In-depth Comparison (2024): Beckham Hotel Collection Pillow vs. Pillow Cube Pro Pillow

Polyester Fiber (Down Alternative)

The Beckham Hotel Collection Pillow is very soft and very thin, providing a potential option for stomach-sleepers. However, back-sleepers and side-sleepers should be aware that they might not receive enough support. When I sleep on it, the pillow goes flat underneath me.

The Beckham pillow is similar in softness to the Sleepgram pillow, but I measure the Beckham pillow at 6 inches of starting loft instead of the 10 inches for the Sleepgram pillow, which means the Beckham pillow feels even thinner. The polyester fibers compress significantly when I lay my head on the pillow, and because the polyester fibers glide smoothly without much friction, I get the impression that all the stuffing moves out of the way when I lie down. The Beckham pillow doesn't provide enough support for me in most situations.

The thickness and softness of the pillow bring to my mind a duvet folded in half, but the tendency for the polyester fibers to glide magnifies the comparison for me. When I shift my weight, the top layer of fabric will shift with me while I feel the bottom layer glide away, almost as if I were indeed sleeping on a folded duvet with the two layers sliding away from each other.

The Beckham pillow has the moniker "Hotel Collection Pillow," suggesting that it is similar to pillows found in hotels. In my experience staying at hotels like the Ritz Carlton, St. Regis, and Intercontinental, I've found that higher end hotels tend to use puffier pillows that are soft but still substantial. There is no strong connection in my mind between the pillows I've experienced at luxury hotels and the Beckham pillows that I purchased. Of course, I haven't stayed at every hotel out there, so I can't rule anything out definitively.

I do like the sateen stripes on the fabric, and the seams of the pillow are double-stitched, which give me more confidence in the construction of the pillow. However, the amount of fill material seams lacking to me in the pillows I purchased. While the Beckham pillow has a great price point, I feel like I get what I pay for because the amount of fill material per pillow also appears to be proportionally lower. For stomach-sleepers who want a thin, soft pillow, the Beckham pillow can be a great option, but for back-sleepers and side-sleepers, I'd recommend investing in more support.

Solid Memory Foam

I do not like sleeping on the Pillow Cube Pro Pillow, and I would not consider it worth purchasing again. The Pillow Cube advertises its unique shape (a cube or a rectangular box in the case of the Pro Pillow), but in my opinion, there is a reason why other pillows aren't shaped like a box, and it's not because no one else realized it was possible. Instead, it's because our necks and shoulders don't connect in sharp angles, so regular memory foam pillows have a curve instead of an edge. When I use the Pillow Cube, the sharp angle digs into my neck.

The Pillow Cube Pro Pillow is a solid memory foam pillow in the shape of a rectangular box. The pillow is available in a 4-inch, 5-inch, and 6-inch size. The website, as of my time of purchase, advertises that the different sizes allow the pillow to perfectly fit the pillow gap, but the website also recommends the 5-inch option for everyone between 5'4" and 6'3". Since that is a wide range of heights and body types, I was already skeptical that the pillow would fit perfectly. As expected, now that I've tried the pillow, I can confirm that the 5-inch pillow doesn't fit my shoulder gap perfectly. Though the 5-inch starting loft is a relatively low starting loft, because the foam is incredibly firm and doesn't compress when I lay my head on it, the effective loft of the pillow feels relatively thick. My neck ends up angled uncomfortably when side-sleeping. In general, the 1-inch gap between sizes is the same as the size difference between a size 6 shoe and a size 9 shoe (for both men and women), so I would expect many people won't be able to find a perfect fit. Instead, for side-sleepers, I recommend looking at an adjustable pillow like the Saybrook or Coop pillows, which can be micro-adjusted to the perfect fit.

I consider the shape of the pillow a downside as well. The boxy shape makes the pillow worse for back-sleeping and stomach-sleeping because I can feel the corners dig into my neck. Though the pillow is designed for side-sleepers, the way the pillow affects back-sleepers and stomach-sleepers is worth noting because many people switch among the positions even if they favor side-sleeping. Even for side-sleeping, the edges don't improve the experience for me. Instead, I would prefer the corners to be rounded out, which would result in the same shape as a normal memory foam pillow.

The Pillow Cube foam feels much firmer than the Weekender memory foam, which already feels much firmer than the Tempur-Pedic memory foam. I consider the Tempur-Pedic memory foam extra soft, the Weekender memory foam extra firm, and the Pillow Cube memory foam off-the-charts-firm, applying unwanted pressure against my ear and jaw when I use it. The Pillow Cube has a removable zippered cover, and taking it off reveals the grey foam inside. The foam reminds me of the industrial foam used to pad furniture in moving trucks or the foam used in gymnasiums.

Putting the cover back on is a daunting challenge. Imagine the difficulty of fitting a duvet cover on a duvet. The corners are always annoying to fit into the cover. Now imagine there are eight corners instead of four corners, as well as eight edges that also need to fit into the proper place in the cover. The most difficult part, though, is getting the foam into the zipper opening in the first place. The zipper sits along the long edge of the pillow, and even though the long edge measures 24 inches, I measure the zipper opening at only 19 inches in length. As a result, the challenge is to fit an ultra firm 24 inch by 12 inch by 5 inch block of foam through a one-dimensional line-shaped zipper opening that measures 19 inches long.

If you want a pillow that is as firm as possible, then the Pillow Cube might be an option, but I would recommend trying the Weekender first because the Weekender memory foam is already very firm. If you want a pillow designed for side-sleepers, I would recommend looking at an adjustable pillow like Saybrook or Coop.

Update (1 year later): I tried the newest version of the Pillow Cube Pro, and it seems they updated the firmness of the foam from much too firm to medium firm. They also updated the zipper opening for the cover to wrap around. These are welcome updates for this pillow. Unfortunately, at the new firmness level, the pillow is now too thin when I lay my head down because it has more give. The pillow went from angling my head upward to angling it downward. They advertise that side-sleepers need a pillow that fits the shoulder gap, but this pillow does not solve the problem. If you are a side-sleeper, you need a pillow that is adjustable to fit your shoulder gap. Adding a right angle does not solve anything.