The typical traveler probably doesn’t expect great sleep at a hotel. Not your bed. Not your pillow. Not your nightlight.
Hallway noises startle you awake. The bedspread feels like it’s made of sheet metal. And, of course, there’s the ever-present fear of bedbug infestation.
Some hotels want to change all that, promoting luxurious rest as a top amenity. They start with high-end beds and linens, then add perks like a “sleep retreat,” “sleep wellness program” or even a “sleep concierge.”
Oh, and “sleep tourism” is now a thing. In fact, TripAdvisor created a category for best sleep in its Travelers’ Choice rankings.
Need the best rest? If you can pay the freight, these inns can help. Most are located in the United States, and the others are scattered across the world.
1. The Cadogan
Where this hotel is located: London, England, United Kingdom
This high-end hotel boasts a “sleep concierge” service featuring sleep expert and hypnotherapist Malminder Gill. Choose from a menu of pillows (yes, really) and enjoy a weighted blanket, a proprietary bedtime tea blend, a “sleep-inducing meditative recording” by Malminder and a scented mist to spritz on whichever pillows you choose.
Still tense? Book yourself a “bespoke in-person session” with Gill, which, of course, costs extra. Sleep tight!
2. Six Senses Laamu
Where this hotel is located: Laamu Atoll, Maldives
This place on an island in the Indian Ocean offers a sleep wellness program that sounds to us like a sleep boot camp. Opt for three, five, seven or 10 days’ worth of treatments, including but not limited to sleep tracking, wellness screening, yoga, “singing bowl” meditation, a lymphatic facial, nutrition advice, personal training and a “cleansing ritual.”
The hotel’s website suggests these treatments will strengthen the immune system, slow the aging process, improve your memory and prevent systematic inflammation. They had us at “singing bowl.”
3. Carillon Miami Wellness Resort
Where this hotel is located: Miami, Florida, United States
Got five days and four nights to focus on your sleep, or lack thereof? The “Sleep Well Retreat” offered here might help you reset. You’ll snuggle up in a Bryte Balance Smart Bed, which boasts “an adaptive core … of intelligent cushions” that independently switch from soft to firm and are synchronized with audio designed to put you under.
After a good night’s sleep you’ll get wellness treatments, fitness classes, spa therapies, healthy foods, meditation, massage and movement sessions. Beach time and nights on the town are factored into the retreat, but frankly, we’d be tempted to stay in bed.
4. Hotel Saint Cecilia
Where this hotel is located: Austin, Texas, United States
Hotel Saint Cecilia promises “an exquisite night’s sleep” on a handmade organic bed from Hästens, a renowned Swedish manufacturer of beds and bedding. Before turning in for the night, you can enjoy Austin’s nightlife and individualist vibe (“Keep Austin Weird” is a local mantra).
Fun fact: Hästens began as a saddlery that used horsetail hair for padding in carriage seats. The company still uses “ethically sourced” equine hair in its mattresses, promising that even sleepers allergic to horses can safely doze on its products.
5. Sensei Lanai
Where this hotel is located: Lanai City, Hawaii, United States
This Four Seasons resort offers a five-night “Rest and Recovery Program” that mixes modern science (a sleep-tracking device) with mind-body tactics such as yoga, “mindful movement” and relaxation therapies.
The program focuses on creating behaviors to help you fall asleep, stay asleep and wake up refreshed. That includes practicing optimal pre-bedtime and morning routines. We bet that neither of those routines include watching stock market recaps or cat videos.
6. Equinox Hotel
Where this hotel is located: Manhattan, New York, United States
A property that’s been called “the fittest hotel on Earth” is bound to offer more than a mint on the pillow. Beds at the Equinox are kitted out with a proprietary “sleep system“: handmade mattresses with multiple layers of all-natural materials that include coconut fiber, natural latex and wooden slats.
Egyptian cotton sheets, top-of-the-line down pillows and silk-encased duvets work “in orchestra” with those bespoke mattresses to create what the hotel promises is “the ultimate sleep chamber,” complete with “total soundproofing” and “total blackout window system.” We feel fancy just reading about this place.
7. SHA Wellness Clinic
Where this hotel is located: El Albir, Spain
The resort’s “Rebalance” program is focused on general well-being, with the option of adding a “Sleep Recovery” package. This includes a sleep specialist consultation, neurocognitive assessment and overnight sleep monitoring followed by therapies designed to improve the natural sleep cycle.
Among those therapies are stress management and “mindfulness” sessions, a dental health diagnosis, aquatic bodywork and a proprietary “Sleep & Relax” supplement. We’re getting drowsy already.
8. Hotel Figueroa
Where this hotel is located: Los Angeles, California, United States
Before you get to the “Rest & Recovery” suite at the Figueroa, you’ll have had the chance to order a customized Pluto Pillow. It will be set atop an Eight Sleep mattress that features temperature controls.
Plug in your Bollsen Life+ earplugs designed to remove all annoying noises (including a partner’s snoring), then drift off under a GammaLight Therapy Revive Red Light whose 670-nanometer light promises to improve your sleep.
Did we mention the Molekule Air Pro air purifier system? Or the option of waking up to a “personal sunrise” dawn simulation lamp? Sweet dreams.
9. Preidlhof
Where this hotel is located: Naturno, Italy
The “Sleep Better” retreat is a six-day, five-night program designed to teach optimal slumber. It uses technology to analyze your sleep and your heart rate and mixes in holistic retreats and body therapies.
Those therapies include a massage during a “Dolomitic Sleep Ritual” featuring products from the local Dolomite Mountains, a “Sound & Quartz” session in a bed of heated quartz sand that transmits vibrations from bells and gongs, and a “Glowing Flow Session” featuring something called “meditative bodywork.” You can also opt for acupuncture, but it sounds like you’d be plenty busy without it.
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