STR Mattress Purchasing Advice

[Tara Ward]

I am in the process of purchasing my first STR. Does anyone have a "go-to" mattress you purchase for all your STR properties? The options seem overwhelming and to me, this is a very important purchase to make guests happy. Any guidance would be greatly appreciated.

[Cliff H.]

@Tara Ward I posted this in another thread as well, so here's my cut and paste: 

Ah mattresses. I've spent so many years looking into this market, even before getting in STRs. The first thing to understand about the mattress industry is that is largely a scam. Back in the day that scam was on the back of Tempur-Pedic patents on memory foam and 200-400% retail markups in mattress stores complicit in the biz of selling the same mattresses under wildly different names for years. Today that scam is VC-backed marketing firms that figured out educated consumers were buying off online review sites and just started buying all those "unbiased" mattress review sites up in order to push traffic back to a nice website with innocent names that remind of you of Saturday morning cartoons like Casper. Same scam, different channels.

If I could count the amount of hours I've spent researching this industry I'd be far richer than my real estateportfolio could ever make me. From what I've seen lately, the best price-performance mattress < $500 according to one of the few still indie review sites left (Consumer Reports) is the mattress hardly anyone's heard of: Sleep Innovations 10" Marley @ $275 (queen). Amazon sells it. Walmart sells it. This mattress is amazing for what it costs.

Prior to discovering the Marley I've also gone through the Zinus Green Tea (lasted 12 months) and a Linenspa gel/spring hybrid (lasted 10 months). Not looking back. I even changed out the cheapo spring mattresses on lower bunk beds with the Marley since adult hiker guests apparently enjoy sleeping in bunk beds more than I ever imagined and even hikers need a good mattress to wake up on.

Whatever you choose, just don't fall for the scam of the $3k luxury mattress. At the end of the day your guests are sleeping on these things for days, not years. Keep it simple, stick to your budget, and complement whatever mattress you buy with extras like nice sheets, mattress toppers, or nightstand amenities versus a name brand that's only that.