None iron bedding

[Michelle3245]

I am new to hosting and I am doing all the cleaning myself. Most of my guests are one nighters and I am struggling to do all the bed changes every single day, its the ironing that is so time consuming. Can anyone recommend none iron bedding?? 

[Gwen386]

@Michelle3245 What are you ironing? As soon as I dry laundered bed linens, I take it out of the dryer and fold it. I do not iron. 

[Michelle3245]

Bed sheets, duvet covers and pillow cases. Mine all come out of the dryer very creased 

[Louise0]

The cause of creasing is most likely that you're overloading the washing machine, setting the spin cycle too fast, overloading the dryer, drying on too high a heat and over-drying.  These are all issues that arise if you've not got additional sets of bed linens and are trying to wash and replace the same set on the same day.

The textile used is also a factor.  100% cotton, particularly if it's thin and poor quality creases the most.  Try switching to a sheet with a semi-synthetic component like so-called bamboo/cotton mixes.  The 'bamboo'  in these is not actual bamboo fibre, it's simply rayon/viscose for which bamboo pulp provides the cellulose feedstock.  However, unlike microfibre and other unspeakably horrible synthetic textiles it doesn't pill and isn't clammy and is much less prone to wrinkling.

Assuming you address the above issues, you'll still need to do a little ironing.  The pillowcases always get ironed but the sheets you can usually get away with ironing quickly once they're on the bed.

[Huma0]

@Michelle3245 

In the beginning, I painstakingly ironed everything on the ironing board. This is my technique now:

- I line dry bed linens as they are much less creased that way and have plenty of spare sets so that I can crack on without waiting for it to dry, but if you are doing a lot of fast turnovers or don't have anywhere to hang it, I can see that might not be possible.

- I iron the pillow cases when they come out of the washing machine and are still wet, then hang them up. They are easier and quicker to iron that way, plus they dry in no time.

- I iron the rest once it's on the bed, which takes minutes. Hand held steamers with an iron plate are really good for this too. An iron or steamer with a long cord will make it much easier. If you're ironing and then folding sheets and duvet covers before storing them away, they are going to end up with creases again anyway. 

This system saves soooo much time compared to ironing everything on a board once dry.

[Mike-And-Jane0]

@Michelle3245 I think your solution is to increase the minimum stay. For a 3 bed property (as ours is) we wouldn't consider stays of less than 3 days because, as you are finding, the cleaning and laundry is just too much to do.

Other thoughts might be to have a 1 bed, 2 bed and 3 bed listing with linked calendars. This allows you to price suitably for different group sizes and allows you to lock some rooms to cut down on cleaning.

Finally we started doing all our own laundry but gave up when we rented our second and third properties. We now use a launderette and set the cleaning fees at the cost of the laundry - The longer the stay the cheaper it is for guests on a per night basis.

[Gwen386]

@Mike-And-Jane0 I like this idea

[Helen744]

Michelle 3245 i hate ironing but sometimes you have to do a little ,but as Gwen says , cut yourself a break and do the folding before it wrinkles too much ,use cotton .IF it is not very cold weather you can just do the edges of pillow slips and run the iron over when the linen is on the beds, pull the  sheets very firmly and smooth with your hands . The weight of the bedding should keep it okay.also  change to two day minimum or put a day between each booking when you can or take a catch up day once a week .H

[Helen744]

but you must have at least three sets per bed of all linen , so that you do not run out but even then it would be almost impossible if you have a week of back to back days , sometimes its a good idea to drop all the linen and have it done by a nearby laundromat person .It was very challenging during covid because I felt that outsourcing could be dangerous to people. I did hurt my shoulder very badly at one stage and had to change all the heavy mattresses to lighter weight ones. Health and safety does become an issue for home based work , no one is giving you a day off or paying you compensation for a workplace injury ,so pace yourself ,figure out how long the work takes and divide it into two lots . do one hald and have a break and then the other half . most hosts settle into a routine of ,stripping beds , cleaning kitchens  and bathroom and removing rubbish ,setting dishwasher  and a break for lunch and then resetting vacumming ,making beds ,adding products ,milk etcetera ,leaving guests messages or notes or flowers or treats and then later the greeting and settling in . Its full on ,so ease out of the one nighters because you may not be able to keep up the standards you prefer. All the best H

[Helen744]

some people just adjust their checkin and out times. 

[Ana2038]

I do the same as @Huma0 with the exception of line dry. I keep 2-3 extra sets of bedding. I try to remove the linens (sheets, pillowcases..etc) from dryer as soon as they are done. I press the sheets (flat) and pillowcases and then hang them (pillowcases) in the linen closet. When preparing for incoming guest, I have a set of bedding ready to go, while the dirty ones are being washed. I do a quick pressing with a steam iron the fitted sheet, and flat sheet (to do away with any creases). I purchase bedding (comforter, bedspread, coverlet…etc..) that is easy to maintain (wash/dry) and can hold up to repeated washes before they need to be replaced. I make my own decorative pillow throw covers and replace them as needed. I can understand how difficult it is to do all this when you have back to back bookings ( one guest checks out same day as you have another checking in later on in the day). We no longer do back to back and block off one day before and one day after last guest so it allows us sufficient time to clean the room and prepare it for our next guest. I hate rush cleaning as things get missed, especially in the bathroom area. I go back in the unit 2-3 times after it’s been cleaned to inspect and ensure nothing has been overlooked. 

[Huma0]

@Michelle3245 

As others have said, unless it's a significant section of your market, one night stays are normally just not worth the time and effort. Do factor in your time/laundry/cleaning costs and see whether it actually makes financial sense to do all that work for a one night stay. When I started hosting, it wasn't very long before I realised it didn't and switched to a two night minimum.

[Mark116]

@Michelle3245  You could, dare I say, get synthetic sheets that don't need to be ironed.  We have a mix of 100% cotton and synthetics.  The non cotton sheets generally, especially if you take them out of the dryer quickly, don't need any ironing at all.  We did have a great brand of cotton sheets that did really well in the dryer and you could get away with no ironing them, but that brand is no longer available.  When we use cotton sheets we iron on the bed itself, that way you don't need to fully iron all of the sheets.  The bottom sheet might get away with no ironing, the top sheet you only really need to iron the top 1/3 and then the pillow cases.  

I agree w/other hosts, unless your location is a stop over type place where you would get a lot of 1 night stays, consider upping the minimum to 2 nights.  Same amount of work, twice the money.

[Basha0]

I no longer offer one night stays for a multitude of reasons but mostly I am tired of doing so much laundry and cleaning. My sheets come out a bit wrinkled but once on the bed it is not so bad and no one has ever complained about wrinkled sheets!

[Dora486]

I use M&S and Next bedding, I find it really good.  I’m lucky as I live in Spain so I can line dry and if I’m careful no creases.   If I fold correctly, it even looks ironed.