Last Updated on March 30, 2023

Did you sleep like a baby during your recent stay at a Holiday Inn hotel?

If so, did you notice that their down alternative pillows were super plush, yet also supportive?

Holiday Inn, like most innovative hotels, carefully crafts their hotel room beds to ensure that you get a full night of sleep, and wake up feeling refreshed.

It’s really just a “marketing trick”. If your bedtime is as memorable as your trip, then you just might want to visit that same hotel chain again the next time you travel.

Either way, if you’re looking for the same pillow that you enjoyed at the Holiday Inn, then you’re looking for the Enviroloft Down Alternative Pillow from Downlite.

The Enviroloft pillow from Downlite isn’t your everyday ordinary polyester-filled down alternative pillow. It actually contains 6-denier silicon fiber which makes it so silky soft.

Silicon is much slicker than polyester, and more elastic too. That’s what makes these pillows feel so soft and squishy. Enviroloft pillows feel like natural goose down, but with more resiliency. The pillow doesn’t just give under your weight – it actually supports you.

If you happened to check the tag of the pillow used in your hotel bedroom, the model# was probably one of the following: DOW777PI0230, HOS100PI0050, HOS100PI0051, or HOS100PI0320.

What makes Enviroloft pillows so great?

Enviroloft pillows are more than a down alternative pillow. Because of their versatility as a pillow, many hotels don’t offer them as the “alternative” pillow – they use them as the main pillow.

Most Holiday Inn hotels use them as the only pillow.

Why?

Three reasons come to mind:

• The silicone fiber fill-material
• The resiliency of the fill
• The quality construction

The silicone fiber fill-material

The Enviroloft is Downlite’s best-selling pillow and by far the most popular pillow among American hotels.

The main reason is the silicone fill.

Silicon fibers are thinner and slicker in texture than polyester fiberfill, which is commonly used for down alternative pillows.

The silicone fill provides for a slippery and silky soft texture. This texture reduces friction which prevents clumping.

But it gets better!

Enviroloft is not a good insulator. In other words, it doesn’t hold on to heat well, like Primaloft for example.

The pillow stays cool and comfortable.

The resiliency of the fill

Remember how we said that Enviroloft is slippery?

If you rub your fingers together, you’ll feel a certain amount of friction right? Now imagine if your fingers were covered in oil.

The friction would be significantly less right? This reduced friction is what makes Enviroloft so resilient.

You can use your pillow night after night, and wash it as often as you’d like – and it will still hold its shape, without clumping.

This is particularly why hotels like the Holiday Inn love the Enviroloft pillow. Durability is of high priority in the hospitality industry.

The quality construction

Pillow construction is about as important as the fill itself.

How a pillow is made directly influences how long it will last. How do you tell if a pillow is well-made? One easy and quick way is to look at the edges.

A cheaply made pillow will not have a true edge. What you’ll see is just the two sides of the pillow meeting at a simply sewn seam.

Have you ever had a pillow that leaked its feather or down fill? Have you ever had a pillow that came apart at the seams after just a few washes?

Enviroloft pillows have a double-needle sewn knife edge.

This type of construction is sturdy and durable. You can wash the pillows as often as you’d like, the seams just won’t come apart.

This is another reason why hotels love these pillows – they are so cost-effective. They’re super affordable and last forever.

Do you see how the edges come together and then taper into a defined edge? That is what is referred to as “knife-edge” seams.

Pillow specs

Enviroloft pillows feature a 230 thread count, 100% cambric cotton cover. They are machine washable and dryable.

They are available in the following sizes and fill amounts (for the medium density version):

• Standard – 20″ x 26″ – 20 ounces
• Jumbo -20″ x 28″ – 22 ounces
• Queen – 20″ x 30″ – 24 ounces
• King – 20″ x 36″ – 30 ounces

These pillows come in medium and firm support as well. Most hotels provide the medium version, but if you’re a back sleeper, you’ll probably want the firm version.

Holiday Inn accommodations

Holiday Inn hotels are a mid-tier property, but the products which they use for their beds are actually very high quality. These same Enviroloft pillows are found in many 4 and 5-star hotels across the country.

You’ll actually find this same pillow available at national hotels and chains like Sheraton hotels, the Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas, and many others.

What makes these a favorite pillow option at Holiday Inn? The answer is actually simple. They offer durability, comfort, and versatility, at a very affordable price.

If you like pillows that are soft and squishy

Goose down pillows are ultra-plush, but expensive. Polyester pillows are cheap in price, but they’re either too soft or too firm -they tend to feel too mushy or too stiff. Memory foam pillows are supportive, but also very dense.

The silicone fill in the Enviroloft pillow is soft, yet supportive.

If you want a durable & quality pillow

Silicone fibers are softer, but also more durable than polyester.

Because of the lack of friction, they last longer, and won’t clump – which means you’ll have to replace a silicone-filled pillow much less often.

Since the silicone fill is so resilient, the pillow keeps its shape. You can fluff the pillow if you’d like, but you probably won’t need to.

And the knife-edge seams ensure that the pillow will never come apart.

A pillow that’s cool

A pillow that stays cool to the touch – throughout the night – is very important. If your head feels hot, your entire body will feel hot.

You can be sleeping in an otherwise cool room, but the wrong pillow will make you sweat. The Enviroloft pillow’s silicone fill does not trap heat the way goose down and polyester tend to.

Final thoughts

Regardless of the price, a new pillow – much like a fresh new set of sheets – is always comforting.

To ensure that your new pillow stays “like new”, consider using a pillow protector.

A pillow protector will keep your pillow clean, and looking like new for years to come. While a down alternative pillow doesn’t suffer from water damage or bed bugs like a goose down pillow does, it still does benefit from some protection.

If you hate seeing a yellowed pillow, a protector will be your best friend!