14 May How To Give Your Guests A Stellar Airbnb Sleep Experience

When having guests visit your Airbnb listing, it’s essential that they… well, sleep! Delivering a stellar Airbnb sleep experience is absolutely vital for a successful rating.

Have you ever been up at 4 AM feeling your skin crawl in a place that isn’t comfortable and that you can’t call your own? That, my friends, is a no bueno.

Remember, if you’re a new host, your goal is to acquire as many 5-star reviews as you can in the beginning so that you can start charging market rate in a couple of months. People without sleep, in general, are cranky and unhappy guests tend to leave negative reviews! The math all adds up.

Here are some tips and products that I personally recommend to make your guests feel right at home.

(Check out the number 1 purchase that my guests raved about!)

How Do I Start Upgrading My Airbnb Sleep Experience?

Let’s start at the top.

Without the correct mattress, it won’t matter how you change up the rest of the room. Sleeping on a lumpy, hard, or sagging bed will keep your guests tossing and turning all night. If you wouldn’t sleep on it, then you probably shouldn’t have other people sleeping there either.

While not everyone should spring for a new mattress after reading this blog post, there are some vital things to consider. Have you had your current bed for more than ten years? Is it uneven? Are you finding yourself with a stuffy nose when you wake up? Have you had more than one guests complain about their sleep experience?

If you said yes to any of these questions, it’s definitely worth considering making updates to your Airbnb sleep experience. It can even be something as simple as following your mattress manufacturer’s instructions about when to flip and turn the bed.

Choosing The Right Mattress

With a few extra dollars, there are plenty of painless opportunities to improve your Airbnb sleep experience. However, with everything available in our current fast-paced market where does one start?

Your budget.

Figure out just how much your willing to spend or how much from each of your future listings that you’re willing to put away to put towards upgrading. Think of anything you add to your listing from here on out as an investment.

This doesn’t mean that you drop whatever money you want and say that it’s justified. However, it does help let you realize that what you put into your Airbnb listing is what you get out of it. Eventually, this mattress purchased, along with the happy guests that it creates, will bring a return on that investment.

Pro-tip: this is the memory foam bed that constantly gets me positive reviews. Like this one left by one of my recent guests.

The number one bed that I recommend whether on a budget or not. In fact, don’t buy those expensive mattresses like Tuft & Needle, Lessa, or other similar competitors. The price difference will only have diminishing returns. 1000 bucks vs 200 bucks? Well, you can be the judge.

Zinus Ultima Comfort Memory Foam 8 Inch Mattress, Queen

Furthermore, you really don’t need to break the bank. There are plenty of inexpensive options that get great reviews. Changing the size of the mattress can also cause an impact on the price. This involves any extra expense created for new sheets, bed skirts, and any other bedding.

Another item to consider is getting something that is suitable for the price that you’re listing your unit. If you have an overnight listing for about $50, that futon with padding just isn’t going to cut it.

Check out another recent guest’s experience sleeping on my memory foam bed. She was skeptical at first until she tried mine!

She loved it so much that she bought one for each of her 4 bedrooms.

Are You Trying To Cut Corners?

So let’s say that you don’t quite have the money you need right now to buy a mattress but you still want to improve your Airbnb sleep experience. The second best option in the short-term is to buy a mattress pad or mattress topper.

Pro tip: here is my favorite one. Note: the 3-inch one is not that different. Save yourself $40 dollars by going with the 2-inch one.

Linenspa 2 Inch Gel Infused Memory Foam Mattress Topper

Either option is placed on top of a mattress but beneath the sheets. They offer an extra layer of comfort for beds that are getting slightly overused and hardening with age. However, they aren’t necessarily able to help with beds that have a slope. Just something to keep in mind if you’re looking for a short-term fix.

While they both come in a variety of material types, shapes, and sizes, mattress toppers are usually thicker but more expensive. Be careful when purchasing these as some can be more expensive than just buying a new mattress in the first place.

As Cool As The Other Side

Next, let’s talk about pillows. As something that is directly cradling the heads of your guests, it is vital to keep these items clean and comfortable.

My first suggestion, beyond even purchasing a new pillow, is to research how long you should be keeping the brand of pillow that you own. A cheap brand is said to have the structural life of about six months while premium pillows are suitable for around 18-36.

However, that being said, you are not able to wash the pillows. Consider buying hygienic zipper covers to encase pillows underneath the pillowcase. This will keep the pillows clean between customers.

Throw out any pillows that you have at the first sign of yellowing or sweat stains. While this may fly for personal use, it’s important to remember that your Airbnb is your business. If I were a guest, my skin would be crawling if there were strange stains on what I was trying to sleep on.

Here are the pillows that I have bought many times over.

Utopia Bedding Gusseted Quilted Pillow 

Check Out The Thread Count

The next item I want to bring up is bedsheets. While being continuously worn down and washed after each guest visit, the cost of bedsheets can add up quickly over time.

Often getting them directly from the manufacturer online instead of a third-party store can save you time and money. There may even be a discount on buying bulk or have the added bonus of offering you colors that you won’t see in stores.

While many folks will immediately look at thread counts to see how good a set of sheets are, the numbers can seem overwhelming. If you are hoping to simplify the process, look at the quality of cotton instead.

Cotton Break Down

If a label has the words “Cotton” and nothing else, you can assume it’s of the lowest grade. This means that it’ll be a little bit rough, but the least expensive compared to other sheets you’ll find.

A mid-tier grade of cotton is any label that shows “Prima Cotton.” This type of cotton can also see typically as the trademark of “Suprima” or “Suprima Cotton.” It’s the next step up.

The best quality of cotton and the most top end quality you’ll usually see is “Egyptian Cotton.” These sheets have thin and long fibers of cotton to give a soft and smooth feel. It is, however, the most expensive of the three.

What I got for my bedsheets.

Hotel Luxury Queen Size Sheet Set 

Some Soothing Sounds

Moving past the bed itself the next important thing to focus on is the ambiance of where your guests are sleeping. While everyone has their own collections and hobbies unless your listing is posted as a horror house tuck away any creepy dolls sitting in the corner.

If your guests are the type to get restless at night or there is a lot of city noise in your area, there are simple solutions to consider. White noise machines can be an inexpensive way to mellow out your guest’s experience.

Music, in general, is a great way to relax, or maybe it’s even the lack of other sounds that people enjoy. Disposable headphones or earplugs are a way to help keep the noise out or in!

General sounds like the ocean waves or soothing rain can also bring a soothing calm to your Airbnb Sleep experience.

Dreamegg Sound Machine 6 Relaxing Sounds

Blocking Out The Lights

One of the most significant disruptors of sleep next to noise is light. If your guests are late risers or night owls the last thing that they want to be interrupted with is the sun.

A simple solution to this problem is to add on a complimentary disposable sleep mask to your guests stay. That way each one has the opportunity to get up regardless of the sun’s position in the sky.

If looking for a long-term and eco-friendly solution, consider buying light-blocking curtain panels. These panels usually come in sections that allow you to get as many or few as you need for the size of your window. They do a great job of blocking out the sun and letting your guests to sleep in.

If you have multiple bedrooms in a listing and light or noise is pouring in from underneath the doorway a stopper can be used to fix this. I’m not talking about stoppers that keep doors open, but there these ingenious products called door guards. They slide in between the two sides of the block out any unwanted noise or light.

Disposable Sleep Masks & Ear Plugs

100% light-blocking Curtain Panels

Keeping Things Even

Allergy season or general dry climates can be one of the biggest fiends when it comes to disrupting a person’s normal sleep cycle.

A dry environment creates poor conditions for a person’s sinus pain or pressure, disrupting the guest’s sleep. Adding a humidifier can significantly improve your guest’s Airbnb sleep experience by helping to provide a comfortable environment.

Humidifiers have the impact of being able to improve the quality of the air in the room. This dramatically changes how you sleep and even how you breathe.

On the opposite end of the spectrum, if you live in an incredibly humid environment, its wise to invest in a dehumidifier.

Fragrances Are Essential

An interesting perspective on Airbnb sleep experiences is to try to aim more towards the spa route. Certain smells can help your body relax and get to sleep each night.

An essential oil fragrance diffuser takes whatever oil you put into it and releases into the air in puffs of steam. Some even glow with a nightlight effect. Lavender, sandalwood, and Roman chamomile are just a few examples. These oils help to relax the human body and promote sleep.

Something important to be aware of is that some oils, like eucalyptus, when released into the air can be toxic to pets. Make sure to research what oils you want to use if you have small children or pets in the house.

Managing The Room’s Temperature

One of the last big items that will keep guests tossing and turning is the temperature of the room. If it’s too hot or, cold guests won’t be able to get the proper amount of sleep that they’ll need. You can bet that poor room temperature will be one of the things to make or break an Airbnb review.

While fans are a simple way to keep things cool, there are other options. Cooling pads that fit into pillowcases help to keep guests comfortable during the hotter months of the year. Fans also have the ability to help with this, some even made specially to be used for under sheets.

In colder climates, feet warmers, electric blankets, and space heaters are all options to keep your guests toasty.

Whatever direction you decide, there are a variety of options to heighten a guests experience that is fast and inexpensive.

What Did I Miss?

I tried to cover all of the options to heighten a guests experience out there. But, there’s always room for me to learn new techniques. Do you have any ways that you like to pamper guests and improve their Airbnb sleep experience?

Share in the comments below!