YouBed: revolutionising the hotel industry, and how we sleep

Available in hotels, YouBed is the world's first and only bed to provide adjustable firmness without compromising on superior comfort features. As such, it is transforming the hospitality industry. It also fits into the wider hotel industry trend of guest personalisation – tailoring every possible detail to the individual. While sleeping is the primary purpose of accommodation, until now no hotel could guarantee a comfortable bed. In other words, they couldn't personalise their single most important detail.

In 2014, a major survey by Gallup demonstrated that one of every three hotel guests around the world would gladly pay extra for a more comfortable bed. That's where we come in – because our beds can 100 per cent promise that comfort for every guest. YouBed adjusts firmness by compressing pocket springs inside the mattress.

Our innovation is that, whether you make the bed softer or firmer, its high-quality surface features remain unaffected. Utilising a hand control, users can fine-tune the whole bed – or just separate sections – according to a firmness rating between 1 and 20. This means regardless of height, weight, body shape or typical sleeping position, your bed will always suit you. It's even for possible for couples to individually set up the right and left sides of the bed so both parties sleep well – and avoid arguments!

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Myself and co-founder Stefan Hyltenfeldt have worked on the project for eight years. Stefan is an engineer with a technical mind; I bring the business-minded approach. We'd set out to create the perfect bed, and soon realised we had a way to do it. After finalising the product, applying for patents and gaining support from the state of Sweden and financiers, we began commercialising two years ago – first in the Scandinavian market, then further into Europe at the beginning of 2017.

By now, Movenpick Hotels & Resorts had been following our project for a few years. After a successful evaluation, it decided to install YouBeds in each of its European properties, amid a new luxury room concept called "Sleep Individually Differently". Guest personalisation is part of the Movenpick DNA, so I think it was a no-brainer for them.

We've also received some unexpected help. During Euro 2016, Sweden's national footballers shipped our beds to France for the tournament: they wanted to ensure they had the best possible preparation, and personalised beds aided that. We were heralded as the team's secret weapon, but unfortunately Sweden still didn't perform very well – we wondered if they overslept!

YouBed is growing rapidly, with lots of interest from other big hotel chains. We have recently begun rolling out in markets such as India, Singapore, Hong Kong and China, plus in other European countries, and expect to debut in the UK in 2018.

youbed.com