linen. This includes our percale, satin stripe and 300 thread count cotton rich ranges.
Although the majority of our bed linen collections are suitable for professional laundering in terms of their construction, we do not recommend commercial laundering for two very simple reasons:
Firstly, the stainless steel poppers on our bed linen are not compatible with the laundering process of calendering, which involves forcing fabric through two heated rollers at high pressure to smooth out the linen. Open bag duvet covers are often a more favourable choice for those using professional launderers, though it's best to double check with the launderer first as they may be able to accommodate covers with poppers.
Secondly, we recommend our bed linen is washed at no higher than 40°C, while professional launderers use much higher temperatures, reducing the lifetime of your bed linen significantly.
Always check with launderers what temperature they typically wash at.
We appreciate that bed linen within a hospitality environment has to withstand far more rigours than that of domestic bedding. That's why all of our bed linen is made to last ensuring colour and quality are maintained, and we’ve added a number of extra features to save you time and effort when changeovers are tight.
Our standard bed linen ranges all feature stainless steel poppers that are not only durable, but also make a considerable difference in speeding up changeovers.
Our Percale and Expressions collections also contain colour coded size identification tabs, allowing you to quickly and efficiently select the correct size duvet cover without rooting through your entire linen cupboard.
Our standard 200, 300 and 400 100% cotton duvet covers, as well as some of our patterned collections including Portishead, Elizabeth and Emily, are specially manufactured with a wide shoulder feature to ensure changing the duvet cover is effortless and time-saving.
Founded back in 1993 with the ambition to provide accommodation providers with an extensive and innovative range of products to help operate their business – in short, your one stop shop for all your hospitality needs.
So hard to find fitted sheets with a 'deep' enough 'skirt' to cope with mattress protectors and even slim toppers. These sheets are great, no fight to get them on!!!
Had some of these whilst on holiday recently and have been looking for them! Lovely, and so useful in the small packets!
