Is anyone else really annoyed at the hotels' switch to heavy duvets/comforters?

I actually like it.

Hotel air tends to be dry and I get very static electrical when staying in them. So to compensate, I turn on the air conditioning. But then I get under the vellux blankets and my skin dries out and I get all static electrical again. I now tend to bring a down throw or a cotton flannel sheet/blanket to use instead of the vellux.

With the hotels using comforters, I don't have that problem. I've never had one not include a top sheet either.

I'm with madameX on this one. I like to sleep in a cold room, but unless it's winter I get way too hot under a duvet. My solution is to take the duvet out of the cover and use the cover as a top sheet.

I haven't stayed in any hotels in the US that didn't have a top sheet in addition to the duvet and cover. We did find that in Germany and Austria, which took a little getting used to, especially since it was hot and we didn't have any A/C. We don't have AC at home either, so we sleep with a sheet only in the summer, maybe a thin blanket - the duvet is stored away until fall.

Maybe these hotels are trying to be more "european"

To clarify: I like a cool room, and we often sleep with the windows open at home for a cool enough night that can allow at least a top sheet, and prefer to snuggle under blankets. It just seems like such an environmental waste to have a super-warm duvet to have to super-cool a room.

To your point: hotels from American brands are more likely to include an additional top sheet that solves the problem (most recently, the Grand Hyatt in Seoul.) In the follow-up trip to Japan, none of the 6 hotels where we stayed (Nikko-s, Granvia-s, and a Conrad) had a top sheet, but all had too-warm duvets.

We've also resorted to taking the down comforter out of the casing so that it forms only a top sheet on previous trips. We have started making the request for the change to "educate" the managers that the duvet is a problem.

Agreed: the down comforters are better than those old, germ-infested bedspreads and blankets. But the hoteliers don't seem to get it that modern, climate controlled rooms are not like the being at small, old inns in the Swiss Alps.

When we've asked for a change, the hotels often put in a lighter, alternate blanket in the duvet's slipcover, i.e. they have alternatives readily available.

Yes, I see part of this as a design trend about what is a fashionable style, similar to how many hotels aspire to the W hotel chain's "hip" aesthetic.

Since most of my hotels are in tropical places, I haven't experienced this phenomena personally. But I love European style duvets generally speaking.

I love them, too -- just not when they seem ill-adapted to the environment of a particular hotel or room. Would it kill them to stock the summer duvets (exampes from the Company store, which has a wide range of warmth for its duvets.)

We had a heavy duvet with no top sheet at a 5-star hotel in Malta in May. Ridiculous!

I much prefer the duvets, and most of the hotels I have stayed in (mostly Asia-Pacific)have a top sheet as well.

I found the older-style synthetic blanket and heavy bedspread very uncomfortable. To use just the blanket you had to set the air-conditioning to a very warm temperature, which was too hot for restful sleep, and if you tried to used the bedspread for extra warmth it was so heavy it was uncomfortable, and also tended to slip off during the night which meant waking up cold.

The better hotels have down duvets which I find both light and comfortable as the down breathes better than synthetic fibres.

I definitely vote for the duvets!

That was our issue in Germany, particularly: Either roasting under the heavy duvet, or too cold without it....so it's on/off on/off all night...no alternative.

I will take my own light blanket in future, to have a choice.

Once you are used them them you sort of regulate your temperature while you sleep by sticking bits of your body out from the duvet.

I quite often sleep with the duvet just covering my ...er....bum/tum/groin midsection, but my top and legs poking out completely. Don't ask me how, it's automatic, but it satisfies that need to feel 'covered' while keeping me cool.

And if it's really hot just chuck the duvet out and use the cover only.

Or you could ask your hotel for a sheet to use instead.

I ran into this at B&Bs in Scotland this summer. I like just a sheet on, or if it's chilly, a sheet and a blanket or cover of some sort. My husband likes just a duvet (we have to have separate covers, we both toss too much). So if it's a duvet, I take the inside out, he gets that and I get the cover as a 'sheet'. It works for us. If it's just a bedspread, that gets harder.

i LOVE it and request if not provided!
i HATE the layer-system with all these blankets and sheets which make you feel like being in an envelope!
thanks god (for me!) hotels have changed to duvets!!!!

div

I really like the duvets (doonas in Australia) but Please Please give us a top sheet as well.

PEOPLE SEEM TO BE LOSING HE POINT. IT IS NOT HOW PRETTY OR HEAVY OR LIGHT THE WEIGHT OF THE DUVETS OR LOVELY BED COVERS, IT IS HOW MANY PEOPLE BEFORE ME HAVE SLEPT ON THIS, LOUNGED ON IT, DROPPED THEIR CRUMBS ON IT AND GENERALLY SPREAD IT WITH ALL OF THEIR GERMS?
REMOVE THE GERM INFESTED THING, THROW IT IN A CORNER AND REQUEST A SHEET AND A CLEAN BLANKET OF THE APPROPRIATE WEIGHT. I MUCH PREFER THAT TO SHARING THE GERMS OF EVERYONE WHO HAS PRECEDED ME IN THAT ROOM!

I hate the new duvets - especially the ones with blankets inside. I also hate the new BIG pillows - too big to sleep on.

Opinionated in answer to your question - about the same number of people who have used the mattress you lie on. That gets covered with a clean sheet and a duvet gets covered in a clean cover. I don't see the problem. I'd rather have that than a bedspread which only gets changed once in goodness knows how many times.
I prefer a duvet, and use the same method as nona1 to regulate my temperature. You just have to have them loose on the bed, not tucked in tight, which is what we came across in a number of US hotels. I don't think They have quite got the idea of them yet.
We were in New Mexico and Arizona in May and never had the airco on at night, but managed just fine with a duvet.

Yes, I hate the heavy comforters; you have to take them off to sleep comfortably because they weigh your feet down! I had also bought a beautiful one for home before I understood the disadvantages, including storing such a big item so now I have a gorgeous comforter that I only use on my bed for when I show the house to "new" company. mc

On the last trip to England every hotel had only a duvet and no top sheet. It was too hot for the duvet but too cool without a top sheet. I suppose I should have nagged all the hotels to bring a top sheet.

Kay Fulgham

The only time I've encountered a duvet and no top sheet was in Paris...but an American hotel chain, Hyatt Regency Madeleine. Beautiful, un-Hyatt-like hotel, gorgeous suite, but darn that duvet is hot, and it was December! No matter how warm I am, I want something light covering me...Herr Freud, any comments?

Opinionated - have you ever used a duvet? They have removeable covers which are replaced with clean ones for each guest - just like sheets and pillowcases are. Do you throw your sheets, mattress and pillows into the corner of the room as well and just sleep on the bed frame?

Duvets are a darn site cleaner than blankets that are probably never washed.

I'm getting a strong impression from this thread that the USA just hasn't quite twigged how to use them yet. Tucked in? What on earth?
With a top sheet?

Funny. They took off big time in Europe - virtually no-one uses sheets/blankets anymore, but they are still such a mystery in the states.

I guess your comfort level also depends on what you are used to. I can't STAND it on the very rare occasion I end up in a hotel with blankets/bedspreads. I always feel that the blankets and bedspreads must be filthy as they are not washed between each guest. They are heavy and hot and restrictive to me. I can't stand that being tucked in/trapped feeling. Also, it's cold in winter as unless you untuck everything (when it gets uncomfortably wrinkled and rucked up) you end up with a sort of empty triangle between you and the edge of the bed. tucked in sheets go from the bed edge to your shoulder, leaving a gaping hole and nothing tucked in warmly round your front or back (when laying on your side). Eeeek. Yuk. Even though I had sheets and blankets as a little kid.

Horses for courses I suppose.

I am so glad to see that I am not the only one that hates those damned comforters! I have written several customer comment cards regarding them, but supposed that I was considered an old crank. In some areas they make some sense, but in Florida???? Come on. The best thing is multiple thin blankets that you can layer as needed. Often the comforters are wrapped in sheets or have a duvet. I just take the comforter out of the duvet and use the duvet as a blanket or use the extra sheet or sheets as a blanket instead of the comforter. When the hotels are full of signs about saving the planet by not changing sheets and towels everyday, why don't we just lose some of the duvet crap to save the planet instead.

I'm confused now. What are comforters?

Just another word for duvets

the duvets i have experienced all were "enveloped" into a cover which gets changed regularly.
SO WHAT DO YOU WANT TO KNOW OR CHANGED?
the cover gets in to the same wasching service as all thse blanketts. SO WHAT IS YOUR PROBLEM WITH GERMS???????

div

Yes, MadameX, my husband and I agree.

We like the feel and cleanliness of duvet with cover, but only when the weather is appropriate. We have a heavy one for winter and a light one for summer at home (with a top sheet underneath), but even the lightweight one is too much in the middle of our summer (70F+ at night with humidity).

In hotels throughout the US, Europe, and Asia I am getting rooms with the covered duvet with no top sheet. I go to bed comfortable and wake up at night sweating--and I don't want to spend my night tossing around and sticking parts of my body out to cool down. It's even harder on my Scandinavian husband who doesn't take heat well.

My solution is the remove the duvet from the cover and use it as a top sheet or squish the duvet into part of the cover and put that part over my feet with just the cover over the rest of me.

Recently we stayed in a guesthouse in Poland where we were given duvets with no covers or top sheets. Hope they wash them between each guest--saw sheets on the line, but not duvets when we left.

At home we take the feather duvet out of the cover in the summer time - just use sheets and the duvet cover. I always look forward to fall when it is cool enough to put the duvet on

Love comforters. I use them at home all year round. I'd rather have a comforter with a clean case than a reused blanket/bedspread combo.

The duvets and all the super-sized pillows are getting way too over the top!
Unfortunately, I am allergic to feathers.
If I'm lucky, there is a spare blanket in the closet and a foam pillow in the drawer. If not, I have to wait for housekeeping to come and remake the bed.

There are different types of duvets. The synthetic ones are heavy and hot. Good quality down are warm, but light. All duvets whether down or synthetic get clumped over time and become heavier. Let's see how this trend holds up over the next few years. Good riddance to the old quilted bedspreads.