Sleep Tourism: What Hotels Can Do to Support Better Guest Sleep

An unfamiliar room can change the first night

Sleep researchers recognise a first-night effect: people can sleep differently when the setting is unfamiliar. In a small laboratory study, Tamaki and colleagues found differences between hemispheres in the depth of sleep and responses to sounds during the first session, with greater vigilance in one hemisphere. The finding concerns particular measurements and sleep conditions. It does not mean that half of every hotel guest's brain stays awake all night.

The study did not test a hotel service or a remedy. Our practical interpretation is to make the room easier to understand on arrival. Show guests how the lighting and temperature controls work, explain how to request quiet and make the evening routine predictable. These are hospitality choices to try and evaluate, rather than interventions proven by that experiment.

Evidence: 1

Audit the room before adding a sleep experience

NHLBI recommends a quiet, cool and dark sleep environment. For a hotel, that is a useful starting point for an operational audit. Check whether curtains close fully, controls are understandable and unwanted light can be reduced while guests retain safe access to the bathroom. A room that looks restful in daylight can feel quite different after the corridor lights come on.

Review interruptions as a team. Housekeeping, maintenance, events and front office each see a different part of the night. Walk the corridors during evening service, listen from rooms near lifts and agree how complaints will be acted on. Our recommendation is to test these details across representative rooms before making a property-wide sleep promise. A guest should not have to book an additional experience to have a disruption taken seriously.

• Check curtains, indicator lights and guest control of bedside lighting.
• Make temperature settings easy to find and explain.
• Review corridor activity, doors, service routes and late events.
• Make do-not-disturb preferences clear across the teams that need them.

The most useful starting point may be a change to the room or the service routine.

Evidence: 2

Jet lag needs more than an early bedtime

Jet lag involves a mismatch between the internal body clock and local time after crossing time zones. The CDC Yellow Book explains that the timing of light can help shift that clock, but the appropriate timing depends on the journey. A universal instruction to get bright light at the same local hour is therefore a poor substitute for individual guidance.

A hotel can offer clear information and flexible choices without prescribing treatment. Make it easy to find outdoor spaces, request an undisturbed period and understand meal and activity times. Consider whether a late arrival has any realistic way to join the programme after resting. Questions about melatonin, medication or a personalised adjustment plan belong with an appropriate health professional. Keep the guest-facing promise focused on information and support.

Evidence: 3

Give the evening a coherent rhythm

Look at the evening as a guest would experience it. A sleep talk followed immediately by a loud event creates a choice that should be visible when booking. A guided rest session that overlaps with the only dinner sitting may be unusable. Review the whole sequence with food and beverage, activities and spa colleagues, including the time needed to move between spaces.

In our view, a useful sleep programme offers room to choose. Some guests will welcome an evening practice; others will prefer a short daytime explanation and an early return to their room. Repeat essential information in a concise takeaway so attending every session is unnecessary. Describe each activity plainly, including its timing and what participation involves, and allow the guest to decide what fits the stay.

Use a practitioner to make the science usable

A visiting practitioner can connect the ideas behind sleep with the practical choices a guest encounters. An educational workshop can explain sleep pressure, circadian timing and common misconceptions. A guided practice offers a chance to try an approach, ask questions and decide whether it is useful. The value of that exchange should be described in terms of learning and experience, with room for different responses.

For Brainwave, sleep can be the theme of a single workshop or part of a broader residency designed by Anne-Sophie Fluri with the property team. A proposed programme might pair a talk with an optional guided rest session and a short guest takeaway. That is an illustrative format, to be agreed around the venue and audience. It is not a promise of additional hours of sleep or a measured change in sleep stages.

Keep education separate from insomnia treatment

Persistent sleep difficulties need more than a hotel programme. The American Academy of Sleep Medicine recommends multicomponent cognitive behavioural therapy for chronic insomnia in adults and advises against using sleep hygiene alone as its treatment. General guidance about routines and bedrooms has a different role from clinical assessment and care.

Brief the team on that boundary before promoting the offer. A guest asking about a continuing sleep problem should receive a respectful response and a route to appropriate professional help, rather than an upsell. Guest materials should explain the educational scope of sessions. Staff and practitioners can answer questions about what the programme includes without interpreting symptoms or recommending changes to an existing treatment.

Evidence: 4

Measure usefulness without promising a cure

Agree a small set of questions before launch: could guests make the room comfortable, were there avoidable interruptions, and did the programme leave them with an idea they understood? Invite optional feedback after participation and make it easy to report a problem during the stay. Include staff observations about timings and delivery, because these are things the hotel can act on directly.

The MRC evaluation framework highlights the importance of context. Applied here, that means keeping track of room changes, travel patterns, occupancy and other events when reviewing feedback. A better rating after launch does not isolate the programme's effect. Use the findings to improve the offer, and describe the evidence at the level it supports: guest experience and operational learning, unless a stronger evaluation has actually been carried out.

Evidence: 5