On the retail side of the mattress industry, there is no one-size-fits-all mattress. In fact, that can be a main selling point when RSAs are showing beds to consumers.
But on the hospitality side, it’s a different story. How does a hotel choose a bed that thousands of people will sleep on and enjoy?
It’s an age-old question and one that Swedish bedding technology company YouBed claims to have solved with its patented coil technology, which allows for firmness adjustment in a pocket-spring mattress without loss of comfort. The adaptable pocket springs are compressed with a remote, and each side has its own remote for personalization.
Whether you make the bed softer or firmer, the surface features remain unaffected. Users can fine-tune the whole bed or individual sections, according to a firmness rating between 1 and 20.
But the story behind the company is one of hardships and resilience. CEO and cofounder Mattias Sorensen said the company first sold 2,000 beds to hotels in Sweden and Europe between 2017 and 2019, such as the Movenpick Hotels & Resorts, the Scandinavian First Hotels and Scandic Hotels. Movenpick installed YouBeds in each of its European properties, amid a new luxury room concept called Sleep Individually Differently.
”Each hotel chain had committed to conducting qualified studies that all showed the bed delivered 100% comfort acceptance, which basically means no one found the bed uncomfortable,” Sorensen says. “And as a result, there was a dramatic increase in customer satisfaction and hotel revenue.”
Based on the positive POC results, YouBed, in close cooperation with Swedish trade support units around the world, started preparations for a global launch.
Everything was in place in April 2020, when the pandemic froze hotel bookings, and as a result, the whole business took a hit. While YouBed had several hotel clients lined up and ready to sign contracts, as well as a global network with 43 offices ready to support local hotels around the globe, the pandemic shut everything down.
However, Sorensen and his team were resilient and, though forced to reassess how the YouBed would come to market, they decided that the best way forward was either an industrial partnership or to sell their patents to international bedding manufacturers who would be a better fit to lead the introduction of this important and disruptive bed innovation.
This process has recently started, and YouBed is already in dialogue with several mattress companies showing interest in this opportunity.
“The bed is proven to deliver 100% comfort acceptance and is prepared for immediate large-scale market introduction,” Sorensen says. “This bed could revolutionize the entire mattress industry, from guaranteed comfortable hotel beds to enabling direct/online sales channels. The remaining question now is, which manufacturer will help introduce this adjustable technology to the world?”
Contact mattias.sorensen@youbed.com for more information.
