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We are Airbnb superhosts, and our guests are ALWAYS leaving reviews about how much they love our cozy beds! Today, I am going to spill the beans and what I consider the best mattress for Airbnb vacation rentals in 2024. 

Don’t own a vacation rental? No worries, these also work for guest rooms; we even have them on our kid’s beds at home.  

Short on time? Just click here to shop my favorite Airbnb mattress!

And if you are new here, we are top-rated Airbnb superhosts, owning 4 condos along Highway 30A in the Florida panhandle.

Learn more about our Seacrest Beach condos here, and if you are an Airbnb host, make sure to browse our Airbnb Hosting section. It’s full of great tips, buying guides, and first-hand hosting knowledge. If you would like to check out our Airbnb listings and read our reviews for yourself, here is the link. –> Our Little Retreats on Airbnb

In addition to being an Airbnb host, I am also a family travel writer and photographer. You can follow our adventures through our Instagram page and the travel section of our blog!

But if you landed on this post, you are probably here for a reason.  I bet you want to know…

What is the Best Mattress for Airbnb Vacation Rentals?

A comfortable bed is the most important feature of any vacation rental property. If your guests don’t sleep well, they won’t come back, and they probably won’t leave you a 5-star review.

These days, most savvy travelers expect the beds in a vacation rental to be on par with what they would get from a hotel. Gone are the days of themed quilts and throw pillows. Guests want crisp and clean white bedding, a comfortable mattress, and a cozy place to lay their heads. Today, let’s talk about the foundation of it all – the mattress!

Before I give you my Airbnb mattress recommendation, I want to point out a few things you must consider when picking the mattress for your rental property. These ideas as the same whether you choose to self-manage an Airbnb or hire a management company to do it.

And if you are in a hurry, you can shop all of my Airbnb buying guides on my Amazon storefront.

Click here to shop all of my Airbnb Buying Guides on Amazon!

Choosing the Best Mattress for Airbnb Rental Properties

First off, you will not be able to please everyone. So, when making any decision related to your Airbnb, you need to be able to satisfy most people as well as yourself. I have had guests leave the strangest feedback, including someone recently who didn’t like the temperature of the lightbulbs in the bedroom. Trust me, I’ve seen and heard it all!

What makes a mattress unique is that most people are accustomed to what they have at home. While your first instinct may be to shop for a vacation rental mattress the same way you shop for your personal home mattress, there are other things to consider.

What to Consider When Choosing an Airbnb Mattress

First and foremost, you need the mattress to be comfortable for most guests. For this, reading reviews is vital. Find a mattress with 4+ stars and read what people say about it. It’s here you’ll find answers to the most frequently asked questions.

Should you buy a firm or soft mattress for Airbnb? I’d say neither. Something in between is probably going to please more people.

Secondly, price point matters! This is because you need to be prepared to replace it as needed. When buying an expensive mattress for your own home, you may use it for 10+ years. But, when purchasing for a vacation rental, you will likely replace mattresses more often. Why? Because someone will throw up on it or a child will wet the bed.

Regardless of how well you protect it, it will show more wear and tear sooner than your personal mattress, especially if you have a high Airbnb occupancy rate. This is the same approach I take when buying my Airbnb towels and even my Airbnb TVs, and it’s come in very handy so far with my vacation rental properties!

So, how much should you spend on an Airbnb mattress? Depending on the size, you can easily get an excellent mattress for $300-$600! Sure, you can spend more, and I know plenty of hosts that do, but you certainly don’t need to.

Another factor will be ease of transport and getting it into your vacation rental. This is why I prefer memory foam bed-in-a-box type mattresses. So, with that hint, here is my pick for the best Airbnb mattress!

Our Overall Pick:  The Best Mattress for Airbnb

What is the best mattress for rental properties? The Zinus 12-inch Green Tea Memory Foam Mattress hands down! Priced at around $350 for the Queen, $500 for the King versions, and less for the twin, this mattress boasts a 4.5-star average review from almost 150,000 people. And for a mattress — that is about as close to perfect as you can get. It is even available in a California King size. 

You’ll see comments like this when you read the Airbnb reviews for my one-bedroom condos, each with a King bed featuring this mattress.

“The bed was amazingly comfortable.”

“My husband is 6’6”, so he’s pretty picky on his bedding accommodations, and he raved about this memory foam bed! I also usually like having my own pillows, but these were wonderful! “

“The bed was super comfortable, definitely a highlight.”

“The bed was the most comfortable I’ve ever slept on while on a trip.”

Zinus 12 Inch Green Tea Memory Foam Mattress

Why is this the best Airbnb mattress?

It is the best overall value that will please the majority of your guests. Of course, you’ll want to buy a great Airbnb mattress protector, and the Allerease Zippered Mattress Protectors are well worth the price. I want to point out that I highly recommend the 12″ version. Memory foam mattresses come in 6″, 8″, and 10″ sizes but don’t look as substantial/high quality. The 12″ version has 3 inches of Green Tea memory foam followed by 2 inches of transitional polyfoam and 7 inches of Base Foam at the bottom.

Please note that there are several Amazon listings for this mattress, as some ship in old and new boxes, and some are the old and new versions. Some listings all have King, and some have Queen, so if you see the one I like “sold out,” just look at the similar listings with the same name. They are basically all the same. I have all of my favorites included in this Amazon list.

You are probably wondering, What is a Green Tea Mattress? And because I asked the same thing, here is the answer. A “green tea mattress” is infused with green tea extract, which is thought to help keep it retain its freshness. And while it’s not something that one can smell, some say it helps diffuse any odor from the synthetic foam. We have never noticed an odor other than when you initially open the vacuum-sealed packaging, at which time it does smell like plastic. This mattress is CertiPUR-US® certified.

PROS

Easy to ship: The mattresses arrive vacuum-packed in a large box. This makes it very easy to have it delivered to your rental or even your home. I recommend that you don’t open it until your bed is set up and ready to go. It takes about 24-48 hours to expand once open fully.

Price: The low cost allows easy mattress replacement as needed and is budget-friendly, which is always a plus. On average, it costs us about $10,000 per small condo in setup costs, including furniture, linens, televisions, small appliances, and more.

Versatile: A memory foam mattress is excellent for all body types and a good middle ground for people who prefer soft or firm mattresses. It boasts pressure relief and is great on joints. These mattresses are known to be great for motion isolation and particularly good for side and back sleepers.

No box spring required: You do not need to purchase a box spring for this mattress, and it works great with a variety of platform-style beds, which are an excellent choice for rentals. You can use one if you want to!

CONS

Memory Foam: I don’t think this is actually a con, but some people don’t think of these are “real mattresses.” But you can’t please everyone, and if you find yourself in a situation where they don’t like this mattress, they probably have a longer list of other concerns to share with you. I appreciate all feedback but do not dwell on the comments from these kinds of guests. If you want to know how to be a great Airbnb guest, read this blog post!

Shorter life span: Memory foam mattresses typically don’t last as long as expensive spring-based mattresses. Again, this probably isn’t a major con because I anticipate replacing most things in my rentals before their “end-of-life” estimate, which is around 8 years for these.

Weight concerns: These memory foam mattresses may not provide enough support for sleepers weighing over 300 lbs. Traditionally, a spring-based mattress type or medium hybrid mattress would be more comfortable in this instance.

Not a favorite of stomach sleepers: In general, stomach sleepers tend to prefer a more firm or medium-firm mattress.

Purchase the Zinus 12 Inch Green Tea Memory Foam Mattress

We purchase our vacation rental mattresses at Amazon, and you can click here for current pricing.

You may also want to check the following sites as well:

Home Depot | Sam’s Club | Walmart | Mattress Firm | Overstock

Additionally, you can order directly from Zinus. However, prices are generally higher.

Other Airbnb Mattress Options

Are you looking for alternative options?

We bought a Wayfair Sleep 12″ memory foam mattress for our first condo and have been very happy with that one as well. They are incredibly similar! This one actually has a 4.6 rating and offers one-day delivery!

Another top-rated memory foam mattress is this one by Novella and this mattress by Tuft and Needle. Likewise, the Nectar mattresses come in a variety of memory foam and hybrid styles and always get high ratings. The BedStory Hybrid Mattresses are also rated very highly and are another great option.

If you want to purchase a standard mattress, I recommend checking out Beautyrest or Mattress Firm.

What is the Best Bed for Airbnb vacation rentals?

Because what good is a mattress without a bed? My favorite bed for our vacation rentals is also from Zinus. I have the Debi Platform Bed in two of our units and love it. It is high quality and very sturdy – no creaks here! I bought ours from Amazon; however, it’s been in and out of stock.

You may find it in stock and maybe even at a better price at Overstock, Wayfair, or Walmart, where it has all 5-star reviews! Those links will take you directly to the bed on those sites.

You can’t go wrong with most of the Zinus Platform beds. I would avoid using cheap metal frames. The only thing your guests will find worse than a cruddy mattress is a wobbly bed frame!

I have several of my favorite Airbnb Beds listed here at the bottom of this Amazon list!

If you want to learn more about different Airbnb bed options, I have a dedicated blog post and Airbnb Bed Buying Guide available here.

What is the Best Bedding for Airbnb vacation rentals?

I have a super detailed post sharing all the bedding (and the pillows) we use in our top-rated Airbnb condos. You can click here to read my post about the best bedding for Airbnb properties. 

Also, we always include two of these soft Pillowfort liners in each condo to help protect our mattresses. Parents with younger children really appreciate the peace of mind they give, and it helps me keep my mattresses and mattress pads pristine.

And if you want to read my other Airbnb shopping tips, including 7 must-haves for any vacation rental, 100+ Airbnb Kitchen Essentials, and more, just click here!

Become an Airbnb Superhost

Are you considering buying your short-term vacation rental property and becoming a top Airbnb host? You have come to the right place!

Here at Our Little Lifestyle, I have a dedicated section of my blog sharing the journey and some first-hand knowledge of everything from financing condos to choosing the best bedding for your Airbnb and how to make your vacation rental baby-friendly. I always love to talk with readers about my experience as a host!

Please leave me a comment here on this blog post, or you can leave me a comment or message on either of our Instagram accounts below. I’d love to connect!

Are you thinking about becoming an Airbnb host?  Click here to find out what you can earn!

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