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With the new Hotelstars.eu criteria catalog for hotel classification 2025 to 2030, the hotel bed is moving more into focus in several respects. This upgrade is taking place particularly in the area of hygiene, where the requirements have increased. But also the guest's expectations of the hotel. The DEHOGA Academy of the German Hotel and Restaurant Association (DEHOGA) has already responded to this and is offering an online course entitled "The first step to the next star: Bed hygiene 2.0", a new self-study module.

This is intended to take account of the fact that bed hygiene is becoming more important in the assessment process. In order to prepare the hotel industry for the new hygiene standards associated with this, the trade association, with the support of its affiliated academy, developed a corresponding training course. In addition, the initiators took into account new possibilities of hygienization - but also closed old gaps. For example, the classification system previously rewarded the use of washable mattress hygiene covers/encasings with ten points. Until now, the regulations did not provide for actual washing to be made mandatory for hotels. However, as various hygiene studies have shown in the past, bed hygiene has become a weak point in many hotels. Although appropriate hygiene covers were often used, proper cleaning was apparently omitted due to a lack of specifications, which can now be largely ruled out with the new regulation. However, in other areas too, advanced technical possibilities for hygienization mean that washing is preferred or required over other forms of cleaning, such as vacuuming. This is mainly due to the scientific knowledge that contamination in the bed can only be removed using a wash-based cleaning process. Therefore, the washing of mattress covers and the entire mattress itself has now been defined as a new hygiene standard.

The new self-study course provides in-depth knowledge about the importance, requirements and implementation of professional bed hygiene in hotel operations and goes into detail on numerous relevant aspects such as typical types of soiling and hygiene risks or cleaning and care of all bed components, including time intervals. The course also highlights the relevance of bed hygiene for guest health and guest evaluation and is therefore not only aimed at housekeeping, but also contains valuable information for management, as legal implications are also covered.

Philipp Hangartner, owner of Swissfeel AG: "We expressly welcome the fact that bed hygiene is now held in higher esteem and that DEHOGA is offering hoteliers wonderful support with this self-learning course. With the new hygiene standards, it is up to each establishment to decide whether it will follow the hygienic progress or remain at the current level and thus eventually become the bottom of the league."

With its fully washable mattresses made from Swiss mineral foam, Swissfeel offers its own laundry service - similar to hotel rental linen - and is currently serving customers in the DACH region. The fully washable mattresses are also the basis for SWISSFEEL-2-CYCLE, a double cycle system for more sustainability in mattresses. By extending the service life through washing and subsequent, complete recycling at the end of the service life, customers experience average CO 2 savings of 75% and cost savings of between 20 and 50%, as fewer mattresses have to be produced and purchased in a defined period of time. Swissfeel is also certified by EcoVadis, OEKO-TEX and Service Allergie Suisse (“suitable for house dust mite allergy sufferers”).

The DEHOGA Academy's online-based self-study course costs 29 euros net for DEHOGA members and 41 euros net for non-members and is now available at https://www.dehoga-akademie.de/bettenhygiene.