Westin's Heavenly Bed has been a pure pleasure for 10 years now
— -- The cushy mattress with all-white trimmings that launched a hotel bedding revolution is turning 10.
The Heavenly Bed poufed up Westin's image when unveiled in August 1999 and prompted most every U.S. chain — from upscale to budget — to banish those omnipresent stain-hiding floral coverlets and spruce up pillows, underpinnings and bed accessories.
"It truly transformed the industry," says Bjorn Hanson, veteran hotel analyst and associate professor in New York University's hospitality program. "If there were an award given for one of the greatest announcements by a hotel company in the last 20 years, it would go to the Heavenly Bed. Hotels had been focusing on amenities and in-room entertainment, and this was a back-to-basics move — a good night's sleep — that resonated with travelers."
Sue Brush, now senior vice president of global brand management for Westin Hotels & Resorts, remembers receiving a memo from the boss, then-Starwood Hotels chief Barry Sternlicht, raving about the mattress and pristine bed covers at Starwood's first W Hotel. W had just one outpost in 1998; Westin, 100-plus.
" 'I want you to put in one (style of) bed and call it 'heavenly,' " she recalls him writing. So she and her team tested 50 mattresses and wound up picking a design from Simmons with a special coil system.
"We worked on the sheets and duvet and tested various stains." The hardest to remove: "shoe polish and nail polish," she says.
Since installing the snow-white Heavenly Beds, "our cleanliness scores have gone up," Brush says. "Guests say, 'If they can keep the bed clean, the whole room must be clean, and the whole hotel must be clean.' "
The first week beds went in, more than 30 guests asked if they could buy it. Westin didn't sell Heavenly Beds right away, because factories were busy cranking out the special mattresses and bed accessories for the hotels. But then it began selling the beds online and later at Nordstrom stores.
The 13 pieces in the ensemble — box spring, pillow-top mattress, down blanket, three sheets, five pillows, bed skirt and duvet — currently sell for $2,670 and up.
