Maximizing every hour of the day – particularly when traveling – has been a common strategy for many. For those who may not return to a destination, this may stay the case. For some, however, the priority when traveling has changed.
“We’ve seen a heightened desire from travelers to relax while on the road,” says Amanda Al-Masri, global vice president of wellness for Hilton. “In fact, Hilton’s 2024 Trends Report found that, regardless of generation, the No. 1 reason people want to travel in 2024 is to rest and recharge.”
Dr. Rebecca Robbins, associate sleep scientist at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston and a sleep expert for Hilton Hotels, thinks she knows the reason for this change of “pace.”
“Amidst 'hustle' culture leading up to COVID-19, I believe we collectively simply drove ourselves to the limit, squeezing sleep as much as possible under the false assumption that cutting sleep short magically added hours back to our days,” she says. “However, after the onset of the pandemic, many of us faced new and complex challenges to sleep, such as the profound uncertainty about the future, and these factors had a massive impact on our sleep.”
While the majority of our sleep is done at home, this new reality shouldn’t be lost on hotel owners, Dr. Robbins argues.
“At the end of the day, hotels are fundamentally a place to sleep, so it makes sense that hotels should invest in the guest sleep experience,” she continues. “We published a paper looking at sleep in regular travelings and found that the guest sleep experience at a hotel was a significant predictor of guest satisfaction.”
This included whether a guest would talk about their stay or come back for a repeat visit.
A sleeper hit
Though the trend of sleep tourism – which consists of in-room amenities, wellness services and/or sleep-based retreats to recharge guests – may be new, Dr. Chekitan Dev notes that many aspects of a hotel’s sleep offerings have been around for a while.
“It was 25 years ago that Westin started the ‘bed wars’ with the launch of the Heavenly Bed,” says Dr. Dev, who is the Singapore Tourism Distinguished Professor at Cornell University’s Nolan School of Hotel Administration within the SC Johnson College of Business. “Hotels in major city centers and airports all over the world have also used sleep as a selling point for a small but important part of their guest mix: airline crews. Crews arrive and depart at all hours. It’s a matter of life and death for them to be well rested and hotels that house crews have done many of these things for decades.”
And what are these “things” that can lead to a well-rested guest and, therefore, possibly a positive hotel experience?
A high-quality mattress/pillows, ear plugs and eye masks are a start. Guest rooms at Tempo by Hilton, for example, offer Sealy Accelerate mattresses, cooling linens, an oversized shower, Bluetooth speaker mirror and APOTHEKE bath amenities.
“Wireless phone charges are intended to encourage screen-free time before sleeping, while black-out curtains, no in-room digital clocks, room lighting that automatically dims at sunset and a ‘relax’ button on lighting controls create a restful ambiance,” Al-Masri adds.
Christopher Norton, CEO of Equinox Hotels, thinks the sleep tourism movement is just getting started.
“The new generation is particularly determined to seek quality rest wherever they can, recognizing its crucial role in their high-performance lifestyles,” he says. “In order to create an effective environment for sleep, you need to address the entire 24-hour cycle contributing to a restful night’s sleep… achieving optimal rest involves more than just the right bedding.”
With that in mind, the brand launched the Art + Science of Sleep by Equinox Hotels program at Hudson Yards in New York in March. The program can be paired with wellness services, such as “Sleep IV-Drips,” a spa menu with superfoods, a CBD massage, personalized sleep coaching and more.
These sleep programs are just the tip of the iceberg. The Park Hyatt New York offers sleep suites. The Canyon Ranch Tucson features a Mastering Sleep Retreat. The JW Marriott Tampa Water Street includes Stay Well Rooms that boast circadian mood lighting.
The list goes on and on.
That may be part of the problem for some hotel investors. The possibilities are endless, but the funds are not necessarily.
That’s why Dr. Robbins recommends investing in strategies and services that are backed by science.
Keeping it simple
“The priority for hotels should be investing in evidence-based guest sleep offerings,” she says. “Avoid gimmicks or simply giving lip service to the importance of sleep while not offering tangible initiatives to improve the guest sleep experience.”
Al-Masri agrees with this approach.
“All our wellness programming is carefully studied, researched and piloted to see what moves the needle before we scale,” she says. “We believe that key programming in this space can drive purchase decisions, loyalty and market share, as well as contribute to rate premiums and drive RevPAR.”
Hilton tracks feedback from its hotels in post-stay survey responses to better understand its guests’ satisfaction levels, particularly the sleep experience. Through its research, the company has also learned that 27 percent of global travelers prefer to stay at trusted hotel brands with “consistently good mattresses.”
Even if a hotel or brand doesn’t have the funds to create suites, retreats or spa offerings based around a restful night, it can still take part in the trend and, therefore, capture market share, Dr. Robbins argues.
“A good night’s sleep does not need to break the bank,” she says. “Opportunities to improve guest sleep experiences abound across the quality level in the hotel industry. Taking a look at the guestroom elements, such as the mattress and pillows, and determining if these elements need to be refreshed could be a good start.”
It can also be prudent, Dr. Dev believes.
“As traditional hotels battle ‘alternate lodging’ in the form of short-term rental (STR) brands like Airbnb and others, differentiating their experience from STRs is key to preserving and enhancing market share,” he says. “Areas where hotels can differentiate are the three S’s: security, service and sleep.”
Other easy-to-add offerings include noise machines, air purifiers and craft mocktail menus.
“As a society we are finally waking up to the importance of sleep,” Dr. Robbins says. “Creating an environment where guests can get a great night’s sleep is not only the right thing to do, but I sense promoting a good night’s sleep could be good for a hotel's bottom line.”