Buying a Mattress from Hilton

Hi!

I have been reading a lot about mattresses today, in hopes of finding some info about my options. Unfortunately, I have found very little about my specific choices.

I work at a Hilton property, and one of the super hidden perks is that I can buy their mattresses, bedding, etc. at basically the price they pay for it. Super, super cheap. Like, I am afraid to post prices in case I get in trouble kind of cheap.

I have options for their mattresses as well, all of which are name brand. What I found in my research is ‘Avoid Serta mattresses… unless you are looking at Waldorf ones.’

Well, I happen to be looking at Waldorf ones. Waldorf ones that I can buy at Walmart prices. But I have no clue what I am getting! Here are the exact names of the mattresses I can get. I can’t find any info about them, but would appreciate any help. Even posting stuff like ‘if you can get it for x number of dollars or less, then it is worth it. Otherwise, don’t bother’ would help me decide whether to buy one through the company. I understand about adding stuff on top, but I am unsure what firmness any of these even are. Like I said, I can’t figure out which models they are! One of the most comfortable beds I ever had was a horrible Ikea mattress in a college apartment that I imagine they paid no more than $200 for. It was unbearable until I got a decent memory foam topper, stuck a down alternative thick fill topper on top of it, and a decently padded mattress topper. I spent more on addons then they did on the original mattress! And it was soooo comfy… though the springs finally gave way in the last year there, it was awesome for a few years!

Anyways, my options are:

Serta “Perfect Sleeper” for Hilton Garden Inn (mattress and foundation)
Serta Waldorf Astoria II Plush Mattress and Foundation (same price as the Perfect Sleeper above, which concerns me a bit…)
Serta “Suite Dreams II” Plush Mattress and Foundation (a bit less than the ones above)

And, finally, this one I did some research on, as I slept on it and was very impressed, but found scathing reviews. The reviews are old, and I wouldn’t deal with the company in question… but it still concerns me. Also, the bad reviews are old, the company seems to have folded in, but this mattress is still available through this one place through my company… I have pretty much eliminated it based on reviews, but if there are reports that Hilton cleaned them up to get good stuff for their hotels, I am interested. Like I said, I was very happy with the one I slept on.

Hilton Garden Inn Sleep System, Mattress and Foundation (a bit more than the Waldorf and Perfect Sleeper. It is a type of air mattress based on the SAT bed, which seems to get a lot of negative reviews. I can get any model, including a King that is actually twos bed for individual adjustment, and seems like it would eliminate the problem of sagging in the middle…)

I am not sure which other mattresses I have slept on. I most like slept on the Hilton Garden Inn regular one, but don’t remember how I felt about it. I have stayed at various Hilton branded hotels, none of them Waldorfs, so I am unsure if I have tried that one. Every hotel seemed to have different mattresses, truly. Even when staying at the same brand. If could be age, it could be that the other brands choose whichever mattress they want from what’s available, and it could be many already had stuff from the last owners, and kept what was in there. I never thought to check at the time, but will from now on.

Can anything better be found for fairly inexpensive (sub $1000 I guess isn’t giving away too much info… :p)

Thanks for any info you might have about these options!

Hi Imaya,

Outside of the suitability of a mattress in terms of PPP (Posture and alignment, Pressure relief, and Personal preferences), a mattress is only as good as the quality of the materials inside it. The problem with most hotel beds is that they tend to be lower quality versions of consumer mattresses with unusually high markups because hotel mattresses don’t need to be as durable as consumer mattresses (they aren’t used as often and are replaced more frequently). There is more about hotel mattresses in post #3 here and the other posts it links to but in general I would never buy a mattress where you aren’t able to find out the quality/density of the materials inside it or where the odds are high that you are sleeping on lower quality foams that will soften and break down much too quickly. Without knowing the quality of the materials inside a mattress there is really no way to identify any weak links in the mattress or make meaningful comparisons to other mattresses.

They may be better value if you are buying them at cost (some of the wholesale cost lists are linked in the posts I linked that show that some of the Serta hotel mattresses are under half the price you mentioned) but you are still looking at a blind purchase of a lower quality mattress that I would consider a high risk choice in terms of durability and quality of materials.

You can read more about airbeds in general in this article and a little more about the SAT bed in post #2 here. In general I would tend to avoid them although the SAT bed is self adjusting so it’s among the better versions of a mattress category (airbeds) that IMO has questionable value overall.

Phoenix

Thanks Phoenix!

There was one link that had the at-cost pricing for mattress sets. Those are the kind of prices I am looking at, plus shipping. I figured with the king sized set, shipping, and buying an at-cost bed in a bag kit that goes with it (down pillows and down comforter, sheet set, duvet, maybe a sham, and either a topper or padded mattress pad, I don’t recall which) would bring me in at the top of my budget. For a tight budget, it does seem getting one at-cost will be about the best I can do for the money. I figure I can add my own toppers later, I am not afraid to do that.

I also am looking at the ‘Garden Sleep System’, complete with the same bedding setup, for only a bit more than the complete Waldorf setup. My partner seems strongly opposed to that system, even though it is the option that would fit both of our needs. I am thinking it would have the same short life as the hotel spring mattress, so I am not seeing the downside. The Waldorf mattress sounds fancy, but he has never owned a comfortable bed, including this awful one, so I don’t give his opinion much weight. He is sold on the name. I’m sold on the price for minimum expected performance. Either way, neither of us truly know the first thing about the kind of mattress I would be getting.

I am provided with a direct number to sales. Perhaps I can ask some questions about the mattress options. I suppose I should ask about what the core is made of, as well as the comfort layer? Without being able to test one, what kind of questions should I ask?

I frankly have no clue what I need, since I have always changed position all night, and use them all. I have a sneaking suspicion part of this is due to always sleeping on cruddy mattresses my whole life. I always toss, move around, wake up sore more often than not. I think I just need a fairly straightforward firm support mattress I can add my own topper ‘comfort layers’ to until I can figure out my specific needs.

Hi Imaya,

IMO … the most important part of a mattress purchase is to make sure it’s a good match in terms of PPP (Posture and alignment, Pressure relief, and Personal preferences). If you are buying a mattress that you can’t test in person then the knowledge and experience of the business you are buying from that can help you choose a mattress that has high odds of being a good match for you based on the averages of their customers that are similar to you along with their return or exchange policy if it isn’t can be among the most important parts of a successful mattress purchase and your personal value equation…

After PPP … the most important part of the purchase is to know the quality/density of the foam inside the mattress (particularly in the comfort layers which are usually the weak link of a mattress) because this is the single biggest factor in the durability of the mattress and it’s useful comfort life. This means that you would need to know the thickness and density of any polyfoam or memory foam in the mattress.

No matter what the cost or even quality of a mattress … if it isn’t a suitable choice for your specific body type and sleeping style then it would have little value for you if you can’t sleep on it comfortably.

Once you know the quality of the materials (and they are likely quite low) … then you can make meaningful comparisons with other mattresses. You may discover that there are other mattresses that use the same or better quality materials in a similar price range to the wholesale cost you would be paying. You may also have some difficulty finding out the information you need to make an informed purchase decision (which they often won’t disclose) which means you would be making a blind purchase with no way to know the relative quality or value of your purchase.

In essence you would be making a purchase based on price alone without regard to quality and rolling the dice in terms of whether it would be a suitable choice.

With the SAT bed at least you could exchange the comfort layers if you need to but it’s still an airbed with its inherent weaknesses. I would want to know the quality/density of the comfort layers with this one as well.

Phoenix

Did you ever end up buying the waldorf mattress? please let me know I’m looking at purchasing one myself. thank you

Hi kneelanbob,

I would be very cautious about hotel mattresses in general because they are generally much lower quality/value than many other similar mattresses that are available to you that use higher quality and more durable materials and they are one of the most common sources of buyers remorse. You can read more about hotel mattresses in general in post #3 here and the posts it links to.

I’m not sure what you’ve read since you found the site but just in case you haven’t read it yet … the first place to start your research is the mattress shopping tutorial here which includes all the basic information, steps, and guidelines that can help you make the best possible choice … and perhaps more importantly know how and why to avoid the worst ones.

Two of the most important links in the tutorial that I would especially make sure you’ve read are post #2 here which has more about the different ways to choose a suitable mattress (either locally or online) that is the best “match” for you in terms of “comfort”, firmness, and PPP (Posture and alignment, Pressure relief, and your own Personal preferences) that can help you assess and minimize the risks of making a choice that doesn’t turn out as well as you hoped for and post #13 here which has more about the most important parts of the “value” of a mattress purchase which can help you make more meaningful quality/value comparisons between mattresses in terms of suitability (how well you will sleep), durability (how long you will sleep well), and the overall value of a mattress compared to your other finalists based on all the parts of your personal value equation that are most important to you.

If you let me know your city or zip code I’d be happy to let you know about the better options or possibilities I’m aware of in your area.

Phoenix