Love that dreamy pillow on your hotel bed or those sheets with the thread count that's through the roof? Wish you could have them in your house?
Well, you can. More and more hotels are offering their furnishings for sale — everything from linens and shower heads to the furniture. And some companies are catching on by purchasing hotel items as pillow gifts for meeting and incentive attendees.
The idea is so popular that Westin has sold 4,000 Heavenly Beds and 30,000 sheets and pillows in the past five years; this year, retail sales are estimated to exceed $8 million. Kimpton Hotels, known for its stylish boutique properties, has set up a slick Web site with items for sale, kimptonstyle.com. Or you can often buy items on-site through the concierge.
Tom Thorn, director of sales at Kimpton's Hotel Marlowe in Cambridge, Mass., says the most popular item sold at his property is the hotel's leopard-print, terry cloth robe. “We sell hundreds each year.”