The feathers went flying as five-star hotels engaged in some serious pillow fighting. It all began when Westin Hotels first introduced their heavily marketed Heavenly Bed promising, presumably, a celestial night's sleep. The industry thought the hotel chain was mad  - all that fuss over a decent doona and a mattress  - but the idea worked.

As the Heavenly Bed celebrates its fifteenth birthday this year nobody is laughing any more (Happy Birthday Heavenly). Millions of people worldwide have  now slept on the famous Heavenly Bed and 50,000 or so of them have liked it so much they've bought the bed, or the snowy white linen, and taken it home with them.

As for the other hotel chains, they soon jumped on the bandwagon, or should that be the mattress, in a big way and the Great Bed Wars commenced. It is out with the polyester floral bedspread and bilious beige linen and in with the designer doona.

Sheraton Hotels, which like Westin are part of Starwood Hotels and Resorts, have introduced the Sweet Sleeper Bed to selected properties, with features including allergy sensitive pillows and high-coil-count Sealy mattresses.

Hyatt, meanwhile, introduced its Grand bed (Sealy Posturepedic down blankets, mountains of pillows) to the Grand Hyatt New York with much fanfare  in 2003 and the rest is history.  Radisson Sleep Number beds (bedside controls for adjusting mattress firmness through 'air-chamber technology', feather and down pillows) arrive in selected hotels worldwide in  2006. Crowne Plaza has took another tack; It upgraded its beds and introduced a Sleep Advantage program with sleep-inducing CDs, airline-style earplugs and eye masks as well as "quiet zones" on certain floors.

Marriott Hotels and Resorts were the hotel group to follow most quickly in Westin's pillow-puff, rolling out their Marriott bed a year later. Now a new battle is due to commence as in March 2014 Four Seasons unveils its new bed.

 

Buying your bed
SO you want to take your hotel bed home with you...this is what it will cost

The Westin Heavenly Bed This is the one that started it all. Inducing sweet dreams since 1999, It has a pillow top mattress and box springs. The set also comes with pillows, pillow cases, duvet covers, bed skirts and sheets. Cost: (queen to king) from $US2,870  to $US 3,380 for a king. www.westin-hotelsathome.com

Sheraton Sweet Sleeper
Westin's sister brand, Sheraton, has the Sweet Sleeper. AS well as the mattress  you can buy pillows, duvets and blankets as well. They also Sweet Sleeper Roll Away Bed for kids or guests. Cost: (twin to king) matress from $US995 to $US 1,895  www.sheraton-hotelsathome.com

The W Bed Like its big sisters in the Starwood brand, W Hotels  also has own bed. W doesn't just offer a mattress and box spring but a design-forward bed frame that is found in some of the flasher W Hotels. Sheets and other bedding amenities are also for sale. www.whotelsthestore.com

The Marriott Bed
Marriott  sells beds, boxsprings, frames, and sheets.Cost: Mattress $US 1,500 up to about $US3,700 for the entire bed package.

The JW Collection from Marriott The bed used in JW Marriott hotels. Cost. Range  (queen to king) $US3,370 - $US3,740. Includes a mattress and box spring set, mattress topper, comforter, feather and down pillows, sheets and a bedazzle bed skirt. www.shopmarriott.com/

The Ritz-Carlton Sleep Experience
The Ritz sells a special Sealy Posturepedic Plush mattress at their online store as well as a box spring. Cost: Starting at $US 999 for a twin mattress. You can purchase a variety of bedding, including the comfy cuddle pillow. www.ritzcarltonshops.com

Hilton Serenity Bed Made by Serta and comes in all sizes from twin to king. Cost: Starting at $US 1,395 . The Hilton Serenity Bed set costs more and includes the bed, mattress topper, comforter, duvet cover, sheet set, a pair of pillows and pillow protectors.

The Waldorf Bed
Hilton's most luxie hotel brand sells The Waldorf Bed with  box  springs engineered to give extra back support  and  5 'cushioning comfort zones'.Cost:(Queen to King)  from $US 2,100  to  $US 2,300. www.waldorfcollection-hotelsathome.com

The Hyatt Grand Bed and Hyatt Grand Bed II The Hyatt brand's signature bed set comes in sizes twin and twin XL all the way up to king. It features a no-flip pillow-top mattress and box springs. Cost:  Mattresses start at $US 675  to $US1,165. The ultra-luxe Grand Bed II ranges from $US730 to $US 1,200. You can buy box springs, bed bases and frames as well. www.hyattgrandbed.com/

The Sofitel SoBed
Splurge for the SoBed package and you will get the Sofitel custom-designed mattress and boxspring plus  SoBoutique pillows, one featherbed and one down duvet , and  400 thread count cotton percale linens by Yves Delorme, including 1 bedskirt, fitted sheet, duvet cover, 2 pillowcases and 2 pillow protectors. Costs:  The collection comes in full, queen and king sizes from $US 3,160-to $US 3,825. na.soboutique.com

Four Seasons Bed  Currently You have to purchase The new Four Seasons Bed directly from a hotel or resort, simply tell the concierge and you can take it home with you. Plans are to sell it online once it has been rolled out to more hotels..  Costs are looking to be about $US2,500 but we'll keep you posted www.fourseasons.com/

MGM Resorts
MGM's Las Vegas resorts sell their hotel-casino beds. The MGM Grand at Home store sells  buy pillows, linens and comforters . The Vdara at Home store sells Sealy Posturepedic mattress, box spring and linens); and The Mirage at Home store which sells  the same Sealy bed as Vdara  and linens. The Bellagio at Home store sells a special Serta mattress in sizes full to cal king.  Over at the Wynn you can  buy your own Wynn Dream Bed at the Homestore in the Esplanade for a $US3,100. Now all you have to do is get it on the plane...
www.mgmgrand.com/amenities/mgmgrand_athome.aspxxý

NB How much do you want a good night's sleep? Because those shipping costs can mount as not all beds are available worldwide, US hotel groups  for example often don't ship overseas.

Lisa Edwards 4/1/14