The hospitality industry has been notorious for being slow to adapt to change. Although, as of late—and possibly because of the pandemic—companies have been forced to adopt new technologies. For Beddingo, a bedding startup, innovation runs through its DNA.
“Three years ago, my mom told me she was having trouble changing sheets. The mattress was too heavy to lift and breaks her back, and the corner of the sheet kept popping off, so she had to lift the mattress again to fix it,” said Yonatan Guy, founder/CEO, Beddingo.
Beddingo’s patented technology allows housekeepers to change bedding with ease.
Guy thought he was going to find a solution for this online, but he was unsuccessful. He ended up ordering what was available but, still, nothing seemed to work. So, he set out to develop a solution with his mother.
“I’m actually an electrical engineer, and I was working at the time as an AI [artificial intelligence]and algorithms engineer in a small startup in Tel Aviv—they are now a unicorn [a privately held startup valued at more than $1 billion]—and actually I love all kinds of riddles, from algorithmic to actually solving bedding,” Guy said. “After lots of thinking, experiments and prototypes, the improved bed sheet was ready, and it works amazingly. Mom said it’s even better than what she had in mind.
Word got out, and I was getting a lot of orders without even any plans to sell at first. I decided to go for it and went on a quest to find the best fabrics for my unique patent. It took some time, but I found it, and that’s how Beddingo started.”
Beddingo’s patented physical products use technological features based on AI, augmented reality (AR) and image processing to bring personalization and accuracy to buying bedding online, and enhance the customer journey.
Beddingo is now raising its second round of capital and aiming for the U.S. market for both private customers and commercial—mainly hotels.
Guy thought that if his mother had trouble lifting the mattress, housekeepers must as well—especially because mattresses have gotten larger and heavier over the years. Plus, housekeepers lift so many mattresses a day, it must be that much worse for them.
“I started to read about it and found out—from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics—that housekeeping is one of the most dangerous jobs in terms of injuries and illness that involve days away from work, restricted work or job transfer,” he said. “Most of the injuries are lower back, hands and shoulder injuries, and it’s mainly because of lifting heavy mattresses. I also found out from the housekeepers that they have trouble getting to all rooms in their shift, causing them to work even harder and guests get into their rooms later than expected.”
So, how exactly do Beddingo products alleviate these struggles? The startup redesigned the standard bed sheet by creating a patented system made of Beddingo Sheet, a special fitted sheet, and Beddingo Base, an elastic band you put on the mattress only once, which attach for the fastest sheet change.
“The Beddingo Base has Velcro strips on its corners that serve as anchors for our special sheets, which have the matching Velcro strips on the inside of its corners—that’s how it connects and disconnects easily,” Guy explained. “Beddingo Sheets are also unique in their cut, shape and elastics. Until now, the rubber band at the end of the sheet could cause air to be locked between the sheet and the mattress, which creates an undesired puffy appearance.”
With Beddingo Sheets, this is eliminated by putting the rubber only at the corners, causing the sheet to stay tight all the time.
“Beddingo Sheets also don’t ride up,” Guy noted. “Using geometry, [the]sheets are designed with arches on all four sides. Regular sheets have straight edges and when someone lies on them, they ride up. With Beddingo’s arches, the sheet’s sides remain straight and pretty.”
Guy laid out some additional advantages of Beddingo’s sheet system: 1. You never have to lift the mattress, which can make the job much easier and lowers the injury level drastically; 2. It takes half the time to change Beddingo Sheets, which means about 30 minutes saved in every shift for each housekeeper; 3. The corners never pop off, so guests sleep better and don’t get up to a messy bed, and the mattress gets less dirty; 4. The cost savings on laundry is sometimes even more than the price of the sheets, which makes it eco-friendly because it saves water, electricity and cleaning products; and 5. The bed looks nicer and tidier than with a standard bed sheet, even if an inexperienced housekeeper made it.
In hospitality, Beddingo currently offers a complete linen set, its patented Beddingo Sheet and the rest of the bedding set. The Beddingo Bases are part of the set, but last for years, according to Guy, so they are a one-time buy. Beddingo will also soon offer towels and is developing more products to provide solutions for standard bedding.
“Every hotel owner would want a bed sheet that saves time, effort, money and looks better on the bed than any other hotel,” Guy said. “The thing is, you need to be convinced that Beddingo Sheets actually provide all these advantages. So, send us an email and we’ll have a demo and you’ll see for yourself.”
