How many pillows do you provide?

[Denise80]

We host our holiday home remotely and live 2 hours away which sleeps 6 people.

We have a lovely lady who cleans for us, but she does not iron. At all. At the moment I am ironing hundreds (or so it seems) of pillowcases and leaving them for her to use for the beds, but  I just had an epiphany on how I can reduce this. I could reduce the number of pillows to one per person rather than the two at the moment.

Would this look stingy/mean? I would be very interested to hear how many pillows do other people have per person. My pillows are commercial ones and very comfy (in fact I have had people comment on them!)  and all the same. 

[Robin4]

@Denise80 

Hi Denise, there is an old saying,  'you can't please everyone' and I empathize with you because I am the one that irons the sheets and the pillow cases!

My main bed is one of the draw-card in my listing, so I am possibly a bit OCDC about it Denise but, I supply 6 pillows for that bed! I supply two thick firm pillows, two medium density pillows and two thin soft pillows. I figure I have all bases covered, the combinations should suit everyone.....and it seems to work and I get no complaints.

For the ironing of them I have found over the past few years the quality of pillow slips has deteriorated. Regardless of price they appear to be poorly made, the higher the thread count, the harder they are to iron and trying to iron them without an unwanted crease in them somewhere is almost impossible!

What I now do is double the pillow slip end to end instead of across the middle, and this trick makes ironing them much easier. So I iron the first crease right down the middle of the length of the slip, I then fold one end to the other and iron and then fold an iron again. I find it much easier and I end up with that nice checkerboard crease appearance! 

I am finding doing it this way I can iron a pillow slip in less than a minute and, it looks great. 

Denise, give it a try!

For the sofa bed I only supply 2 medium density pillows and that appears to be acceptable!

Cheers......Rob

[Emilia42]

@Denise80 

I have 4 pillows per bed and I make my mother iron them all too. She says that ironing is her second full time job since she spend quite a bit of time on it (4 beds = 16 pillow cases, sometimes daily!)  Honestly, as a guest I would rather have 4 unironed pillows then only 1 pillow per person. Have you considered trying to find a quality pillow case that doesn't really require any ironing?

[Gabriella40]

Here’s a trick ladies,  if you remove them immediately from the dryer while they are hot, smooth and fold them, they will be every bit as smooth and flat as one that was ironed.  I buy 100% cotton hotel grade sheet sets and never need to iron them.  

[Ann783]

@Gabriella40  Can you share the brand of sheets or distributor? Thanks.

[Gabriella40]

Pinzon; Don’t let the thread count discourage you (400).  I have purchased extremely expensive sheets for personal use and these hold up to them.  I bleach and treat them for blood stains and they bounce right back.  Guests leave positive comments on my bedding in their reviews.  I’ve been at this since 2008 and tried many different towel and sheet brands finding Costco Towels and these Pinzon sheets to be the best bang for the buck.  The price point makes it not so heart breaking when guests spill nail polish or when an ink pen leaks, both of which have happened.  

If you want a product that gets about everything out of literally everything Target sells an enzyme product in the pet department by Arm & Hammer called, Stain and Order Eliminator, (32 oz bright yellow spray bottle).  I use it on everything, grease in my kitchen, mold in my grout, removes blood stains, hair dye, makeup, wine.  It’s sold as a dog urine eliminator for carpet but believe me I have a bottle on each floor and use it on literally everything. Great for spraying round the toilet bowel for splatters too.  Won’t damage fabric...  It’s my miracle solution. 

[Emilia42]

@Gabriella40 Thanks for the tip. I just added the Stain and Odor Eliminator to my cart 🙂

[Sarah977]

@Gabriella40  Ladies? It isn't just female hosts who do any needed ironing (Robin, who responded above, happens to be male). That's pretty antiquated stereotyping.

[Gabriella40]

Seriously?  I’m afraid we have not yet evolved into an A-sexual species yet.  I was addressing the women who’s responses I read in the tread,  if I’d seen there was a man I would have used a different introduction.  I’ve noticed that an unexpected number of people like to point out, scold or criticize others, going completely off subject, is that part of the culture here?  I certainly hope not.  

[Sarah977]

@Gabriella40 Sorry, but I wasn't scolding or criticizing- it was intended to be somewhat tongue-in-cheek. I should have put a smiley face after it.

But also, public forums are not for the hyper-sensitive. There are all sorts of writing styles and attitudes and sometimes things can be taken in a different way than they were intended. It's not all sweetness and light.

We can't assume the gender of the posters, though. Many people have gender-neutral names and many hosts have joint "significant other" accounts and we don't necessarily know which of the couple is actually doing the post responses.

[Gabriella40]

You might want to rethink the purpose of this forum. It’s not a social media forum. Also, judging and assessing others is also not the purpose of this forum.  Offering ideas in relation to hosting was the point and more specifically, ironing pillow cases.  Lecturing others is something you might consider saving for your family and friends, people you actually know something about.  You might also consider spending more time on the subject at hand and less time lecturing, judging and assessing others.  I find random acts of kindness are a more productive use of ones time, with far more welcoming results. Do you honestly not see your hypocrisy?

[Alexandra1059]

Thank you Gabriella !! 🙂 I like how you think 

[Michelle53]

I've never ironed bedding. The only thing I iron is the linen tablecloth.  It's a four-foot by four-foot cloth (about the limit of my ironing capacity 🙂 )  While people have complained about all manner of things, I've yet to get a complaint about un-ironed bedding. (I suppose there's always a first time, 'ey?)

The sheet sets are Cotton Sateen 300 Thread Count. I get them at a warehouse store (Costco). 

The single beds get two pillows. The double beds get four pillows. 

I have had a couple of fragrance-sensitive people complain about fragrances, but I'd rather have the bedding smell like clean laundry, with a light fragrance that says "just washed". 

[Kelly149]

I refuse to iron. Ever. For Anything. If it really must be ironed then it goes to the cleaners.

Line drying, a quick spritz of water, a hard shake, aggressive folding straight out of the dryer... all of these are quicker and easier than ironing.

I agree with @Emilia42 I'd rather have more pillows un-ironed than 1 ironed

[Sarah977]

@Denise80  Yes, I think 1 pillow per bed is skimpy. Many people sit up in bed at night to read, and one pillow just doesn't work for that. Also, people have different pillow preferences, so I use one thicker feather pillow and one thinner "down alternative" pillow. 

And I'm also in the "I don't iron" camp. This isn't a 5* hotel with laundry service. Nor an expensive "luxury" listing. I line dry, smooth them out before hanging and before folding when dry and that's good enough. If a sheet is really wrinkled, I'll iron it lightly on the bed (which is much easier than on an ironing board) but pillow cases are easy to just smooth out and hardly ever require ironing.

In 3 years of hosting I've never had a guest complain that things weren't ironed and I get 5* reviews.