Do you have the UK's most comfortable hotel bed?

23 February 2006
Do you have the UK's most comfortable hotel bed?

It turns out you're a comfort-loving bunch with almost everyone we talked to wanting to feel comfy and secure in their beds. After that prerequisite however, things got a bit more complicated.

Ian Styles, marketing director of Elior, felt size mattered most. "Size is everything, allegedly," he said, with a knowing smile. Meanwhile, Gill Harvey, hospitality tutor at South East Essex College, said she looks for a firm and bouncy bed - "like my men".

Victoria Iljina, assistant executive housekeeper at the Melia White House Hotel, London, thought silky linen was a bonus.

"It makes you feel so good you don't want to get up in the morning," she enthused.

Meanwhile Herve Regent, chef-proprietor of the Lobster Pot in Kennington, London, stressed the importance of a good, firm mattress. "You have to make sure you have a good mattress after standing at the stove all day, especially if you only get four hours' sleep a night," he said.

Angus L'Anson from Gourmet Classics was more concerned about who he was sharing a bed with, saying ideal companions would include "a couple of ladies and their lesbian lovers".

Sadly, tales of bad bed experiences were also plentiful. The 190cm tall Hugues Jaquier, general manager of the Sofitel St James, said: "I slept in one bed barely as long as me so half my body was hanging out. It had no springs and was like sleeping on a piece of wood."

Laurent Lebeau, group executive chef at Paramount Restaurants, confessed his worst night's sleep was at home. "I visited my parents in France recently and slept in a bed that's about 120 years old. I rolled into the middle of it and woke up in the morning unable to move."

However, some of your worst sleeping experiences didn't even involve a bed. Styles told Caterer of his night in a French bus shelter during his student days: "I woke up to find people standing all round me waiting for the bus," he said.

Meanwhile Phillippe Rossiter, now chief executive of the HCIMA, began his career in the Army and said his worst night's sleep was "on the floor of a cowshed with just a sleeping bag".

Desirable bed partners ranged from teddy bears to partners, while Styles opted for Miss Piggy on the grounds that "at least she's small, so she wouldn't take up much room".

To enter Caterer‘s Most Comfortable Bed competition, go to www.caterersearch.com/comfybedcomp.

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