Beyond Product Cost: How Choosing the Right Linens Can Save Hoteliers Money

Save Big While Enhancing Guest Experience

To hoteliers, guest experience is top priority. You want the best for your guests but sometimes “the best” comes with a high price.

The immediate response to reduce spending is to find a product that costs less. Sounds pretty easy, right? Not always. Switching to a cheaper product may save in the short-term, but it often costs more in the long run. Here are several costs to consider beyond product cost.

Three Costs to Consider When Selecting Your Hotel Linens

Cost Per Use Over the Lifetime of Sheets & Towels

A cheaper product may not hold up as well, significantly decreasing product life, and driving hoteliers to spend more just due to replacement costs. To get the most out of hotel linens, evaluate the cost per use over the entire lifetime of the item. Carefully consider all characteristics, beyond (and including) cost, and how they work together.

Standard Textile’s unique, patented technology called Centium Core^® — which is a fabric formation that reconfigures the makeup of a product — contributes to longer product life. 100% cotton is wrapped around synthetic polyester microfilament bundles, creating durability and longevity.

Take our Cumulus^® Top Cover for example. Because it is made with Centium Core^®, its product life is extended while also improving performance. The polyester yarn extends the life expectancy of the top cover, including withstanding rigorous processing cycles, saving hoteliers what they would have spent on replacement costs long-term. With Centium Core^®, hoteliers can expect a lower cost per use compared to lower quality alternatives.

Laundering also affects product life. Frequent washing and inadequate handling can easily reduce your cost per use. Hoteliers and housekeepers will want to confirm that their washing methods are not too aggressive so that products keep their value.

Similarly, small tasks like storage or folding may seem trivial, but they can actually boost or harm your inventory. Proper folding techniques and storage conditions can help keep your products’ shape, extending product life. Check out our previous blog on laundry best practices that can maintain the value of a product and help hoteliers save money.

Cost of Time for Your Property’s Housekeepers

Time is precious—something housekeepers understand firsthand. Having to clean and change a room in a matter of minutes can be stressful and Standard Textile wants to help. OneSTEP^® (One Solution to Enhance Productivity) helps shorten processing and room make-up time.

Sheeting

• EZ ID^® – Color-coding down the sides of the sheets so housekeepers can quickly determine size by the color. Don’t worry, guests won’t notice the color system.
• Center-Lock Label – The center of the sheet can be easily and quickly identified when making a bed so both sides are even, every time.
• Balanced Hems – Either end of the sheets can be positioned at the top of the bed.

Terry

• EZ ID^® – Color-coding on the sewn-in label helps to easily identify towel weights.
• Dimensionally Stabilized Dobby Borders – Eliminates the unattractive “hour-glassing” that frequently affects terry products.
• Square Cornered Wash Towels – Prevents “whiskering” that can affect wash towels with rounded corners.

Room Ready for You^® Laundered with Tide^®

• Standard Textile partnered with P&G to create a program with room ready sheeting and terry, ready for use right out of the box. You can skip the first wash, saving time and money, and put the product directly into your guest rooms.

The purpose of OneSTEP^® is to increase efficiency and savings – easing the stress on housekeepers’ day-to-day tasks.

Keep the efficiency going with AllerEase^® products. The #1 bedding brand that protects against allergens and pests can help save housekeepers even more time and protect against spills and germs. The zip-off top allows easy removal and laundering.

Operational costs may seem difficult to minimize. Choose products created with you in mind that help increase productivity and efficiency.

Cost of Processing Hotel Linens

We’ve covered how laundering can help extend product life, but did you know the laundering process can also help hoteliers save water? This may come as a surprise since the laundering process deals with…well, lots of water! At many properties, water accounts for up to 10% of a hotel’s utility bill.

Gradient^® Bath Towels are the best of both worlds, engineered with maximum performance qualities that help save water. This towel focuses the most amount of pile in the center, the area where guests dry off, and thins out towards the ends. We call this the Comfort Experience Zone. Our CORE laboratory researchers worked to reduce the overall weight of the towel while keeping performance high. Eliminating the unnecessary weight at the ends of the towels reduces its overall weight and its processing costs.

Less water is used during laundering and drying time is significantly reduced. Hoteliers can feel confident knowing they’re saving money and doing good for the environment.

We mentioned the time savings of Room Ready for You^® Laundered with Tide^®. As a bonus, it also saves water by arriving to hotels pre-laundered. Housekeepers can take the items straight from the box and put the product directly on their carts.

The pandemic has changed may things, especially budgets. Consider characteristics beyond cost to help retain product value and cut down on long-term costs. Our hospitality consultants are happy to assist any further questions regarding products and cost savings.