Creating a Linen Strategy

Linens can be a controversial subject. Many will take the stance of white linens only. Some will say that dark is easier. Linens are one of those items that will not necessarily get you bookings, but can definitely impact your reviews.

If you’ve done any research into linens yet, I bet you’ve only ever heard to use white linens. White, white, white! All the “gurus” say the same thing. This school of thought comes from idea that white linens are easier to clean and that people expect white linens because hotels offer them. I will admit that in the past few years, many guests have started treating STRs as hotels and not STRs. This can be frustrating, but it is important to keep in mind. And like hotels, many guests expect pristine white linens at a STR. Many hail the glorious ability to bleach white linens as the end to all your laundry woes. This is not the case. While, yes, you can bleach white linens, not every stain can be bleached. In fact, most biological stains will be permanently set if bleached. And while an uncomfortable fact, it is the reality that a good portion of your stains are going to be biological. This may lead you to think that white is not the way to go. Perhaps dark linens will hide stains. They may hide some stains, but mostly it just makes them harder for you to find and treat.

Personally, I’ve tried both. We started with white, as that was what everyone said to do. We quickly realized we were having to trash way too many sheets and switched to colored and patterned sheets. But after we switched, we still had to trash sheets at almost the same rate as before with white. There were a very small number of stains that were actually hidden by the patterns or dark colors. This led me to conclude that white is actually the better choice. While it can seem daunting at first, learning how to treat stains is going to serve you so much more than trying to hide stains in dark sheets. And guests like white sheets. It makes them feel comfortable that you’re not trying to hide stains from them.

As for towels, we had to adopt certain strategies. We implemented makeup towels that are black, specifically designated beach towels, provided dark towels for dogs, and left a basket of “odd” towels for crafts, hair dye, etc. All of these items increased our inventory and laundry load, but severely decreased the number of ruined towels. We still battle against self tanner. It is the one stain that we cannot remove, and so we’ve had to ask guests to use an “odd towel” if they use self tanner. We don’t have great luck with people actually doing so, but for the most part we’ve seen a marked decrease of random unidentifiable stains due to people using the makeup towels, beach towels, and “odd towels”. We also leave a kitchen towel that is colored and plenty of paper towels.

There is one thing that I will never buy in white: comforters. Whether you use duvet covers, quilts, or comforters, they all receive too much wear and tear to be white. There are some design styles that look great with a great big fluffy white comforter, but I cannot do it. Most people will eat and drink in bed on vacation. Some will put their suitcases on the bed to unpack. All of these will ruin your nice white comforter in the blink of an eye. So I caution you, no white comforters.

Another factor to take into consideration when choosing linens is the quality level. I prefer to spend a little more on higher quality cotton sheets. Synthetic sheets, while cheaper, break down faster than cotton sheets will. The increased frequency of washing required by STRs only wears them out even faster. I prefer to invest in higher quality sheets that will hold up longer. I also use a higher quality towel in our STRs. While the argument that higher quality items will hold up longer applies to towels, there is another benefit. Big, fluffy towels can lead to better reviews. Towels get used directly against the skin, every day. They are one of the most interacted with items, even if guests only stay one night. And while I don’t think having small thin towels will lead to a bad review, having high quality towels can lead to better reviews and specific comments in the reviews.

A final note on linens. Make sure you have at minimum 3 sets of every linen in your inventory. One set that is in use, one set that is being cleaned, and a final set as a back up. You will thank yourself when you have back to back bookings and didn’t have time to do all 4 loads of laundry, or someone ruins a sheet set and you have time to find a replacement, or guests request a replacement, or any of the many other scenarios I’ve found myself in over the years. It is absolutely worth the investment to have 3 full sets of linens.

Your linen strategy will have an impact on your finances, your inventory, your cleaning routine and potentially your reviews. It is one of the most important aspects of STRs. Choosing the right color, amount, type and material of linens can be daunting, but it is worth the investment to choose higher quality linens that will provide a better experience to guests.