Serta Cloud 9 - trying to find a comparible

Hi There:

I travel a lot & stay at Hampton Inn & Suites because of the outstanding sleep & no low back pain in the AM when I get up. Their mattresses are Serta Cloud 9 - supposedly “custom made to thier specs”. I have looked for the specs & some comps but have struck out.

Any suggestions & comparible mattress?

Thanks a bunch!

Hi nomorethant,

I should mention first of all that it may be a good idea not to use an email address for a forum username because there are lots of email harvesters that just love to add them to their spam lists. If you’d like me to change it let me know :slight_smile:

The Serta Cloud 9 is specific to Hampton Inn but it still uses all the same materials (often lower quality) that would be in a similar Serta Mattress (with similar components and foam layers) that you could find in any store. The biggest difference is that it would be more expensive to buy it from Hampton Inn than it would be to buy the equivalent elsewhere … and you wouldn’t have any options left if you bought it from a hotel and it didn’t perform in your home over the longer term as it did in the shorter term in the hotel. You would need to test similar Serta Mattresses though in a store to find the one that you felt had the same level of pressure relief and support (and matched your other preferences) as the Cloud Nine because they don’t provide the specific details of what is inside the mattress so outside of going by feel there is really no way to make meaningful comparisons with other mattresses.

This lack of transparency is by design because hotels are well aware that most people sleep on a mattress that to various degrees have lost their comfort or support (or in some cases weren’t suitable for their body types and sleep positions in the first place) and that most hotel mattresses that are in good condition will be perceived as being better. This creates a new profit center for them (at inflated prices because of many consumer’s belief that their mattresses have some special design or material when they don’t). If hotels did disclose what is in their mattresses, nobody would buy them and they would just shop at their local chain store to find a similar model with similar materials at lower prices and even these (if they are a typical major brand mattress) would generally be poor value compared to smaller local or independent manufacturers.

Overall … I would avoid Serta completely (and all major brands or any mattress where you couldn’t find out the quality of the materials that are inside it). There are hundreds of mattresses that can provide you with similar pressure relief and support/alignment and match your other preferences that use much higher quality and more durable materials and have much better value. Even low quality polyfoam or other materials can feel good in a hotel or showroom but it doesn’t last nearly as long as higher quality materials and the loss of comfort or support is not covered by a warranty.

Without knowing the specs of the Cloud Nine … you would have to test mattresses to find one that was comparable but the good news is that there are so many better quality/value choices available to you.

The most effective way to find the best possible quality and value mattress would be to follow the steps listed in post #1 here which along with the information it links to will greatly improve your odds of finding the best possible mattress for your own unique needs and preferences … and will last you much longer.

As you will see from the linked information … knowing where to buy and who to work with can be even more important than knowing what to buy.

Once you have read some of the general information about the different types of mattresses and materials and know what to avoid … if you let me know your city or zip I’d be happy to let you know of any better sources or possibilities I’m aware of within a reasonable distance.

You may also be interested in reading this post from today from one of the forum members who two weeks ago thought that the best possible mattress was one from the Ritz Carleton and has come a long way in the two weeks since :slight_smile:

Phoenix

Hi Phoenix:

Thanks for the great advise! I’e started reading the articles you recommended. Good stuff!

Do I detect a certain bias toward latex mattresses? Not that I think that’s necessarily bad. It just seems most of the posts lean toward latex.

We live in the Indianapolis area.

Thanks,

Mark

Hi fivebewet,

I think there have been more posts dealing with memory foam than with latex because it is a much more “tricky” material and there tend to be more questions about memory foam on the forum but there is much more hype and marketing surrounding it than with latex (which also has its share). I do think though that latex is one of the highest quality materials available (for many reasons including performance and durability) and my own personal preferences lean towards fast response materials (also for many reasons) and latex is generally the best of these. I sleep on a latex mattress so its certainly fair to say that from a personal preference level there is a bias yes. You can read more about some of the reasons why in this article.

It would probably also be fair to say that I have a similar “bias” towards natural fibers such as wool and silk over polyester and other synthetic fibers and fabrics.

I think my biggest “bias” of all though is towards smaller local or independent manufacturers that either sell factory direct or through better sleep shops regardless of which type of mattresses they make. While there are exceptions, they will generally have the best quality and value available.

More than any of the benefits of latex though … I believe that it’s important to use the highest quality materials available in any budget range no matter what material someone is most attracted to because my own (or anyone else’s) personal preferences have little to do with what someone else may need or prefer. Not everyone prefers or even does well with latex. All materials including latex also have lower and higher quality versions and there are some higher grades of polyfoam (such as true HR foam) that approaches latex in its performance at a lower cost.

It would probably also be fair to say that many of the long time manufacturers across the country share the same biases because they have decades of experience in what makes a good mattress material and which materials can be more “problematic” beyond the hype that is so common in the industry. Some materials are more risky to use than others and in these cases the layering of the mattress and the combination of materials and components used can be especially important. They have seen the trends and successes and failures of different materials in the longer term and they have a longer term perspective that is more fact based and more responsive to their local customers (and their children and grandchildren) over the course of decades and less about marketing. They have also watched the general deterioration of mattress quality and construction that has become the norm with the mainstream industry.

Even good quality innersprings … as much as many people downplay them in these days where specialty mattresses and materials are commanding a growing market share … have benefits that aren’t shared by other components and some of the most knowledgeable people I know that could sleep on anything they want sleep on an innerspring with latex comfort layers.

Overall … each person can have unique needs and preferences and their own body and the things that are most important to each person will tell them which type of materials and combinations best suits their needs and preferences.

I think that two of the biggest “issues” in the industry today is the widespread use of lower quality foams (usually polyfoam and memory foam) especially in the upper comfort layers that are sold for much higher prices and are far less durable than they should be. The opposing trend that is just as big an issue is the “race to the bottom” that is promoted by many opportunistic manufacturers that care mostly about a quick profit and little about quality or value or the long termm satisfaction of their customers and will say just about anything to convince consumers that the materials they use are higher quality than they really are and that price is the only thing that really matters. These are the ones for example that you will constantly see comparing their mattresses that use cheap foams to higher quality versions (especially with memory foam) when they are anything but an “apples to apples” comparison.

The better options I’m aware of in the Indianapolis area are listed in post #2 here.

Hope this helps :slight_smile:

Phoenix