AUSTIN, TEXAS—Sustainability isn’t just a buzz word in the hospitality industry—it’s become a guiding force for forward-thinking hoteliers who are concerned about contributing to the growing nationwide mattress disposal issue.
Hotels, like the Austin, Texas-based Mansion at Judges’ Hill, are choosing to proactively encase their mattresses to not only preserve their expensive assets, but to increase their recyclability.
“I’ve never felt comfortable recycling our discarded mattresses because they were too soiled or damaged to pass along to someone else,” says Lisa Wiedemann, the general manager and partner of the hotel. “Now that we have proactively encased our mattresses and box springs, I know I can donate our used mattresses with confidence.”
Wiedemann says she prides herself on seeking out the latest and greatest ways to keep the guests and staff of her 48-room boutique hotel safe and healthy. Encasements have played an important role in this effort.
Wiedemann first sought out encasements when she was planning a personal travel trip overseas and was concerned about bed bug outbreaks. “At the time, I naively thought bed bugs were isolated to Europe and big cities like New York. After more research, I found growing instances of outbreaks and decided to research encasements further.”
That’s when Wiedemann realized the multiple benefits—such as health and environmental—encasements could also bring to the hotel.
Guests Demand a Healthy Sleep Environment
According to Wiedemann, the number one request they get from guests prior to their arrival is health-related, when they ask: do you have allergy-free bedding? “We are proud to use hypoallergenic bedding and mattresses as well as Protect-A-Bed encasements, which allow us to assure our guests that they will enjoy a healthy, hygienic and allergy-free sleep environment,” she says.
Additionally the property changes all bedding—including duvets and shams—between guests, to make sure the bedding is allergy-free.
“The biggest benefits of encasements are for the health of my guests and staff as well as the confidence I feel knowing that I’ve done the best for both of them,” she says. “I take great pride in this commitment to addressing the needs of the guest.”
Recyclability: Keeping Mattresses out of Landfills
Mattress encasements have become an important sustainability tool that hotels, like Mansion at Judges’ Hill, are choosing to have in their marketing arsenal. If a mattress can’t be recycled at the end of its life cycle, the hotel typically has to send it to the landfill, where it’s estimated approximately 250 million pounds of mattresses are discarded each year. “Unfortunately, mattresses can be so contaminated that recycling companies will refuse to take them,” says Sandra DiVito, vice president of Hospitality for Chicago-based Protect-A-Bed. “Hotel owners and operators can support their sustainability initiatives by encasing their mattresses.”
DiVito also notes that recycling companies will charge between $18 and $30 per mattress for human contaminated or infested mattress recycling. “Most properties do not have money in their budgets set aside for this expense,” she says.
Extending the Life of the Mattress
As a boutique hotel, the Mansion at Judges’ Hill takes pride in providing the most comfortable and highest quality mattresses. “Before using Protect-A-Bed encasements, I felt like we needed to replace our mattresses every 18 months, which was a huge hit to our capital expenditure budget,” Wiedemann says. “Now the mattress life is extended and labor hours are reduced.”
Additional Sustainability Benefits
According to DiVito, the benefits Wiedemann has experienced can be tremendous to any property. “We always tell hoteliers the very first time a mattress is protected from an accident, the encasement has paid for itself,” she says. “And you are absolutely preventing the mattress from being prematurely discarded.”
DiVito and her team work with hoteliers across the country to develop and implement an aggressive approach for preserving their bedding assets. “Mattress encasements are an important sustainability tool because they allow hotels to recycle at the end of their life cycle, but they also provide many additional cost-saving benefits,” she says. “This includes reduced housekeeping labor and proactively mitigating legal exposure.”
Hotels like the Mansion at Judges’ Hill are very concerned about reducing their environmental footprint. “Many people don’t realize the role encasements play in helping to reduce utility expenses as well as lessening cleaning chemical expenses,” she says. “If you eliminate the need to clean a mattress, you contribute to the properties’ sustainability goals by reducing cleaning chemicals.”
The Mansion at Judges’ Hill is positioning the property as a leader in guest satisfaction, which is becoming increasingly important as guests demand a healthy sleep environment.
“Mattress encasements allow us to provide the healthy environment our guests deserve and at the same time, we can protect mattresses and extend the life of an expensive asset,” Wiedemann says.
About Protect-A-Bed
Protect-A-Bed® offers customers a complete line of protective bedding products because every mattress needs protection. Now selling in 30 countries for over 30 years, the company is a worldwide leader in mattress protection innovation. Protect-A-Bed products help create a dry, hygienic, bed bug free and anti-allergy sleep zone while protecting the mattress investment. The company developed the proprietary Miracle Membrane® and patented BugLock® with SecureSeal® and three-sided zipper system.
Protect-A-Bed’s revolutionary protectors and encasements help keep mattresses and pillows clean and significantly prolong their lifespan. Furthermore, these products protect valued guests from a traumatic encounter with bed bugs, dust mites and many more serious health hazards. Used by hotels worldwide, Protect-A-Bed® and AllerZip® are extremely cost effective because they reduce the need to frequently replace mattresses and pillows that have become stained or infested.
For more information, contact Sandra DiVito at sandra.divito@protectabed.com or (847) 856-7918. Also go to www.protectabed.com.