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Shopping for yourself, though not always easy, is relatively straightforward; your personal needs and preferences provide a clear path for choosing the best product. Shopping for others and anticipating their needs and preferences, though, can be much more difficult, and that can be a challenge for people who need a mattress for their vacation rental property.
Platforms like Airbnb and VRBO have made it easier than ever to rent out space for extra income, and that means that more and more owners of homes, condos, cabins, and other properties want to nicely furnish their rentals. Having a great mattress that helps guests feel comfortable, sleep well, and wake up refreshed can make all the difference in earning their satisfaction and five-star reviews.
Hotels have long known that opting for a quality mattress can keep their clients happy, and rental property owners are following that same logic. But for many hosts of Airbnbs and vacation rentals, picking out the ideal mattress can be daunting because of the sheer number of options available.
We’ve made the process simple by listing the best mattresses for rental properties. These options are affordable, well-built, durable, and can suit the support and comfort needs of most guests. After introducing our top picks, our guide explains the ins-and-outs of buying a mattress with a special emphasis on identifying the best bet for a vacation rental.
Best Overall
Use this SleepFoundation.org link for the most current discount on Tuft & Needle mattresses
Since it was founded in 2012, Tuft & Needle has rapidly grown to become one of the most popular and well-recognized online mattress brands. The second mattress that they launched, the Tuft & Needle Mint, expands upon the company’s early success and provides a dynamic mattress that fits well in most rental properties.
A major selling point of the Mint is its thick layers of Adaptive Foam, a proprietary material created by Tuft & Needle. The characteristics of Adaptive Foam are a blend of those found in memory foam and latex, which gives it a balanced feel that works for a wide range of sleepers. That feel includes mild contouring and noticeable bounce that keeps people from feeling like their body is sagging too far into the mattress.
Both of the top two layers of the Mint are composed of Adaptive Foam, and these layers have a combined height of five inches. Adaptive Foam is infused with gel and graphite to minimize heat buildup, and the breathable cover, made of polyester and micro-polyamide and embedded with an antimicrobial protectant, also works to keep the mattress cool even in hot climates. Seven inches of high-density polyfoam create a sturdy support core underneath the Adaptive Foam.
The medium firm (6) feel of the Mint is excellent for most side sleepers and average to above-average for sleepers in other positions. That the feel is broadly acceptable to different sleepers makes it unlikely to pose comfort problems for guests.
The Mint comes with a risk-free sleep trial of 100 nights and is backed by a 10-year warranty from Tuft & Needle.
Best Value
For people who are looking for a mattress for their rental property that is well-built but available at an accessible price point, the Nectar fits the bill. Even though it contains multiple layers of high-performance memory foam, the Nectar has a competitive price that is well-suited to furnishing an Airbnb or vacation rental.
The Nectar is an all-foam bed with four interior layers, the top three of which are made with memory foam. The first of those layers is gel-infused, measures in at one inch in thickness, and is quilted into the mattress cover. The second memory foam layer is also gel-infused and one inch thick. The third layer is three inches and made with Nectar’s specialty Adaptive Hi Core memory foam.
Combined, the Nectar’s comfort system uses five inches of memory foam, allowing it to effectively cradle the body’s pressure points and isolate motion. At the same time, these layers don’t permit deep sinking like traditional memory foam, which helps ward off problems of feeling stuck in the mattress. The gels infused in the top layers work along with the breathable Tencel cover to fight against heat buildup.
The bottom layer of the Nectar is made with a support polyfoam that is considerably denser than what’s in many other foam beds, providing a dependable base for the mattress as a whole.
The Nectar’s feel is medium firm (6), making it a good fit for an Airbnb or rental since it can provide comfort and support to sleepers in many different positions.
The mattress comes with a 365-night sleep trial, and Nectar provides protection against defects with a lifetime warranty.
Most Comfortable
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Recognizing the diversity of guest preferences, many owners of rental properties place a priority on flexibility. For those owners, the Layla mattress, which has a reversible firmness design with a different feel on each side, is a compelling option.
The Layla mattress can be used on either side. The mattress is medium soft (4) on one side and firm (7-8) on the other. With the medium soft side facing up, the layering follows this structure:
While the sides offer a distinct firmness feel, both feature memory foam that can relieve pressure, enhance spinal alignment, and decrease the transfer of movement across the mattress surface. A ThermoGEL material in the cover works to reduce heat buildup, and the copper infusion fights heat retention in the foam. Copper is also antibacterial, which can be a big plus for rental owners.
Because of its 2-for-1 firmness design, people with rentals can ask their scheduled guests about their preferences and adjust the bed accordingly, increasing visitor’s comfort and offering an extra touch of customer service.
After delivery, there is a 120-night sleep trial, and Layla provides customers with a lifetime warranty that covers defects in materials and manufacturing.
Best Cooling
For all types of products, more and more customers are placing an emphasis on sustainability. The Awara mattress utilizes natural materials, appealing to eco-conscious Airbnb hosts, and simultaneously delivers excellent performance for all types of sleepers.
The Awara is a latex hybrid with a straightforward yet robust design. Its comfort system is one layer made with four inches of natural latex. The latex, produced using the Dunlop process, has a springy feel but can still cushion pressure points. Dunlop latex is also known for its durability, and with a thick four-inch layer, it can be expected to hold up to years of regular use. On top of its comfort and support, the latex in the Awara is made according to strict environmental standards, which is validated by the fact that it is Rainforest Alliance Certified.
The support core of the Awara is nine inches of individually-wrapped coils. The coils are thick and provide dependability across the mattress surface, including around the edge. The responsiveness of the coils supplements that of the latex, creating a mattress that’s very easy to move on top of.
The cover is composed of organic cotton and wool, both of which are extremely breathable and help with natural temperature regulation. As latex and coils also excel at staying cool, all of the Awara’s materials make it a great fit for rental properties in hot climates.
The Awara is medium firm (6), so most sleepers can get comfortable on it, and its sturdy design means that it works well for people over 230 pounds.
For a high-quality hybrid, the Awara has an affordable price, and it comes with a 365-night sleep trial as well as a lifetime warranty.
Best for Side Sleepers
Designed and developed by Nature’s Sleep, the GhostBed has built a loyal following online as a result of its combination of bouncy latex and conforming memory foam offered at an accessible price.
The original GhostBed is 11 inches tall and features three internal layers. The top layer is 1.5 inches of synthetic latex. This material provides mild conforming and substantial bounce to make it easy to move around on top of the bed. The latex, which already is resistant to heat retention, is aerated with small holes to facilitate better ventilation and temperature control.
The second layer is two inches of gel-infused memory foam. As a softer and more contouring material, this component works to boost the GhostBed’s pressure relief while reducing motion transfer. The gel interspersed in the foam is designed to protect against sleeping hot.
The bottom layer is the support core, and it is made with 7.5 inches of dense polyfoam. The mattress cover is a soft and breathable blend of polyester and viscose.
The firmness of the GhostBed is medium firm (6), and factoring in this comfort feel with the bed’s mix of latex and memory foam, the GhostBed strikes a middle ground that is likely to serve the needs of the majority of guests to any Airbnb or vacation home.
The sleep trial for the GhostBed lasts for 101 nights, and the mattress comes with a 20-year warranty that covers potential defects in materials or craftsmanship.
Best for Back and Stomach Sleepers
For many people shopping for a mattress for a rental property, there’s peace of mind that comes from buying from a company with a track record. Brooklyn Bedding has been serving customers for over two decades, and their collected wisdom in mattress design has been put to use in the Brooklyn Bedding Signature mattress.
The Signature is a hybrid with four total layers: two in the comfort system and two in the support core. The comfort system’s top layer is two inches of the company’s gel-infused TitanFlex foam. This material has a latex-like feel, lightly cushioning the body while springing back quickly when weight is removed. The next layer is two inches of Energex polyfoam that contributes additional bounce with modest conforming.
The next layer, the first in the support core, is six inches of pocketed innerspring coils. With this type of coils, the mattress can enhance its tailoring to the body while generating responsiveness and edge support. A one-inch layer of polyfoam at the bottom complements the coils and the sturdiness of the mattress.
The Signature has above-average temperature regulation because of how easily air can move through the coils, and despite its solid all-around performance, it is available at a competitive price. Owners of rental properties can choose from Soft, Medium, or Firm options with Medium being the option with the widest appeal to a diverse set of sleepers. These firmnesses correspond to medium soft (4), medium firm (6), and firm (7-8) feels, respectively.
Brooklyn Bedding offers a 120-night sleep trial and backs the Signature with a 10-year warranty.
Best Memory Foam
As the Leesa brand has become increasingly well-known in the online mattress industry, they’ve launched several new mattresses, and while their expanded product line is exciting, many customers gravitate to the Lessa Original. This all-foam mattress was an early riser among bed-in-a-box mattresses, and it boasts a solid track record.
The Leesa Original uses a 10-inch, three-layer design that is simple but effective. The top layer is two inches of a specialty polyfoam that has a latex-like feel that blends responsiveness and contouring. The second layer is two inches of memory foam that works to isolate motion and enhance spinal support. The bottom layer is six inches of support polyfoam.
The combination of foams in the Leesa Original makes it a strong option for most sleepers. It has a soft enough feel – Medium (5) – to accommodate sharp pressure points, but it doesn’t permit excessive sinking that can make the mattress feel like quicksand. It has enough bounce to allow for easy movement on the bed, but not so much bounce to cause disruptive motion transfer. These balanced characteristics make it comfortable to sleepers in many positions.
Leesa is a certified B-corporation, which means that a central part of their operations are focused on promoting a social mission, including helping to provide mattresses to people suffering from economic hardship. The company extends its customers a 100-night sleep trial as well as a 10-year warranty covering defects in materials and workmanship.
Determining your top priorities is a vital first step to choosing a great mattress. While there are certain elements of mattress quality that are the same no matter where you plan to use it, other aspects may be more or less important for owners of rental units.
While mattress marketing can be a lot to wade through, there is a way to refine your focus. Reviewing the following factors and thinking about which matter the most to you and your likely clientele can help you filter out the noise and select the best mattress for your Airbnb or rental.
When shopping for a mattress for an Airbnb or vacation rental, it doesn’t take long to realize that there are an abundance of options. Dozens of brands and models are available, and keeping all the possibilities straight can be a challenge.
One way of organizing all these mattresses is to focus on mattress type. Categorizing beds by their internal construction provides a general rubric for understanding their likely performance and narrowing your options to the types that are most likely to fit your rental property.
There are five main mattress types, and while all the beds within a type will share some characteristics, keep in mind that there can always be variation based on the specific design of any mattress.
Definition: An all-foam mattress is built entirely with polyfoam, memory foam, and/or latex in its interior layers. The support core is almost always dense polyfoam. There are no innerspring coils anywhere in the mattress.
Affordable Options for Pressure Relief: All-foam mattresses tend to provide quality pressure relief that helps most sleepers avoid waking up with aches and pains. While the exact degree of contouring can vary, overall pressure point relief tends to be a plus, and as an added bonus, there are many all-foam beds available at accessible prices.
Definition: To be considered a hybrid mattress, there must be a support core of innerspring coils and an ample comfort system made with foam, latex, micro-coils, and/or fabrics like wool and cotton.
Stability, Dependability, and Balance: By combining components found in other mattress types, a hybrid can provide reliability and broad appeal to side, back, and stomach sleepers. The coils generate edge support and sturdiness while the thick comfort system adds a balanced feel with increased pressure relief.
Definition: When the main component of a mattress is a coil-based support system, the mattress is categorized as an innerspring. In these mattresses, there is barely any comfort system to speak of; at most, there may be a thin layer of fabric or polyfoam.
Budget-Friendly Price: Innersprings won’t win the praise of most sleepers since they tend to lack in pressure relief, contouring, motion isolation, and overall comfort, but they do make for a wallet-friendly option for rental property owners who need to keep costs down. A low-cost mattress topper can be placed on top of an innerspring to make it softer and more conforming.
Definition: All of the interior layers of a latex mattress are made with latex rubber. The most common type of latex used in mattresses is natural latex produced from tree sap, but some beds utilize synthetic latex.
Responsive and Durable: As a bouncy material, latex in a mattress keeps sleepers from feeling stuck in place or sinking deeply into the bed. These mattresses have moderate contouring — enough to relieve pressure — while typically holding up extremely well over time.
Definition: The support core in an airbed is an air chamber that can be inflated or deflated to make the mattress feel harder or softer. The air level is controlled by a remote or smartphone. The comfort system can be sizable or minimal and may include foam, latex, and/or fabric materials.
Personalized Firmness: Because airbeds are expensive, they are not commonly found in hotels or rental properties. That said, their ability to allow every sleeper to adjust the firmness to their desired level is a huge benefit and a potential selling point for luxury rentals.
While we’ve reviewed the most fundamental factors to take into account when shopping for a mattress for your rental property, there are a few other issues to consider in order to get the most out of your new bed.
It’s natural for any Airbnb host to want to make sure that the mattress is clean and smelling fresh before every guest arrives, but some mattresses are easier to clean. It’s important to follow the manufacturer’s cleaning directions in order to protect the materials and avoid invalidating the warranty.
In most cases, a mattress has to be spot-cleaned, which involves using a non-abrasive cleaner just on the areas that are dirty or stained. For convenience, some models have a removable cover that can be machine-washed.
Owners of rental properties may want to purchase a mattress protector. These products provide a zippered encasement over the whole mattress. Most mattress protectors are waterproof to defend against spills and also serve as a barrier against dust, allergens, and bed bugs.
Most quality mattresses should last for at least 5 years of nightly use. If your rental isn’t always occupied, such as during the low season, the mattress may last even longer.
Using a solid bed frame and a mattress protector can improve the longevity of the mattress by offering it a sturdy foundation and defense against most accidental damage. Following the manufacturer’s guidance for upkeep, including occasionally rotating the mattress, can improve its durability as well.
Owners of rental properties should try to occasionally check in on the mattress by lying on it for at least 10-15 minutes to make sure that there are no signs of premature sagging or other defects.
As with many products, it’s easy to think that our personal mattress preferences are shared by most other people, but in reality, there’s a lot of diversity in what people want their mattress to feel like. Try to keep this perspective in mind when mattress shopping and look for an option that can be a crowd-pleaser for all types of people.
Almost any mattress that you buy online will come with free shipping. The standard delivery method involves compressing the mattress in plastic and sending it in a box via ground shipping to your door. You then need to bring the box to the bedroom and remove the packaging so that the mattress can decompress to regain its full size. For most mattresses, especially those that are a full or larger, it takes two people to do this safely.
If you want a more hands-off approach, look for a mattress company that offers White Glove delivery. This service includes technicians coming to your home to install the bed. They also usually will remove an old mattress if needed. The cost of White Glove services depends on the mattress company and your location.
A warranty provides protection against defects that could arise in a mattress. Although warranties are helpful in some cases, rental property owners should know that a warranty won’t provide coverage for accidental damage (including spills) or normal wear-and-tear, including minor sagging over time.
The best type of warranty for shoppers is a non-prorated warranty because this means that the coverage stays the same over time. If the warranty is prorated, it means that the longer a customer has had the mattress, the larger the share of costs they have to pay to repair or replace the mattress.
In general, we advise owners of rental properties to look closely at the fine print of a mattress warranty. This can shed light on the nature of the coverage and customer costs associated with a warranty claim. In addition, rental property owners should make sure that there are no special terms in the warranty for mattresses used in commercial settings.
Having a great mattress may go unappreciated by your guests if the pillows and bedding are not up to snuff. Try to make sure that there are at least two pillows on a twin or twin XL bed and four or more pillows on beds that are full or larger. You can consider zippered pillow encasements to protect against damage to the pillows and to reduce the buildup of allergens that could cause problems for guests.
Sheets and blankets are also important to consider. Of course, you’ll want to start by making sure that you choose a size that matches the new mattress. Having multiple bedding sets can make it easier to always provide fresh sheets and blankets and to have a backup in case there’s a spill or stain. If your rental is in a warmer climate, using cooling sheets may bring added comfort to your visitors.
Along with the mattress, put some thought into the bedroom furniture that will round out the overall decor in your Airbnb or rental property. If there’s space for a nightstand (or two), a dresser, and/or a desk, it can boost the comfort and usability of your space. Try to make sure there are some electrical outlets that are easily accessible since virtually every guest will want a place to plug in their phone, tablet, or other electronics.
Taking extra steps so that guests get a good night’s sleep can help ensure that you get positive reviews and repeat customers. Too much light in the bedroom is an issue that is often overlooked in rental properties. If the bedroom has big windows, consider putting up blackout curtains or heavy drapes so that customers can sleep without being bothered by light streaming in.
If you have a rental property that caters to families, including many condos and vacation homes, it is worth considering having a crib mattress in the unit. This added perk can make the difference for potential customers that are parents seeking the ease of traveling without lugging along a travel crib.
Should you decide to furnish your rental with a crib, make sure to choose one that meets all required safety standards in its construction.
For some rental units, it’s a huge plus to have extra bed capacity. If you’re working with limited space but want to boost the maximum number of guests, there are a few types of space-saving beds to consider:
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