The joys of spring

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People come to a hotel to sleep, so the mattress is the most important thing in any hotel, because first and foremost you have to provide your guests with the best night's sleep.

Hotelier Middle East asks Sealy Middle East president Ali Q Asaad how hoteliers can provide their guests with the perfect night's sleep.

Guests enter a hotel with numerous expectations and requirements, from funky gadgetry to Thai massage, but above all hotels exist to provide their guests with somewhere to get a good night's sleep. And for that, a quality mattress is essential.

"People come to a hotel to sleep, so the mattress is the most important thing in any hotel, because first and foremost you have to provide your guests with the best night's sleep possible," says the president of mattress manufacturer Sealy Middle East, and the man responsible for promoting the brand to the hospitality industry in the region, Ali Q Asaad.

Sealy Middle East is a subsidiary of American firm Sealy Inc, "one of the oldest and largest mattress manufacturers in the world", and has been producing mattresses at its Middle East mattress factory in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia since 2000.

Asaad explains that the most important component of any mattress is the springs, and that Sealy's design is way ahead of the competition.

"Aside from the springs all mattresses look pretty much alike, especially on the outside. If you take a person who doesn't know a thing about cars to a car park and ask them what the difference between the engine of a Ferrari and the engine of a Hyundai is they won't have a clue."

"It's the same with mattresses, but as with cars the insides make all the difference," he explains.

After the springs comes the quality of the layers, their sequence and preconditioning treatment, and the kind of machines used during the manufacturing process to put the different components together.

Sealy Middle East is entirely responsible for this manufacturing process, but the quality of its products is assured by the close relationship it has with its American mother company.

"We have very strong links with Sealy Inc as an approved licensee, and they have specifications and requirements that we have to protect," explains Asaad. "Sealy Inc has its own patent technology, meaning that we have an edge over the competition. We produce higher end mattresses with higher performance, with new technology and new innovation."

As the only manufacturer in the region with a research and development division, Sealy ensures an endless stream of new ideas and a constantly improving product, according to Asaad.

"Sealy Inc introduces new products every year, and we send everything to the research and development team, whether it's wood, polyester, tacks, nails, threads: they test it all and give us approval."

"Of course we also obey all the international fire regulations, and we send all our fabrics and raw materials to Sealy Inc USA to get certification for local use."

Currently Sealy's most popular product with hotels in the Middle East is the Sealy Posturepedic mattress, a patent technology designed with the help of orthopedic surgeons to provide the perfect night's sleep.

Sealy Middle East has just signed an agreement with Rotana to supply all its hotels in the Middle East, and are already the exclusive mattress suppliers for international chains like Four Seasons and Ritz Carlton.

Fairmont Hotels, the Starwood Group and the InterContinental Hotel Group have also just come on board.

The international brands are aware of the quality of the bedding and what they should use, according to Asaad, but the local brands are less aware of how important the bed is.

"But now competition is becoming fiercer, and even the low key international hospitality brands and local brands are realising the importance of quality mattresses," he adds.

Now, having concentrated primarily on the retail sector in Saudi Arabia for the past seven years, Sealy Middle East is looking to take advantage of the region's growing hospitality industry.

"We take regional expansion very seriously and our factory in Saudi Arabia is designed to cater to any demand in the region. We are going to open outlets in the UAE, Qatar and Oman in the next two years," explains Asaad.

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