A glimpse into one of the large storage spaces at our testing facility. Aly Lopez/CNET Our CNET mattress team has tested over 300 beds over the years we’ve been doing this. During that time, we’ve established testing processes and a methodology that every bed must stand up to to make it on our best mattress lists. We take a holistic approach to mattress testing, including everyone in the office to ensure we represent all types of people. Our team consists of different weights, genders and body types. Of all the beds we’ve tested, only a handful of mattresses stood out as the best hotel mattresses. Hotel mattresses are typically thick, durable and accommodating, so they are comfortable for any type of guest who stays, from a petite side sleeper to a heavy back or stomach sleeper. Let’s dig into how we tested each of the beds on this list: Firmness Firmness is the first and most important metric we test when assessing a new hotel bed. This pivotal metric allows us to recommend the best beds to you. The CNET sleep team looks at firmness in two ways: perceived and objective. Perceived firmness is what we feel when we lie on the bed in different positions, noting how it feels on our back and pressure points. Everyone on the team does this to ensure we account for various body types. We had team members sleep on specific beds for months or even multiple years. The second part of firmness is the objective rating, which we get with our Mattress Smasher 9000, the proprietary machine built by the CNET labs team. After we’ve recorded the perceived firmness of each bed, we turn it over to the MS9K, which uses lasers and electromagnets to press on the bed at the equivalent pressure of a 165-pound person. We then get an objective firmness rating between one and 10. The MS9K is how we know that the luxury firm model of the WinkBed mattress is around a 6 out of 10. Part of the testing includes removing the mattress cover and analyzing its interior construction and materials. Dillon Lopez/CNET Temperature One of the most appealing features of mattresses that people are looking for is cooling features. Many of the best hotel mattresses have some sort of cooling tech inside. The truth is that there is no bar a bed has to meet to slap cooling marketing on their beds. We’ve tested plenty of beds that claim to be cooling but aren’t. That’s where our years of experience testing beds come in handy. We know what covers and cooling layers will actually move the needle for hot sleepers. The testing rooms in our Reno, Nevada, facility are temperature-controlled to ensure a consistent experience. We also test beds without bedding to get the full effects of any cooling features. Motion isolation Another metric we test and record for every bed we test is motion isolation, or how well a bed dampens movement across the surface. Motion isolation might not seem like that big of a deal, but if you sleep with someone who tends to move around at night or get out of bed, you know how important it is that you don’t feel it. Traditionally, memory foam performs the best in this category, though we’ve seen hybrid beds up their game. To test motion isolation, we’ve got two main tests. The first requires me to lie on a bed and close my eyes. Then someone else on the team gets on the bed and moves around, with increasing levels of movement. We do this in every sleeping position. The second test for motion isolation includes placing a glass of water on the edge of a bed and rolling toward and away from the glass. As we move, we note how much the water sloshes around in the glass. Dillon Lopez/CNET Edge support The next factor we test is edge support, or the strength of a bed’s perimeter. Edge support is critical if you sleep on the edge of the bed or have mobility issues that make it difficult to get in and out of bed. To test a bed's edge support, we lie on the edge and measure how much it caves under our weight. Hybrid beds perform the best in edge support because they have coil bases, and some even have reinforced edges. If I feel like I will fall off the edge, a bed doesn’t have good edge support.