Running the centre
Bed linen
Bed linen is everything that goes on the mattress: sheets, pillowcases, duvet cover or bedspread, blankets and mattress protector. A residence has to decide whether it provides it or the resident does, how often it is changed and who washes it, and it is one of the first questions from anyone about to move in.
Also known asbedding · sheets · linen · bedclothes
Who provides it and who washes it
There are three models. In the first, the residence provides the bed linen and changes it at a set frequency, usually along with room cleaning; it needs several sets per bed so that one is on the bed while another is in the wash. In the second, the residence hands it out on arrival and each resident washes it in the laundry. In the third, everyone brings their own, and the residence provides only the mattress and, sometimes, the protector.
What generates most questions is not the model but the size: a 90, 105 or 135 cm bed takes different sheets, and whoever brings their own from home needs to know before arriving. So does a change halfway through the year because of a stain, an allergy or an accident, which cannot wait for the fixed day and which someone should be able to ask for without going down to reception in their pyjamas.
Worth knowing
What people take for granted: that "bed linen included" also includes towels, a weekly change and the pillow. Each of those is a separate decision, and whichever is not stated before check-in becomes the complaint of the first week.
Sources
Related terms
- Room cleaningRoom cleaning is the service in which residence staff clean each room at a set frequency, from daily to weekly depending on the residence. It covers the bathroom, floors and bins and sometimes changing the bed linen, and it is organised by floor and by shift.
- LaundryA residence laundry is the room with washing machines and dryers that residents use, self-service or staffed, or the service that washes the building's bed linen and towels. It is one of the common areas with the most friction, because there are few machines for many people at the same times.