Best Sheets for Airbnb Properties

A short-term rental sheet has to do two jobs that pull in opposite directions: look extraordinary in a listing photograph, and survive being washed twice a week by someone who is not you. Here is how to choose one that does both.

Weave first, thread count second

The weave decides how a sheet feels. There are really only two worth considering.

Percale

One thread over, one thread under. Matte, cool, crisp — the sheet people describe as "hotel". It breathes well, presses beautifully, and it makes that characteristic sound when you turn the bed down. It is the right choice for warm climates and for properties that want a formal, consistent, hotel-standard room.

Sateen

Four threads over, one under, which puts more thread surface on top. Softer, slightly lustrous, and it photographs noticeably better than percale because it catches light. It sleeps a little warmer. For a cabin in the mountains that is a feature; in a hot climate it is not.

Linen

A third option for a particular kind of property. Washed linen is soft, breathable and deliberately rumpled. If your housekeeping standard is a crisply pressed bed, linen will fight you every single turnover. If your property is a retreat or a cabin where relaxed is the point, it is unbeatable.

Thread count, honestly

Thread count is threads per square inch. More is better, up to a point, and then it starts lying to you.

Above about 600, manufacturers reach the limit of what fits and start counting each ply of a twisted yarn separately. A "1,000 thread count" sheet is often 250 threads of four-ply yarn. It is heavier, hotter, less breathable and it pills sooner than an honest 400.

Look for 300 to 500, single-ply, long-staple cotton. That combination beats almost any higher number.

Fibre

• Long-staple cotton (Egyptian, Supima, Pima) — longer fibres mean fewer ends poking out, so it pills less and gets softer rather than rougher. Worth the money.
• Standard cotton — fine, but expect pilling within a year of commercial washing.
• Cotton-polyester blends — cheaper, wrinkle less, and genuinely used by large hotels. They do not breathe as well and they will not feel luxurious. Reasonable for a budget property, wrong for a premium one.
• Microfibre — avoid in a property positioned as luxury. Guests can tell.

The details that decide whether they last

• Deep pockets. Fitted sheets should fit an 18 inch mattress, because a mattress plus a protector is thicker than you think.
• Full elastic. All the way around, not just at the corners.
• A size label sewn at the foot. Sounds trivial. Saves a cleaner a minute on every single bed.
• Triple-stitched hems. Hems are where hotel sheets fail first.

Colour

White wins for hospitality, and it is not close. White can be bleached, so stains come out rather than being hidden. White can be replaced one piece at a time forever, because it always matches. And white reads as clean to a guest in a way no other colour does.

If white feels too clinical for your property, pick one warm neutral — oat, fog, dune — and commit to it across every room, so replacements always match.

What to buy first

If the budget only stretches so far, buy in this order:

1. Mattress protectors. Cheapest, and they protect the most expensive thing in the room.
2. Sheet sets at three par.
3. Extra pillowcases, at a higher par than the sheets.
4. Duvet covers and inserts.
5. Everything else.