How a Hotel Spurred a Mattress Revolution

Sleep is essential to ones total well-being. Like food and water, its something we cant function without. Because of this, many mattresses have been developed over the years each claiming to provide the ultimate nights sleep.

But one famous brand, in particular, created its legendary product after receiving a request from a luxury hotel around the turn of the century. In 1905, The Savoy Hotel set out to create the most comfortable bed for what was without question the worlds most luxurious and glamorous hotel. During a hotel refit that year, it was felt that no bed on the market was able to offer the sumptuous sleep that high-profile guests, such as Thomas Edison and Fred Astaire, deserved.

So, the prestigious upholsterer James Edwards Ltd was specially commissioned to create The Savoy Bed. Most mattresses were designed with a one-size-fits all-mentality, said Alistair Hughes, Managing Director of Savoir Beds. Owner Richard DOyly Carte wanted something different and more luxurious.

So, he pioneered the movement towards custom mattresses built for comfort, improved sleep, and longevity. Thats why he decided to use breathable natural materials, including lambs wool, cotton, horsetail, and custom springs. By 1924, The Savoy was notorious for its namesake bed.

Famous guests, like film director Alfred Hitchcock and Hollywood starlet Katharine Hepburn, even began to demand they should be able to take their bed home with them and Frank Sinatra was famously known to only perform in London if he had a room at The Savoy. With this in mind, DOyly Carte wanted to ensure that no other hotel was able to recreate the quality of sleep it had become famous for. So, the hotel acquired the upholstery company and created The Savoy Bedworks just off Drury Lane in the heart of London.

Nearly a century later, this luxurious model, slumbered on by the rich and famous, is still made today as the Savoir No. 2 bed and slept on by a slew of celebrities. In 1998, actress Emma Thompson spoke to the London Evening Standard about her first night sleeping on a Savoir bed, and said, Ive never had a sleepless night since.

Meanwhile, other celebrity Savoir owners include Oprah, Daniel Radcliffe, Madonna, Elton John, and Kylie Minogue. While the company has worked to improve its mattresses and update it over the years continually chemical fire retardants have been replaced with natural ones, new flexible springs better support the spine, and mattress toppers reduce pressure pointsthe beds still feature the trademark Trellis ticking designed by Richard DOyly Cartes wife, Lady DOyly Carte. One of the things we pride ourselves on is that the original Savoy Bed designed back in 1905 truly has changed very little, said Hughes.

The original design we remain the only bed company to place horsetail at the heart of most of our mattresses and toppers slumbered on by the rich and famous for decades is still made today, and our best seller and the mattresses are still featured at The Savoy Hotel."