how to keep white beddings spotless

[Yong Lai]

Hi fellow Airbnb hosts,

I am using white sheets and duvet covers for my guests. I found out most cleaners don't check spots and stains carefully. The beddings look clean but a guest can spot stains if he/she looks carefully. Nowadays I have to double check cleaners' work and take those stained beddings off and use stain remover to treat them and rewash them. The most effective way is to use stain remove to soak the stains overnight and wash the beddings the next day. I understand cleaners don't have enough time to do the same treatment as I do. I can't keep doing this as it is not scalable. How do you do it? Is there a special linen service that some cleaners provide? I tried many cleaners but most of them work the same way. Any suggestions would be much appreciated.

thanks,

Yong

[Michael Baum]

Ok, this is one of my jams. We use all white sheets and pillowcases. We have no issues with stains and the like. Here are some things to know:

The weave and blend have a lot to do with it. Percale weave and a 70/30 or 60/40 Cotton/Poly blend is what you want. It is harder to get a stain to set in this kind of weave and they come out easier. Percale is a crisp sleeping sheet. We have never had a comment on the sheets other than they are spotless. Sateen weave is guaranteed to pill up eventually. Especially if people have calloused feet. One night with rough feet will ruin a sheet. Plus sateen weave allows stains to set easier and they are harder to get out.

All cotton is will fray and hold stains. You need the poly in there to keep them durable.

Bleach. Just say no. No bleach on sheets. Bleach binds with body oils and makes the sheet yellow over time. Your best bet is hot water and Lysol sanitizer and a great detergent. Tide or Persil. Nothing else. They get just about anything out. We have sheets still in the rotation from 5 years ago and they look the same as the newest ones I put in service last year. The only thing I buy extras of is pillowcases as they take the most abuse.

One thing we do when stripping the bed is to have a bottle of Zout or the like nearby and we spray any stains/spots we see as we pull them off. This will give them some time to work before washing.

For really tough stains you can add Fels-Naptha. It will help remove anything.

Last resort would be to get a big pot and boil out the sheet. I had one fitted sheet I brought home that had a large yellow body sized stain on it. I am assuming self tanner. Washed it and it was greatly faded but still there. Got out the big pot and boiled the heck out of it and washed again, voila, clean as a whistle.

The sheets we use are Kohl's Big One 275tc percale weave in a 60/40 or 70/30 blend. It seems to vary a bit. Tough, easy to clean, sleep nice and crisp and like I said, we have our first sets still in use.