Hotels lean into sleep tourism trend with recovery suites, new amenities aimed at rest
It's National Sleep Awareness Month, and whether you're looking for a moment of zen in a bustling city while away on business or in search of a restful retreat to recharge in a far-off destination, hotels have expanded offerings to meet the growing traveler demands of sleep tourism.
More than 50 million people in the U.S. have a sleep disorder, according to the Cleveland Clinic, and more than 100 million Americans report not getting an adequate amount of sleep.
During Sleep Awareness Week -- the annual period from March 9-15 started by the National Sleep Foundation -- the nonprofit makes an educational push to reemphasize the important connection between individuals' sleep, health and well-being, while hospitality brands highlight special programs and new offerings to elevate guest sleep experiences while traveling.
"When we really think about what we provide to most guests, we're a place to sleep. So inherently, we're a sleep company," Amanda Al-Masri, Global Vice President of Wellness for Hilton, told "Good Morning America."
Hilton's 2025 Travel Trends Report showed that sleep tourism has been on the rise since it first made headlines in 2024, with two-thirds of American guests indicating they sleep better in hotels vs. at home.
"It became very clear that we wanted to do more and over-index in this space," Al-Masri said of the decision to emphasize great sleep amenities across the Hilton portfolio. And she enlisted the help of sleep expert Dr. Rebecca Robbins, an Assistant Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School's Brigham and Women's Hospital in the Division of Sleep Medicine.
"She's an incredible sleep researcher and has been able to translate that for us into a hotel environment," the Hilton wellness head explained of their robust new offerings that range from calming slumber jet lag recovery treatments to sleep ritual breath work.
The design of a room, type of mattress, bedding, temperature, and lighting can all impact the baseline of comfort for guests to get a cozy night's sleep, and many properties around the world are emphasizing more robust rest-specific programming and amenities.
"One really fun example," Al-Masri highlighted are the "wellness retreats we've stood up in the last year," such as the Conrad in Orlando where she said the specific and secluded setting offers things like meditations, breath work, yoga, as well as a specialty food menu that's "made to power up for your day and then power down at the end of the day."
The Florida property also offers wellness suites "that are there to support the best night rest possible," with in-room amenities like "air purifiers and aroma therapy showers" as well as fitness kits with recovery tools.
"It's not just when you lay your head on the pillow. You've got to set yourself up for success before you go to bed, and you've got to set yourself up to make use of the sleep you had in the morning," Al-Masri explained. "So really understanding that sleep ecosystem is what we're trying to get our arms around."
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A number of Hilton spas offer sleep-focused treatments, like the Waldorf Astoria Chicago's new Calming Slumber Jet Lag Recovery with CBD treatment. The Waldorf Astoria Park City in Utah has a 90-minute Sleep Ritual full body massage that utilizes breath work and sleep-boosting organic geranium and jasmine oils while focusing on pressure points to induce rest.
For travelers who enjoy the famed area mountain sports, the spa at the Park City property also offers a Muscle Recovery Ritual for post-ski or hiking soreness to get people ready for a restful night to wake up recharged and make the first chair lift with ease.
Conrad Los Angeles has added new technology advancement to its rest-related therapies, including Quantum Harmonic Therapy that features complex audio frequencies aligned to the body's chakras, a Gharieni Welnamis Wave Table that combines a wave massage with binaural sounds, and Infrared PEMF Recovery Mats to provide muscles pain relief with immunity benefits.
Proper Hotels are renowned for innovative and world-class wellness programming, and as sleep tourism has become a major travel trend, the Santa Monica Proper took things a step further with an exclusive in-room Lullaby Sound Bath.
"In today's world, rest is a rare luxury. We wanted to create an experience where guests don't just stay, they reset," Bruno Vergeynst, the hotel's Managing Director told "GMA."
The new intimate 60-minute experience takes place at the end of the day, when guests -- or couples -- are tucked into bed, ready for rest. As the lights dim, a sound bath musician guides the guest through a soothing session, melting away stress and promoting deep, restorative sleep. The experience ends with a final mantra, followed by the musician gently turning off the lights, tiptoeing out, and locking the door behind them.
The Santa Monica Proper believes that "sleep isn't just an amenity, it's part of a truly restorative stay," so this year the team also introduced an authentic Ayurvedic sleep ritual in collaboration with Martha Soffer and Surya Spa, that's rooted in centuries-old practices, which they said was "designed to align the body's natural rhythms and support deep sleep."
The hotel also has a Recovery Suite with hot and cold plunge therapies to help reduce muscle tension and prepare the body for rest. The room has custom organic mattresses and blackout curtains to provide an ideal sleep environment and curated sleep soundscapes, personalized for a deeper, more restorative sleep experience are available to guests.
The Conrad New York Downtown has a sleep package for just $150 that includes a Byredo nighttime care kit, silk sleep mask and Scentered therapy balm, plus the room includes a 1 p.m. late check-out time to help guests enjoy an extra snooze or calm morning routine without the rush.
New York may be the city that never sleeps, but The Benjamin Royal Sonesta Hotel offers a Rest & Renew program with highlights like a curated pillow menu featuring ten options, on-demand meditation, eye masks, ear plugs, white noise machines, and meditation cushions to create an ideal setting to doze off and sleep deeply.
The luxury boutique landmark hotel in the heart of the Big Apple enlisted new sleep aid partnerships since it first debuted in September, to help with tech-life balance. It added the soft glowing Loftie alarm clocks that double as a noise machine to rooms, as well as Nodpod weighted sleep masks and blankets.
The Benjamin Royal Sonesta Hotel also offers a Kids Sleep Program, developed specifically for young guests that offers a goose down kids pillow, a child-sized sleep mask, the "Sweet Dreams: Bedtime Visualizations for Kids" book, a mindfulness owl night light and a list of curated sleep tips for kids.
Virgin Hotels NYC launched a curated Sleep Menu this month, which a representative for the hotel told "GMA" is "designed to help guests unwind and recharge."
The exclusive offering now available year-round provides travelers an array of sleep-enhancing experiences including luxury sleep masks; relaxing herbal tea to wind down in the evening; a $ 50-day pass to Exhale Spa where guests can enjoy a 25-minute halo therapy session in the state-of-the-art pink salt cave to enhance relaxation with heated zero-gravity chairs, sound and vibrational therapy, compression boots, and sleep goggles.
Hotels lean into sleep tourism trend with recovery suites, new amenities aimed at rest originally appeared on goodmorningamerica.com
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