Sleep well – Mattress comfort for independent & boutique hotels

One of the most important aspects of any guest’s stay at a hotel is a restful sleep—and the key to that is a comfortable mattress.

For many boutique and independent properties, finding high-quality mattresses at a reasonable price can be very difficult, especially when branded hotels often buy theirs through contracts negotiated by their brand companies.

To help independent hotels find cost-effective, luxury mattresses, Jeffrey Rogers, who had worked for large, name-brand mattress companies in the hospitality space, founded Mattress Concierge and chose a manufacturer in the U.S. to make the mattresses to his specifications.

Mattress Concierge offers mattresses made in the U.S. for independent properties.

Rogers partnered with Rob Richards, who would become managing partner of the company.

“Rob traveled a ton for work and really understood that sleep experience is very important,” said Maura Zambarano, owner/president and Richards’ ex-wife, who took over the company after he passed away in 2024. “If you don’t have a good night’s sleep, whether you are there for vacation or work, it is terrible, and you don’t start your day well. The sleep experience is critical.”

The pair learned about the product and how to cater to the independent hotel owner.

“Some don’t necessarily have as large of a budget as larger chain hotels,” she said.

Mattress Concierge doesn’t have contracts with hoteliers, so they can buy any number of mattresses for their properties. “We also don’t require them to order a set number of mattresses every year,” added Zambarano.

That is helpful for hotels that might only need to change 10 or 12 mattresses a year versus each one. “It is more cost effective for them, and they don’t have to wait a 10- to 12-year period because they don’t have the budget to turn them over,” she said. “And because we are at a great price point, they’re able to change them out more often.”

In the years since its launch, the company has created a number of product innovations. One, in particular, is the dual-sided plush/firm mattress. The mattress allows hotels to customize beds for guests, and they can choose what side they want.

“It really caters to the hotel guest and what they want, rather than ‘This is what you get and don’t get upset,’” said Zambarano. “It allows the independent hotels who compete with the larger chains to provide an exceptional sleep experience.”

Mattress Concierge has also worked with hoteliers to make customized mattresses.

“We had a client in New York City, and per their union contract, they could only have a mattress capped at a certain number of pounds,” she said. “We custom-made that mattress to make sure it fit within their union agreement for their housekeepers to move them.”

Since its launch, the company built up a client list of boutique and independent hoteliers that includes Mohegan Sun and Foxwoods Resorts—and introduced a business of selling mattresses directly to guests who have enjoyed their mattress experience at the properties.

When Richards passed away, Mattress Concierge was at a crossroads. One of the most important things for him was for the company to remain a family-owned and managed enterprise.

“They didn’t want someone to swoop in and take over and make it an investor-run company,” she said. “Let’s be honest, whenever investors get involved, something called value engineering is brought into the picture, and they start to take the quality out of the mattress.”

To make sure it stayed in the family, Zambarano stepped in to lead the company even though she had a successful career outside of hospitality with her own senior living consulting company—and had little mattress experience.

“Rob and I have two kids who are only 19 and 17, and I knew they aren’t at an age to take over the company,” she said. “It has been a really interesting journey because I’ve had to teach myself the industry.”

Zambarano said she has learned quite a lot in a very short time, adding, “I had to learn the lingo, and how a mattress was made and delivered. The piece that was most interesting was that I had to figure out how to sell to consumers.”

She said that, most importantly, it is about providing solutions, citing a situation where he had to someone to handle bringing the mattresses from the trucks to the guestrooms. After a few calls, she got the problem solved.

“I just realized that, as much as I don’t know the mattress industry, I do know solutions and how to make things happen,” Zambarano said.


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