Whether you’re providing rooms for family holidays or a place of overnight rest for business travellers, all hospitality providers will know that providing an excellent night’s sleep for its guests is absolutely essential.

As we celebrate National Bed Month, we wanted to share some top tips from our sleep and wellbeing expert, Natalie Pennicotte-Collier, on how accommodation providers can re-assess their sleep offering for guests in a changing hospitality landscape in 2021.

Natalie comments: “Sleep has always been at the heart of any offering from hotels and serviced apartments, and it will be even more crucial following such a tumultuous year as the industry begins to open back up. With that in mind, now is the perfect time for brands to put a real spotlight on sleep wellbeing and their unique offering.”

Below, Natalie shares her thoughts on creating the ideal sleep sanctuary for your guests.

Beyond The Bed

At Hypnos Contract Beds, of course we’re passionate about supplying the most comfortable and sustainable beds and mattresses to our hospitality partners, but looking beyond the bed itself into the wider sleep terrain is really important. For many people, particularly those who already struggle with their sleep, spending nights away from home can be challenging, especially if light and noise are an issue.

As such, it’s important that hospitality providers can prove that they’re going above and beyond to help their customers experience as much comfort as possible when away from home. A recent trend we’ve spotted is that places such as hotels and airport lounges are beginning to adopt circadian science (behaviours and rhythms which follow a 24-hour cycle) in the form of light therapy, with bright lights used for wakefulness and warm light in the evenings to help to boost the body’s preparation for bed.

From a sleep wellbeing perspective, anything hospitality providers can do within their room design or during refurbishments to ensure that the sleeping areas are as dark and as silent as possible during the night, will help improve the overall experience and to relax guests.

On top of this, there are a range of measures brands can take to offer different solutions to guests so that they can choose a sleep offering which suits their individual wellbeing needs. These can be big or small, ranging from sound systems playing a range of relaxing and ambient music to a branded menu of different pillows to choose from with different levels of firmness complete with a range of scented pillow spray choices. It really is all about showing that you’re going the extra mile to care for your guests’ sleep experience.

Providing The Ideal Sleep Surroundings

The same rules apply, whether you’re trying to sleep at home or in a hotel – the overwhelming majority of people will find it easiest to sleep in a room that is cool (ideally eighteen degrees Celsius), dark and of course quiet. However, looking beyond this there are a range of steps you can take to improve the surroundings you’re offering to your guests.

• Plant Power: Science shows that having scenic pictures of nature can work really well as cues for relaxation. Adding these to a room along with some natural soundscapes and false plants can really bring in that natural element to a space, whilst enhancing interiors design elements at the same time.

• Wonderful Wood: Hypnos’ bed bases only use wood from managed forests and sustainable sources that are both FSC and PEFC certified. However, benefits of this material in the bedroom go way beyond sustainability. For instance, you can use wood as either flooring or panelling, which is an increasingly popular interiors trend. This material can act as both a natural insulator for both heat or cooler temperatures and it also absorbs sounds so helps to reduce echoes and noise which will help with guests’ sleep.

• Biophilic Design – Playing into the plant power we mentioned earlier, biophilic design is a theory which looks to bring in natural elements, textures and sounds to a building with the aim of increasing how connected its occupants feel to an outdoor or natural environment. Hypnos beds and mattresses are created using 100% natural fibres such as cotton and wool and bringing these materials into guests’ rooms through bedding, towels or other products will all help play into this biophilic feel which boosts wellbeing.

As well as being a strong visual aid, bringing real plants into any space can improve air quality and the subtle scents from plants such as lavender and jasmine are commonly known to provide a relaxing boost to wellbeing.

When it comes to sleep, no two people are the same. As the hospitality industry begins to ramp back up and prepare to welcome back guests from all over the world, it is vitally important these guests feel that their comfort and wellbeing needs are being supported.

Hypnos Contract Beds works with brands covering everything from international hotel chains and small independent, boutique hotels through to student accommodation providers. To find out more about their sleep offering, click here.