How do the 0.001% sleep?

September 26, 2023 3:17 PM

I've been travelling for a month, and am desperate to sleep in my old, familiar bed under my old familiar sheets, not the too-firm mattress with the too-thick duvet and too-thin pillow that I'm sleeping on tonight. Which got me thinking; Bill Gates and the Pope travel a fair bit, is this a problem we share?

I'm thinking of major world political leaders, billionaires and the like.

I know that the super rich have multiple residences and private jets, and presumably they all have whatever they want as a setup in those. (The merely powerful only have the jet.) But what happens when they go somewhere for a few days where they don't have a home? What happens at, like, a G20 summit?

Do they bring their own bedding? Their own pillows? Their own mattress? I know that some nice hotels have "pillow buffets", is there the same thing for mattresses for the elite? Is there just one best bed that the 0.001% all use? Who handles this, the travel team? The security team? (A bad mattress has helped kill a US president, after all.)

Looking for sourced anecdotes, if available.

posted by Superilla to Grab Bag (15 answers total)

There were a bunch of articles, based on a tell-all book, a little while back about the then-prince, now king, Charles bringing his own mattress and toilet seat (and teddy bear) with him on official trips. Example article.
posted by Dip Flash at 3:39 PM on September 26, 2023

Well, when QE II and Prince Phillip visited California in 1983 they stayed in the Presidential Suite at the St Francis Hotel in San Francisco, and they slept on the mattress that was already in the room, which was made by a local manufacturer. I know this because 20 years later I was kinda dating a girl that already on her second edition of that same brand of mattress because her entire family was such insane Anglophiles that everyone slept on that brand for that reason. She had one of the "cheaper" models they sold, it still cost over $3k in 2004 dollars. That was the equivalent of 4 months rent for me at the time, and I was doing pretty decent as a software engineer and had my own place.

One caveat is that President Reagan was also staying at the St Francis during this visit, so perhaps they would have made more specific sleeping arrangements for Liz and Phil but the Secret Service wouldn't let them.
posted by Back At It Again At Krispy Kreme at 3:42 PM on September 26, 2023

I fell into a Google hole on this after suffering a sore back in a too-firm hotel bed. There is a definite difference in mattress quality at different hotel price points. Budget hotels choose firm mattresses for durability. Higher end hotels will have hybrid, pillow top, or foam top mattresses. Some of these hotels even have sleep quality as a differentiator, for $4800 CAD you can pretend to sleep at the Fairmont.

Business travellers will develop preferences for one type of bed or another and then stick to the hotel chain that provides the bedding as much as possible.
posted by shock muppet at 3:45 PM on September 26, 2023

Pope Francis got comped a custom memory foam mattress. I think he's a special case, because he doesn't stay in hotels, only churches, and his sleeping quarters are often turned into shrines.

Queen Elizabeth II had custom sheets that were stashed away and ironed by hotel staff when she visited.

You might be interested in the documentary Always At The Carlyle.
posted by credulous at 3:50 PM on September 26, 2023

I worked for a probable billionaire over the pandemic and while I was there I helped a crew install a Dux bed that they said was bigger than the one they installed for Drake.
Because pandemic, the couple were not able to get the required custom sheets for it for the rest of the time I worked there, maybe 9 months, so they didn't sleep on the giant Swedish bed that filled half of the giant room.
It was comfy, to be sure.
posted by Glomar response at 4:02 PM on September 26, 2023

I have a very rich friend (not billionaire but tens of millions) who travels with her $2500 bedsheets.
posted by dobbs at 4:17 PM on September 26, 2023

There were a bunch of articles, based on a tell-all book, a little while back about the then-prince, now king, Charles bringing his own mattress and toilet seat (and teddy bear) with him on official trips.

I dunno about the teddy bear and the framed pictures he travels with, but the mattress and toilet seat are probably due to his severe back problems. In some circles there was considerable concern whether or not he could make it through the coronation ceremonies. He lives with chronic back and neck pain, that is considered severe.
posted by Jane the Brown at 4:45 PM on September 26, 2023

I was fortunate enough to stay at the Fairmont Royal York in Toronto, ON last year while presenting at a conference and learned while browsing the lobby that it's where the British Royal Family stays while visiting the area. From Wikipedia:

As Ontario does not have a government house, the Royal York was the residence of choice for Queen Elizabeth II and other members of the Canadian royal family when in Toronto. Elizabeth first visited the Royal York Hotel during her 1951 royal tour of the country, accompanied by the Duke of Edinburgh.[44][55][56] The first members of the royal family to visit the hotel were King George VI and Queen Elizabeth, during their 1939 royal tour of Canada.[57] Other members of the royal family that have visited the Royal York include Prince Andrew, Duke of York; Prince Charles and Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall; and Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex.[56][57][58]

The Queen usually had an entire floor reserved for her and her entourage, occupying the Royal Suite herself. The floors above and below the Royal Suite are vacated two weeks prior to the Queen's arrival and remain that way until her departure.[55] The hotel includes amenities and furnishings reserved exclusively for the royal family, including a private elevator to the Royal Suite. Furniture and hardware reserved for the royal family, including mattresses and toilets, are placed in storage when not in use.[55]

posted by Ufez Jones at 6:19 PM on September 26, 2023

Well, Bill Gates probably often stays at the Four Seasons...
posted by kickingtheground at 7:10 PM on September 26, 2023

I am friends with 2 billionaires and my gf has 2 client billionaires. I would say it depends on if they grew up wealthy or if they earned it over many years or hit the IPO lottery. At least with the 4 I know. One of them has his assistant call the hotel to tell them what he wants. He thinks nothing of dropping thousands on bedding for a two day stay.

Another who grew up middle class, he takes whatever is offered. I know this bc I have traveled with him. I have traveled to many a Grateful Dead concert with him and we have slept in a rental car.

One of my gf clients spent $200,000 on furniture for an apartment that he threw out/gave away when he rehabbed the apartment 3 months after furnishing.

I would add that I have asked the front desk to swap out my mattress (too soft) and they did. It was a on the low side of a high end hotel. I was paying about $400a/night.

I have flown on a private 757 that I had my own stateroom for a 10 hour flight. The owner of the plane definitely squared away his room the way he and his wife liked it. Mine had nice sheets. They asked me if I liked a firm mattress. When I said yes, they "assigned" me to a room that had a firm mattress. I never tried the other two rooms, but presumably at least one had a softer mattress.

My observation is that it is not a money thing, but rather a personality and entitlement type thing. It is the type that asks, "Do you know who I am?" that demand special treatment. I think some quietly bring their own bedding and others demand it of the hotel.. Some just accept it as is.
posted by JohnnyGunn at 10:34 PM on September 26, 2023

I'm definitely not in the 0.001%, but the few times a year I travel I bring:

My own towels

My pillow

My showerhead

My big water cup

Along with the normal stuff, it's a big hockey bag and a big Ikea bag
posted by Marky at 12:28 AM on September 27, 2023

They are super rich. They sleep in the best beds in the world.
posted by 0bvious at 8:06 AM on September 27, 2023

I stayed at a Four Seasons last year and when I woke up in the morning I was like "maybe we need a new mattress... literally maybe we need this exact mattress." Usually I can't wait to get back to my own familiar comfy bed but a really fancy hotel usually has a pretty amazing bed. They also typically have a selection of different pillows so you can pick the one you prefer.
posted by potrzebie at 8:33 PM on September 27, 2023

More often than you think, at (one of their) homes with their very precisely chosen bedding and bedclothes. Billionaires have lots of homes, fly private, including by helicopter, and tend to make brief appearances … which mean a lot of what are overnight trips for me and you are day trips for them.
posted by MattD at 9:32 PM on September 27, 2023

Thanks everyone for the interesting links and anecdotes; exactly what I was wondering about!
posted by Superilla at 9:26 AM on October 2, 2023