I am new to this forum so I do have quite a few questions for you out there.  I just opened a B&B and am discovering things I do and don't like.   I have one full home with 2b/1ba. 

I have tried several different fabrics of sheet sets and have not come up with any good one not requiring constant ironing after drying.  Any suggestions for best brands, fabric and where to purchase?

The same goes with good towels.  I have purchased tight looped towels but they still have pulled threads every now and then.  Any suggestions for best brands and where to buy? 

How about soaps, etc.  Any vendors that you like would be helpful.  I don't want to throw away full bars each time a guests leaves.  Thanks so much!

Star Girl

The leading vendor of linens for innkeepers is Innstyle; visit their website at http://www.innstyle.com/. They are famous for their quality and service.

For towels only, the Turkish Towel Company has beautiful towels/robes at great prices: http://www.turktowel.com/hotel-quality-towels.html

My own recommendation is to get ONLY high quality white towels and linens -- don't bother with colors or patterns that can't be bleached.

Good luck!

Sandy

 

 

 

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Sandy Soule
BedandBreakfast.com
Sandy@BedandBreakfast.com

Stargirl,

We have a four guest room B&B we started from scratch and have just entered our fourth year of operation. We did so much research prior to opening on nearly everything we could think of that our heads were spinning.

Personally, given the size of your place but not knowing your average room rate, I see no compelling reason to outfit your rooms with hotel supplier anything. We did our homework as fully as possible and we just don't see the advantage in purchasing expensive things from suppliers just because of a perceived better quality, because they advertise on B&B directory sites and belong to professional associations. We checked them all out and the quality and pricing isn't any better than you can get for less at your local Linens & Things especially if you use any of the hundreds of coupons you'll be showered with after you've made one purchase.

Don't get me wrong, we're not outfitting our rooms with inferior linens and towels. We only buy a minimum 400 thread count best quality sheets and usually opt for 600 thread count because we have found the higher the thread count the less wrinkling, less staining and more luxurious feel. In our price range, we way over deliver on quality but we're in it for the long haul and were brought up to buy the best possible quality items one can afford and things will last longer. Our experience as innkeepers has confirmed that sage advise of our parents.

A couple tricks we've found is to not overload the dryer, pull the linens as soon as they are 98% dry and get them back on the bed ASAP. Once a good quality set of sheets is "broken in" after a few washings, they really shouldn't be overly wrinkled unless you're trying to stuff too much in the dryer. There is no energy savings in cramming the dryer with too many items and they never tumble freely enough to remove wrinkles.   

Our towels are thick, absorbent and everything is routinely replaced as we see fit which is probably more often than necessary. Believe me, we're both almost suffering from Obsessive Compulsive Disorder over our zeal to offer the best possible experience available in our area and price range. One little spot or wear mark and a set gets retired and replaced. Needless to say, we have enough nice sheets and towels for ourselves to last a lifetime.

We do offer color coordinated linens and towels for each room. With all the advances in stain removal products, color safe bleaches, Oxyclean, etc... our rooms are so much more in tune with our vision of our place and decor than using all white stuff. The guests notice it, compliment us on it and it separates us from some of the competition a little at no higher cost. A great quality beige set of towels costs the same as the same quality white.

Very rarely, we get a guest who refuses to use the complimentary make up removal items we stock in every bathroom or uses these new acne remedies that contain tons of hydrogen peroxide ( ProActive Solution is a very dirty word in our household! ) that stain things, but when we go in to clean their room each day they get one of the older, white sets we have as backups from that first day on until they check out.  

We are a very environmentally aware B&B and were one of eight B&Bs in the 1/2008 issue of New Mexico magazine who incorporate a high degree of ecologically sound practices but without compromising on quality or guest experience.

We offer our shampoo, conditioner, body wash, hand soap and body lotion in larger refillable dispensers and they are all of the highest possible, earth friendly, animal friendly, cruelty free quality available. The brands we use offer large refill size quantities to minimize waste and offset the higher cost of using such socially responsible products which are more expensive. But there is literally no waste and if a rare guest is really obsessed about not using something someone else may have used before, they are weird on all sorts of other things and probably come armed with their own items.

Besides, there are great savings for you in shortcircuiting the human dynamic that if you put something in a room, people will likely use it even if they have their own because they are paying for a room, ie. the little bars of soap and bottles of things. Most people bring their own toiletries and our intent isn't to discourage them from using these wonderful products we offer, but if everything is contained in a nice dispenser, you have less waste and less cleaning time especially if guests choose not to use what we offer.

Unless you are located in a region with strong attitudes against conservation of resources, good environmental stewardship, etc.. and those attitudes represent most of your guests, I think you'd be surprised at how many of your guests really appreciate the effort to make your B&B as earth friendly as possible as long as the overall quality of experience isn't lowered or they are made to feel you are preaching at them.

We refill and scrupulously clean each dispenser between every stay and find the effort is not extraordinary to do so and vastly reduces our solid waste stream in addition to making the bathrooms much easier to clean to begin with.

Wow! sorry for the tome, but I got on a roll and hopefully some of this info can help you minimize costly mistakes and shorten the learning curve.

Good luck and good innkeeping

Tim

We use a company called Russell- Newman out of Denton Texas 866-347-7623 for our light weight waffle weave robes (very very inexpensive and dry quickly: they also come in 1X which is better for the "large" population, they fit everyone!) and we buy our excellent towels from them also. Our towels are from their Kings Choice Collection. Last time I purchased them they were $14 for a dozen thick white wash cloths, $39 a dozen for the hand towels and about $110 a dozen for the 30" x 56" over sized bath towels. These last a long time. For sheets it is more difficult. I have extra tall mattresses (18 inches) and Cal King mattresses. Difficult to find white sheets that don't pill, with extra deep pockets for Cal King, and that feel silky smooth for less than $100 a set. I currently buy the XL flat sheets and XL fitted through American Hotel Register catalog. They do pill after a year or so but they are reasonable enough that we just replace them and donate the used sheets to the local SPCA for their animal care program. If anyone out there has any better suggestion for good priced, Cal King DEEP POCKET white sheets please let us know.
As to soaps, we buy them through American Hotel Register catalog....a case of the 1 1/2 oz small individual bars and also put in luxury 32 oz with a pump top liquid soap in our showers and on the sink. People really enjoy a nice liquid soap and find it more hygenic on the sinks than bar soaps but we give them the option. Then (I know this will sound weird but I can't just throw away anything) we collect all the little used soaps and give them to a teacher at a school who loves to use them for school projects. Melts them down and makes things with them with the children. Trying to do our "environmental" part.

We use Softsoap in dispensers.  We have never had a complaint just lots of compliments.  Liquid soap is the norm and is very acceptable.  In fact, my opinion is that liquid soap is preferred.  People who are real picky bring their own soap.

I buy a half gallon of it at Wal-mart for about $5. 

I have had great success dealing with InnStyle over my 15 years open. I have many sets of towels that I use, purchased from them over the years. I have gotten Greenwich bay soaps and other amenities for many years because I feel part of the experience staying with me is enjoying these nice products, but to also to take what ones you don't use home as a rememberence. They do have the inns name and website for future reference! I have tried many sheet sets from many places and find that the best for me seem to be around 350-400 thread count percale. They hold up like iron, do up nicely and feel great. My cleaning girl irons the pillowcases only, for an extra touch. I get the ones at Costco. I use contrasting embroidered and other pillow cases for the top two extra pillows, and have had wonderful luck getting these from Tuesday Morning. I also have had luck there for beautiful facecloths. I use only tan, white or brown towels with coordinating facecloths.