In short
A hotel linen par is one full set of linen for every bed; the operational baseline is 3-par — one set on the bed, one in the wash, one on the shelf. Small on-premise laundries can run 3-par; large, resort or remote properties need 4–5 to absorb delays. Retire and replace linen at roughly 200–300 wash cycles, which is about 12–18 months for a busy property.
How much linen does a hotel actually need to own, and when should it be replaced? This guide explains par levels — the PAR system — why 3-par is the operational baseline, when to run 4 or 5, and how to time replacement at 200–300 wash cycles.
Two questions decide a hotel's linen budget: how many sets does the property need to own, and when should each set be retired? Both are answered by the same discipline — par levels and replacement cycles. A par is one complete change of linen for every bed in the house, and the number of par a property holds is what keeps rooms turning over without a housekeeping crisis. Hold too little and you run out on a busy morning; hold too much and you have tied up cash in linen ageing on a shelf. This guide sets out what a par is, how many you need, and how to time replacement so the maths works.
What a linen par level is
PAR stands for Periodic Automatic Replacement, and one par is the full quantity of linen needed to make up every bed in the property once. So a 100-room hotel at one par owns 100 rooms' worth of sheets, pillowcases and the rest; at three par it owns three times that. The logic of multiple par is simple and physical: at any moment one set is on the bed, one is moving through the laundry, and one is on the shelf ready to go. That three-place cycle — bed, wash, shelf — is why three par is the industry baseline rather than an arbitrary number.
How many par does a hotel need?
The standard range is three to five par, and where a property sits depends almost entirely on its laundry. A small hotel with an on-premise laundry and a fast turnaround can run on three par. A larger property, a resort with long laundry routes, or a hotel in a remote location needs four or five par to absorb normal delays — a late laundry return or a demand spike — without leaving housekeeping short.
| Par level | What it gives you | Best suited to |
|---|---|---|
| 3 par | One on the bed, one in the wash, one on the shelf | Small hotels with on-premise laundry and fast turnaround |
| 4 par | A full buffer set against delays and demand spikes | Mid-size properties, off-site laundry, seasonal peaks |
| 5 par | Maximum resilience for long or unreliable laundry routes | Resorts, remote locations, very high occupancy |
What one par actually includes
When you cost a par, count every item that dresses the bed, not just the sheets — the reorder has to replace all of it in proportion. A typical per-room par includes:
- One set of sheets per bed — both a flat and a fitted sheet, sized to the mattress and its depth.
- A duvet cover or comforter, matched to the property's presentation standard.
- Pillowcases for every pillow — commonly four per room, so pillowcases turn over faster than any other item.
- A mattress protector per bed, laundered on its own cycle.
- Where the property supplies them, bath, hand and face towels counted as their own par.
Replacement cycles: when linen is retired
Par tells you how much to own; the replacement cycle tells you when to buy again. Commercial bedding is generally retired after roughly 200 to 300 wash cycles, beyond which the fabric thins, greys or loses its finish regardless of how carefully it is laundered. For a high-turnover property that is about 12 to 18 months of life. The practical move is to track wash cycles rather than calendar age, and to plan the reorder before the fleet reaches end of life — so replacements arrive while the current par is still serviceable, not after it has started to fail in front of guests.
| Running low par (2–3) | Running higher par (4–5) | |
|---|---|---|
| Cash tied up in linen | Lower up front | Higher up front |
| Resilience to laundry delay | Thin — a late return leaves rooms short | Strong — a full buffer absorbs delays |
| Wear per set | Higher — each set is washed more often | Lower — wear spread across more sets |
| Effective lifespan | Sets reach 200–300 washes sooner | Sets last longer in calendar terms |
| Best for | Small, fast on-premise laundry operations | Large, off-site or remote laundry operations |
Calculating your par and reorder point
Turning the theory into an order is a short calculation. Work it per bed type, because a king set and a twin set are separate lines.
Setting par and timing the reorder
- 01
1 · Count beds by size
Tally beds by mattress size and depth, not just rooms. Each size is its own par line with its own sheet and duvet-cover count.
- 02
2 · Choose your par from the laundry
Three par for a fast on-premise laundry; four to five where the route is off-site, long or unreliable, or occupancy runs very high.
- 03
3 · Buy the full fleet at once
Order all par of a style together so the whole fleet ages evenly and the colour and construction match across every set.
- 04
4 · Track wash cycles, not months
Log or estimate wash cycles per set and treat 200–300 as the retirement window, adjusting for how hard your laundry is on fabric.
- 05
5 · Reorder before end of life
Place the replacement order while the current par is still serviceable, allowing for production and shipping lead time so new linen arrives before the old fails.
Sourcing replacement linen mill-direct
BeddingTextilePro supplies hotel and contract linen on a source-factory-direct supply model from Nantong, China — the country's largest home-textile cluster — with locked, dedicated production lines at large-scale mills, goods shipping direct from the mill at mill pricing, and our own in-line QC on the line. For par-based buying that structure matters twice over: mill pricing keeps the cost of owning three to five par down, and because the line is dedicated we can hold the same construction and colour across a fleet and across repeat orders — so a replacement par matches the linen already in rotation instead of arriving a shade off. We are wholesale only with a 100-set MOQ per style and full OEM/ODM development, and we support OEKO-TEX STANDARD 100 documentation on ranges where the mill holds current certification. Start at /hotel-linen, send your room count and bed sizes, and our export team replies within one business day.
The bottom line for hotel linen planning
Par levels and replacement cycles are the two numbers that turn linen from a guessing game into a budget. Own three par as a baseline, four or five where the laundry route demands it, count every item on the bed when you cost a par, and retire linen at 200–300 wash cycles rather than on a hunch. Track wash cycles, buy the fleet together, and reorder before end of life, and the property never runs short and never over-invests in linen ageing on a shelf.
BeddingTextilePro is a Nantong B2B supplier of bedding sets, summer quilts and hotel linen on source-factory direct supply — locked, dedicated production lines at large-scale Nantong mills, goods shipping direct from the mill — with a 100-set MOQ, full OEM/ODM customization and OEKO-TEX support. Request a wholesale quotation and our export team will reply within one business day.
Frequently asked questions
- What is a par level in hotel linen?
- PAR stands for Periodic Automatic Replacement. One par is the full quantity of linen needed to make up every bed in the property once. Hotels hold multiple par because at any moment one set is on the bed, one is in the laundry and one is on the shelf. Three par — the bed-wash-shelf cycle — is the industry baseline, with four to five used where laundry turnaround is slower.
- How many par of linen does a hotel need?
- The standard range is three to five par. A small hotel with an on-premise laundry and fast turnaround can run three par. Larger properties, resorts with long laundry routes, remote locations or very high occupancy need four or five par to absorb late returns and demand spikes without leaving housekeeping short. The right number is set mainly by the laundry, not the room count.
- How often should hotel linen be replaced?
- Commercial bedding is generally retired after roughly 200 to 300 wash cycles, after which it thins, greys or loses its finish. For a high-turnover property that is about 12 to 18 months. Track wash cycles rather than calendar age, and plan the reorder before the fleet reaches end of life so replacements arrive while the current par is still serviceable.
- How do I calculate how much hotel linen to buy?
- Count beds by mattress size and depth, treating each size as its own line. Multiply each by your chosen par (three as a baseline, four to five for slower laundry routes), and include every item that dresses the bed — sheets, duvet covers, the usual four pillowcases per room, and mattress protectors. Buy the full fleet of a style together so it ages evenly and matches across sets.
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