madameX

I have stayed in a number of hotels this year, and am annoyed at the trend toward duvets/comforters that are much too warm for the room unless you crank up the air-conditoning. Or: this would be less annoying if they at least provided a separate top sheet so that you don't have to super-cool the room to be comfortable. (I asusme that most people like a little covering when they sleep.) In every hotel where I've stayed, I ask them to provide a lighter weight blanket, which is often a regular blanket, substituted for the down thing in the slipcase.

I know there are many reasons for the change (hygiene, fewer items to wash, "the" design trend, etc.) However, you would think that the managers could distringuish between Alpine chalets and modern hotel rooms.

Your opinions?

toedtoes

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.

thursdaysd

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.

november_moon

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"

madameX

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.

suze

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

madameX

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.)

mscarls

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

ausjester

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!

clarasong

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.

nona1

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.

GreenDragon

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.

divine54

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

Sarvowinner

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

opinionated

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!

NormaAnn65

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

hetismij

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.

azazaz

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

kfulgham

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

OO

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?