What's with all the duvets???
 

On our recent trip we observed that duvets inside covers are now the standard, which is very nice except when the weather is hot and you can't just sleep with a sheet. The only alternative is to crank up the a/c, which I find wasteful, or sleep with no covers, which I don't like.

Are other people finding the same thing? What about in hot climates?

take the duvet out and use the cover as a sheet?

At recent stay at Westin on Maui, there were 2! yes 2 comforters on the bed. Way too much warmth for me. But I do prefer a duvet in a cover...all white...to a paisley quilted bedspread. ICK...I always take off that thing...you just know it has been ages since its been cleaned. Give me white anytime, and a duvet cover than is changed with sheets.

Debi

Gee, I hope you never walk on the hotel room carpet wih your bare feet!

Actually, I don't!

Last year in Europe we removed the filling from the duvet and used the cover as a sheet. After a few days, an American style sheet and blanket appeared. The duvets were so hot!

Well, when it is warm people usually put a cotton blanket inside the sheet. Simple.

And with sheet I mean that cover. Blanket covered from both sides.

I have a winter duvet, a spring/fall duvet, and use the sheet in the summer... no rocket science there...

I just leave a note for the housekeeper requsting an additional sheet.

Underhill. In hot climates, a sheet over the top is usually enough in hot climates, often with the help of A/C. Blankets seem to have generally disappeared from hotels. The wear out quick and take a lot of washing, I think. Bed bugs and dust mites love them too.

What the heck are duvets and does Walmart carry them?

Ah, degas, do you know how deep the love is?

To all:

We always ask for a "top sheet" and have never been refused. In this way, we place the top sheet over the duvet or quilt so we don't have to have the bare blanket in the open..as you know, it's questionable when and if those damn things are cleaned. If it's very warm, we set aside the duvet and just use the clean top sheet. This simple system works well for us.

Stu T.

This duvet stuff is sure high on the hog living - I bet Martha Stewart comes out with a product line soon.

No one has mentioned the other problem with a duvet. I'm 6 feet tall and that's about how long a duvet is. I have to tuck it in under the mattress or in 5 minutes the bottom of it is above my knees. If I tuck it in, it only comes up to about my waist.
Who invented those things anyway? He should be shot at sunrise!

Sorry, but an eiderdown is no relation to a duvet and the comforters I have met in the US, aren't either.

An eiderdown consists of feathers or the synthetic equivalent in a silk/wool etc. cover that does not come off.
It used to go on top of the sheet and blankets and was needed in pre-CH British bedrooms.
A duvet is like a very big pillow and just like a pilllow, it has a washable case.
It takes the place of sheets and blankets.
Duvets have been slower to catch on in the US than in the UK, but I have friends who have been converted to them.
On the other hand, many Americans seem to have started having really elaborate bed-linen with umpteen pillows, shams, throws and runners.
It must take ages to make the bed in the morning as opposed to shaking up the duvet and bashing the pillows.

Hmmmm...Miss Prism I remember back in 1948 when I would go to my grandmother's house and I would sleep under her "down quilt"...
we've had these things in the US for DECADES..we simply called them something else.

Dukey, yeah, I see it all now - a duvet is just a fancy sud sack stuffed with duck feathers!

Ah, but did Grandma's down quilt have a removable cover?
I used to sleep under an eiderdown myself, but the cover was fixed.
I lived in the US in the late 60s and never heard of anyone having one and certainly never saw a duvet or duvet covers in the shops.
I remember a colleague returning from Europe and complaining that she'd had to sleep under one.