Does anyone else travel with bed sheets

Old Aug 8th, 2003, 12:40 PM
  #1  
Original Poster
 
Join Date: Aug 2003
Posts: 36
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
Does anyone else travel with bed sheets

I am so repulsed by most hotels' bed linens that I now take my own. I routinely pay $300-400 per night for hotel rooms, so I don't think I'm expecting too much when I want sheets that aren't hole-y, fraying, stained, or worn thin !

Yes, the sheets take up room in my suitcase, but I sleep SO much better now ! Good nights of sleep are worth the trouble.

There have been only a few hotels where I have not used my sheets even though I've had them with me .. Hotel Bristol in Vienna (finest hotel bed linens I've ever seen), Hayfield Manor in Cork Ireland (beautiful linen sheets), and the Trump International in NYC (not all stays there, though).

I heard that Diane Sawyer also travels with sheets. Do any of you ?

If I had room for my pillows and towels, I'd take those too.

fussy_traveller is offline  
Old Aug 9th, 2003, 12:52 PM
  #2  
 
Join Date: Jan 2003
Posts: 3,107
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
Are you sure you're not swapping the better sheets in the hotels for the walmart cheapies you're bringing with you?

Were I to be losing so much sleep obsessing over the sheets, I'd either not travel, or would use cheaper hotels. Here's an additional phobia for you: Did you ever notice that whereever you sit down, it feels like you're sitting on someone's UNDERWEAR?

Why not use a Winnebago where you can control your OWN high standards?
rb_travelerxATyahoo is offline  
Old Aug 10th, 2003, 07:00 AM
  #3  
Jed
 
Join Date: Jan 2003
Posts: 5,546
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
My wife never leaves home without her sheet and pillow.
Jed is offline  
Old Aug 10th, 2003, 02:44 PM
  #4  
sandi
Guest
 
Posts: n/a
Hole-y, frayed, stained, or thin! Hey, whether I was paying $50/nt or $500/nt. it would be unacceptable. You just call the housekeeping and have them change the sheets to ones that aren't "holey-y, frayed, stained, or thin"

I thought you were talking about whether the sheets were 200ct vs 300ct vs 400ct; actually whether they were soft enough,like Frette or Pratesi or Leron!

What kind of sheets do you bring? Why not just bring a silk sleeping sleeve and put your body (even head) into it - there's no weight to carry with silk, it actually fits into the corner of your suitcase.
 
Old Aug 10th, 2003, 06:15 PM
  #5  
Original Poster
 
Join Date: Aug 2003
Posts: 36
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
Sandi, I tried the sleep sack thing but it got all twisted during the night (I turn a lot).

I use cotton percale sheets from Garnet Hill. I'm very happy with them. I considered getting Frette, but the Frette "hotel sheets" in the stores are much thinner and not nearly as nice as the Frette sheets the hotels use.

Btw, after I posted my initial message I went hunting on the 'net, and I found plenty of people who advise taking the bedspread off the bed when you first enter the room because spreads are washed so infrequently. One site said a hotel bedspread was tested because a crime had been committed in the room, and the tester found 30 different (genetically) semen stains.
fussy_traveller is offline  
Old Aug 10th, 2003, 10:16 PM
  #6  
 
Join Date: Jan 2003
Posts: 5,107
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
fussy traveller, you must have really bad luck. I've slept in hotel beds (from 2-star to 4-star) for 7 out of the past 12 weeks, and never had a sheet with holes, at least not anywhere I noticed. I confess that I don't pull back the covers to look for stained sheets before I get into bed at night. However, if I were paying $300/night I'd raise holy h*ll if everything wasn't perfect!

I think you have a bit of a phobia. What do you do when you stay at a friend's house? Do you bring your own sheets then?
Marilyn is offline  
Old Aug 11th, 2003, 04:26 AM
  #7  
sandi
Guest
 
Posts: n/a
Bedspreads in 5* hotels are supposed to be cleaned (washed, though usually dry cleaned weekly) - still, why anyone would want that strange spread anywhere near their body is beyond me regardless the hotel.

It's the first thing I remove from the bed, folding back, rolling and placing in the closet or corner of room. Then I check out the sheets. As I said above, if anything is wrong with them I just have housekeeping correct and have yet had a problem with any hotel, let alone one that is charging $300+ /nt.

At the Peninsula Hotel in BKK which makes up a beautiful bed, it was missing the "top" sheet between where my body would be and the fully covered down duvet. To me that's a no-no, even though the duvet cover is replaced daily. A call to housekeeping corrected the matter before the phone hit the cradle - maid was there and stripped bed and remade with top sheet. The other bed in room had been made properly - it was a mistake only.

There is no excuse for frayed, hole-y, stained or worn sheets anywhere and you have cause to request a change - but you couldn't get me to bring my own sheets unless I was camping out in a tent!

Ask for what you want and leave the extra weight at home. You're paying so Speak up girl!

 
Old Aug 11th, 2003, 02:01 PM
  #8  
Original Poster
 
Join Date: Aug 2003
Posts: 36
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
I am admittedly fussy, hence my forum name. I'm no Howard Hughes, but I do keep a very clean house and use nice sheets on the bed which I replace regularly, well before they are in the condition of sheets I've seen in most hotels. If I had a sheet that had a stain that couldn't be removed or a hole, it would get tossed out.

When I stay at the homes of friends and family I do not use my own sheets. It seems they are more considerate than the hotels, putting out nice linens for their guests. They're not doing it just for me .. I have only told my mother about my practice, and she knows I would never need to use my sheets at her house. She's an even better housekeeper than I am.

What can I say ? The thought of sleeping on sheets that aren't well cared for or that have been used hundreds of other people and which are washed en masse with the sheets of who knows how many other hotels is really unappealing to me, to the point where bringing my own sheets along is worth the effort. I'm not the backpacking type, so the extra weight isn't an issue.

I really didn't intend to start this thread seeking validation. I do what I do, and I'm cool with it. I'm just wondering if anyone else does this.

fussy_traveller is offline  
Old Aug 11th, 2003, 02:12 PM
  #9  
 
Join Date: Jan 2003
Posts: 5,107
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
Ok, ok, fussy, but where do you draw the line? Hotel towels are also washed "en masse" with everyone else's. So are the linen napkins in a restaurant, which you put to your mouth.
Marilyn is offline  
Old Aug 11th, 2003, 07:05 PM
  #10  
Original Poster
 
Join Date: Aug 2003
Posts: 36
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
I already answered the towels question in my opening post.

Why do I feel like I'm being attacked ? Only Jed's post was free of implications that I'm doing something wrong or that I've got some kind of psychological problem. What is it that bothers you all so much about what I do ?

For the record, I despise cloth napkins and I avoid them whenever possible, not for the same reason I dislike hotel sheets, but because I hate wiping food on cloth. (Am I going to be challenged on this now ?)

fussy_traveller is offline  
Old Aug 11th, 2003, 07:29 PM
  #11  
 
Join Date: Jan 2003
Posts: 5,107
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
Sorry, fussy, I didn't mean to sound attacking. The fact that you travel with your own sheets doesn't bother me, but it does surprise me. I'm just trying to understand it. I'm sure there are others who do this, but I do think it's pretty unusual.

Just out of curiosity, do you remove the sheets every morning before you leave the room so housekeeping doesn't take them to be washed? And do you somehow launder them en route if you are away for several weeks? The more I think about the logistics, the more amazed I am.

Most of all, I would hate coming in late from a long dinner with lots of wine and having to make up the bed!
Marilyn is offline  
Old Aug 11th, 2003, 08:14 PM
  #12  
Original Poster
 
Join Date: Aug 2003
Posts: 36
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
I leave the sheets on, make the bed so it looks neat, and leave a paper note requesting that my bed not be remade.

At the St. Regis in DC, not only did the daytime maid make the bed look even nicer than I had left it, later on the evening maid performed the most impeccable turndown.

But at another hotel, I can't recall which one, the maid put the bedspread over my precious sheets. Ewwww ! Have you seen the bedspread thread yet ? It's enough to make your stomach turn !
fussy_traveller is offline  
Old Aug 12th, 2003, 05:55 AM
  #13  
sandi
Guest
 
Posts: n/a
I have no idea what size bed sheets you carry in your luggage, but last I weighed a set of Queen sheets/cases it was close to 8lbs.

Now that the airlines have reduced weight allowances on Domestic flights to 50-lbs a bag I'd take these extra lbs. into consideration, or be charged for overweight.
 
Old Aug 12th, 2003, 07:00 AM
  #14  
Jed
 
Join Date: Jan 2003
Posts: 5,546
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
My wife takes her own sheet, not because of cleaniless matters, but because most of the hotel sheets feel too rough. Should I complain? Whatever makes her happy... Life is too short to sweat the small stuff.
Jed is offline  
Old Aug 12th, 2003, 10:56 AM
  #15  
Original Poster
 
Join Date: Aug 2003
Posts: 36
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
Sandi, I take 2 king flat sheets and 2 king pillowcases. I haven't weighed them, but I can say that last year I spent several weeks in Europe with 2 carry-on sized bags, and my luggage weight was well under the Euro airlines' more stringent limits.

If I didn't pack the sheets, I guarantee you that space would be taken up by something else.

Jed, thanks for your post. Happiness should not be ignored. I sleep very well on my sheets. (Agreed about the scratchy factor.)

fussy_traveller is offline  
Old Aug 12th, 2003, 11:59 AM
  #16  
 
Join Date: Jan 2003
Posts: 97,137
Received 12 Likes on 11 Posts
You may feel as if you're being attacked because the subject of your post is somewhat unusual. And people are responding with their answers, which don't agree with your view.

I cannot imagine making my own bed in a hotel where I paid $400 per night for a room.

When you travel for several weeks, how do you get your own sheets laundered?

To answer your original question, no I don't travel with bed sheets.
suze is offline  
Old Aug 12th, 2003, 12:02 PM
  #17  
sandi
Guest
 
Posts: n/a
Fussy -

>>I take 2 king flat sheets and 2 king pillowcases.>>
>>but I can say that last year I spent several weeks in Europe>>

And how many times during those "several weeks" did you launder your own linens?
 
Old Aug 12th, 2003, 02:42 PM
  #18  
 
Join Date: Feb 2003
Posts: 465
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
fussy traveller, would you use a toothbrush that had fallen on the floor in a public toilet in an airport?
Natalia is offline  
Old Aug 12th, 2003, 03:13 PM
  #19  
Original Poster
 
Join Date: Aug 2003
Posts: 36
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
Here's my common reply to the 3 latest posts:

> You may feel as if you're being
> attacked because the subject of your
> post is somewhat unusual. And people
> are responding with their
> answers, which don't agree with your
> view.

No, I feel as if I'm being attacked because people are making remarks that imply (or outright declare) that I've got some kind of problem or I'm doing something wrong.

According to the replies (which, by the way, are not answers to my question): I'm not taking the right bed linen, I'm staying in hotels that are too cheap, I'm staying in hotels that are too expensive, my standards are too high, I'm obsessing and I have phobias, I should "just call housekeeping" (why, so they can replace the sheet with a hole in it with something worse ?), I have bad luck, I'm possibly rude to my friends, I'm packing unnecessary items, I'm inconsistent because I don't reject laundered dinner napkins and towels, my luggage will be overweight due to the sheets, I'm weird for using my sheets in a $400 hotel room ...

These are not simply views I disagree with.

> And how many times during those
> "several weeks" did you launder
> your own linens?

Hmm, not sure why you felt the need to quote "several weeks". People usually do that when they suspect a statement or phrase is a fabrication.

So sorry, but you've all reached your question limit. I'm not submiting myself to any more interrogation. I suspect that the questions are not meant to solicit information as much as fuel more remarks that will imply I've got a problem or I'm doing something wrong.

This was meant to be a light-hearted thread, not an invitation to be flamed.

Read Jed's post again. He's got the right idea.

> would you use a toothbrush that had
> fallen on the floor in a public
> toilet in an airport?

This is really pitiful !

fussy_traveller is offline  
Old Aug 12th, 2003, 05:08 PM
  #20  
 
Join Date: Jan 2003
Posts: 5,107
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
fussy, the toothbrush remark is a joke from another thread on the Europe board.

I certainly don't think you are doing anything "wrong" by taking your own sheets, but yes, I do think you are doing something "strange". I would guess that very few people take their own sheets when they travel unless they are camping or staying in hostels where sheets are not provided.

Maybe fodors should make this one of their Weekly Poll questions -- then we could get a better sampling.

(By the way, I wasn't implying that you were rude when you stayed at friends'. I just wondered how you handled what might be an awkward situation. And the towels, well, you ARE being inconsistent. You are willing to use towels laundered with others although they come into much more intimate contact with your body than do sheets.)
Marilyn is offline  

Thread Tools
Search this Thread

Contact Us - Manage Preferences - Archive - Advertising - Cookie Policy - Privacy Statement - Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information -