There is a boom of wishful thinking and carefully curated travel temptations, that is leading many out of their months-long confinement and into stylish and safe staycations.

Of course, the leisure hospitality industry is in a temporary state of transition and has those far-reaching socioeconomic consequences of the pandemic, providing a tempestuous and complex context to navigate – but hope seems to spring eternal from the irrepressible human spirits locked down around the world.

I am quite fortunate to live in a (pre-pandemic) tourist hot spot, where local travel is currently permitted, and as such, I have made diligent use of the access without tourists about, to visit some amazing spaces around the Cape. I wouldn’t say much in the way of tourist draws, is closed – just that everything from restaurants to cultural offerings, are operating in an erratic sequence which is drastically affected by constantly revised regulations, slashed or dwindled customer incomes, and an unsure sector.

For the hotels I have reviewed, there is also an evolution of offerings, protocols, and service, which guests need to adapt to, rather than to be greeted by an unabashed return to traditional hospitality.

I honestly welcome the new and the old where hotel life is concerned, in hygiene protocols and reinvented dining and accommodation design.

There is one thing though, that should have its standards retained or elevated (but never ever should it experience a decline in quality level) and that is hotel linen and bedding.

While reviewing one of my recent haunts within the bounds of Cape Town, I gave conscious thanks to the wonders of excellent bedding and linen.

See, sometimes traveling just comes down to ending up in a good bed, with good food and silence. When a hotel invests in the best in bedroom furnishings, including plush pillows covered in crisp white covers, it eases a travelers mind.

Additionally, clean white linen is the marker of global housekeeping excellence.

Regardless of where I find myself – in London, home, or even New York – clean white linen covering plush bedding, is a predictable way to ease my mind and body into a restful state.

Here are a few of my travel recommendations, on the best places to bed down around the world:

1. 🤍 Gramercy Park Hotel, New York City
2. 💛 The Saxon Hotel, Johannesburg
3. 🤍 Steenberg Hotel, Cape Town
4. 💛 Domaine du Chatelard, Angoulême
5. 🤍 The Westin Hotel, Cape Town

Bonus Hotel Recommendations within South Africa:

1. 💛 Thyme & Tide Villa, Yzerfontein
2. 🤍 Rovos Rail, Pretoria
3. 💛 Belmond Mount Nelson, Cape Town
4. 🤍The Last Word, Cape Town
5. 💛 Century City Hotel, Cape Town

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Which hotels have you stayed in, that have the plushest bedding?

We may as well all continue to anticipate a deluge of chaos in tourism, in the months and years to come; But just like unwinding in safe spaces after a long day at work, luxuriating in plush hotel beds remains one way to quiet the noise and temper your exhaustion.

Find a hotel with a great offer now (check out Steenberg Hotel and the Belmond Mount Nelson too!), and spoil yourself with another well-made bed that isn’t your own, and linens you didn’t have to launder yourself – just reclining into the cushy digs for a day or 3.

And should we go back to a longer Covid-19 prevention lockdown which prohibits travel once again, we can take comfort in the memories and blissful rest we got while cozying into the very best of hotel beds.