Hotels and retails shops aim for reasonably priced sheets but different approaches. Hotel bedsheets generally prioritise quality at a reasonable price and the life span of the sheets, while retailers typically prioritise thread counts and the material used, then infer that a higher thread count means better quality.
RETAIL APPROACH: PRIORITISE THREAD COUNTS
The issue with the retail approach is that thread count does not actually determine the quality. The quality of the cotton and manufacturing is what determine quality. But a bigger problem with prioritising thread count is that it is almost impossible to make high quality and thread count sheets affordable? Why is that so? Because high quality cotton is rare and expensive, and the more threads used, the more cotton used, and the more cotton used, the more expensive the sheet.
Hence, if you are trying to sell high thread count sheet sets at an affordable price, you have little choice but to compromise the quality somewhere to make them affordable. And that is what shops often sell, medium to low-quality high thread count sheets.
HOTEL APPROACH : PRIORITISE QUALITY
Hotels are looking for a reasonable level of quality at a reasonable price. And because good cotton is not cheap, hotel looking for quality have little choice but to use less cotton, and tht means fewer threads. So by using a lower thread count (typically 200 TC or 250 TC), hotels get the quality they need at a more affordable price. Less threads, translates into less cotton, which translates into affordable quality.
WHAT DO HOTEL SHEETS FEEL LIKE?
A good hotel sheets feels more crisp, primarily because of the combination of polyester into cotton sheets make them. Hotel sheets mainly use a combination of polyester and cotton because it is generally stronger, sheds less and last longer than sateen. While polyester makes sheets last longer, hotel sheets will feel smooth and slippery as it wear, and that is why people tend to love hotel sheets more due to its smoothness.
