There’s a downside to traveling and staying at luxury hotels…. coming home to my not so luxury home. If you are like me, you’ve often thought “how can I get that hotel experience at home”. How can I experience the luxury bed, soft linens, aromatherapy, luxury toiletries and overall sense of wellness at home. After my stay at The Wynn Las Vegas, I came home and googled “Wynn Hotel Bed” and found out, it’s, of course. outside my budget…. way outside my budget. Ditto for Frette high thread count sheets. So, I have found other ways to capture that luxury hotel experience at home.
Below is a list of brands I personally use in my home – this list serves three purposes, one for my friends who constantly say, “I’ve never heard of this brand but love it, where can I get it”, two for my family who say “we never know what to buy you” and lastly for readers who are keen to learn more about capturing the luxury hotel experience at home for less than the cost of a weekend away.
As these are affiliate links, know that I may earn a commission should you choose to buy them during your visit. If you’ve been reading for a while, you know that I’ve kept the site ad free for a better reading experience. I don’t have pop-ups and rarely write with affiliate links in mind. I’m a bad blogger at making passive income because it’s never been my focus or reason to write this site. So, thank you in advance if you choose to click and buy. If you don’t no worries and no pressure. Thank you as always for reading and sharing my stories.
Create the Hotel Bedroom at Home
Marriott Hotels with over thirty distinct brands is now selling their hotel experience at home – pick your favorite brand and find out how to capture that at home. When there is a sale of 25% or more, it can become somewhat affordable, but they charge for shipping, so I think it’s too expensive for me. The Four Seasons, Ritz Carlton, Sofitel, Wynn Hotels, Miraval Resorts and others all sell the hotel bedding experience at home. Kit Kemp of Firmdale Hotels in London and New York has her own range of designer for purchase items.
Hotel Bed at Home
When I started my new mattress search, there was so much to consider. How I slept, whether I wanted springs or not, pillowtop, memory foam, etc. Was organic important? Made in the USA was high on my list. Price was also important but after looking at all of the “hotel bed programs” where mattresses were $2,500+, I knew my price was going to be much less than that.
After multiple online searches and deep dives into mattress types, brands and feedback plus remembering the NYTimes article about mattresses, I decided on a brand you’ve likely never heard of Saatva. I chose the Saatva classic hybrid innerspring mattress which seemed to combine the springs I was used to along with a pillowtop that was a luxury I’ve not had. Their one-year guarantee was a no brainer to give it a try. Within two weeks, I had a delivery scheduled and the guys were in/out in five minutes. It was an easy online purchase with updates along the way. I even convinced my 80 year old mom to test it out. She was hesitant to buy a mattress online as she’s grown up going to the furniture or mattress stores to try, buy and deal with the pressure of the sales experience. To be honest, it was an easy sell after I told her what the Wynn Hotel Bed cost vs the Saatva bed.
I should disclose that my work gives us $1,000 for wellness each calendar year so I used the entire amount toward my Saatva mattress. Last year, I used my wellness funds to buy the sleep tracker Oura ring and I’ve noticed my tossing and turning has decreased with the new mattress.
Create your Pillow Menu at Home
Pillows can be so daunting to find the one that works perfectly at a price that won’t break the bank. In my research, there were pillows costing $100 or more! I refuse to pay $100 or more for a pillow. I’ll be honest, for years, I used the blue 20% off Bed Bath Beyond coupon and picked a pillow from the bin. I never realized the differences and yet here I am now fretting over filling, feathers, down, etc. It’s all been too overwhelming. Do I need a hot or cold pillow? A pillow with a neck cutout? Cheap or expensive? I never realized how difficult it was to find the perfect pillow. This time as I replaced my pillows, I scoured pillow reviews, testing, recommendations. I tried to figure out do I sleep on my side or back more. Where was the intersection across the options to find the perfect pillow?
I settled on a pillow brand you’ve likely never heard of COOP. The COOP pillow is unique as it comes pre-filled and includes a bag of extra stuffing so you can make the pillow the right consistency for you. I bought one from Amazon, slept on it for a month before buying another to complement my bed.
Set up a Hotel Bathroom at Home
When I renovated my bathroom more than ten years ago, I laughed when my friends said “it reminds me of a hotel bathroom”. It was the little jars filled with Qtips, cotton balls and band-aids as well as the liquid soap from Molton Brown that swayed them. I also keep bar soap in drawers for those who aren’t keen to use “the fancy stuff”. With respect to shampoo and conditioner, I will buy the luxury brands I’ve experienced in hotels and rotate them into my daily routine along with my warehouse sized bottle of Garnier Fructis. The smells will often take me back to those hotels in cities where I’ve had amazing adventures.
I have a rotating mix of shampoos, conditioners, soap and diffuser scents in the bathroom. Brands like L’Occitane, MUK, Malin & Goetz, Molton Brown, Le Labo exist along with my daily scrub from Aveeno and Dove soap. The luxury brands are not used daily and in small portions, so they last a long time making the initial expense seem worth it. The fun is mixing luxury with affordable and budget items to find a happy balance.
MUK shampoo & conditioner, an Australian brand, are supplied in Moxy Hotels in New York City.
Malin + Goetz are often mocked for the unique scents you’ll find in boutique hotels – the range of scents like peppermint, rum and cilantro and one has to wonder “what am I going to smell like using all these weird scents”. No worries you’ll smell lovely and be tempted to buy at home. Note a few scents are bespoke to hotels.
You won’t need to travel to Rotterdam to experience the scents at home. I’d suggest trying the best seller mini collection to see what you love best.
L’Occitane is a French brand I’ve loved for as long as I’ve been traveling to Paris. Once a great souvenir from France, the brand has been in the U.S. for a long time. They do travel sizes quite well and offer fantastic gift sets for the holidays, L’Occitane is a go to favorite and they have a recycle program to bring bottles back for a discount or you can buy bottle refills without the bottle. I love their shea butter hand cremes and lotions – a must in cold winter locales. They also have dry shampoo bars for my carry-on travel friends.
Le Labo is a luxury brand you’ll find at 5-star hotels like 1898 The Post in Ghent. While you can buy direct at Nordstrom, the Rose 31 scent is a signature of Fairmont Hotels. To find the shampoo and conditioner, you’ll need to stay at the hotel as it is not available outside the hotels. The Rose 31 shower gel is a rare find on Amazon but is quite expensive to capture the hotel experience. I might rather stay at the hotel and tip housekeeping a $20 to come home with my stock of Le Labo.
Hotel Scent Diffusers, Candles and Aromas
What about the signature hotel scents? Yes, hotels often have a signature created scent when you walk in – you’ll notice at the Westins and Element Hotels. Even the American Express Centurion Airport Lounge has a signature scent. Other signature scents are found at turndown service with lavender pillow mist or other calming scent to help with sleep. Seasonal smells, signature smells, pleasant smells all to ignite your senses for relaxation and wellness.
After a lot of trial and error, NEST is my go-to candle and diffuser brand in the house. They also make great gift sets for the holiday that sell out quickly.
I recently bought a seasonal plum diffuser for the bathroom while the citrus blend is in the bedroom. You can vary the strength of the smells with the number of sticks you use.
Final Thoughts on Creating the Hotel Experience at Home
$30 shampoo or $58 diffusers are not the everyday expense let’s be honest. When I wasn’t traveling in 2020 or 2021, I was finding ways to recapture that travel feeling at home. Let’s admit we were all trying different things to find a sense of calm amid a world of chaos. For me, the hotel experience is my sense of calm (if I could only find ways to get and afford the boutique hotel interior design of Kit Kemp and others I’d be totally immersed in the hotel experience at home). I’ve added different aspects of the hotel experience to add a touch of luxury at home so now when I come home, it’s my own luxury experience.