Sleep Tourism Is the Growing Travel Trend You’ll Want to Try
With personalized pillow menus, sleep retreats, and AI-powered beds, hotels are putting rest front and center
While most travelers pack their bags to explore the world’s wonders, soak up new culture, or lounge on a beach, a growing number are chasing something far simpler: a good night’s sleep. In fact, according to Hilton’s 2024 Travel Trends Report, the top reason people want to travel is to rest and recharge. Remarkably, two-thirds of guests say they sleep better in hotels than they do at home.
In response, hotels are leaning into this trend with “sleep tourism”—a growing movement focused on helping guests achieve quality rest. From blackout curtains and luxury mattresses to wellness retreats and sleep-centric amenities, the hospitality industry is upping its game to design hotel stays around slumber.
“Good quality, restorative sleep while traveling will allow guests to get the most out of their vacation,” says Dr. Rebecca Robbins, a sleep scientist at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Massachusetts and Hilton’s official sleep expert. “Sleep impacts virtually every area of our health and well-being—from mood, our ability to maintain a healthy immune system, and our performance/productivity.”
From simple perks to immersive wellness programs, sleep tourism is reshaping the guest experience—one restful night at a time. Here’s what you can expect from US hotels at the forefront of this travel trend.
Hotels that prioritize your sleep before you even arrive
No need to sacrifice your bedtime routine at the Shashi Hotel Mountain View in the heart of Silicon Valley. Before you arrive, download the Shashi App to customize your sleep preferences—room temperature, lighting, extra blankets, music, and white noise—so that your perfect sleep environment is ready when you walk in.
On the other side of the country at the Thompson Atlanta-Buckhead, light sleepers who book the Rest Well package can request a “quiet room,” equipped in advance with a weighted blanket, a sleep mask, pillow spray, calming essential oils, noise-blocking earplugs, a sound machine, and guided meditations already set on the TV.
Hotel retreats where rest and recovery are a focal point
Improve sleep quality with the customized five-night Rest and Reset program at both Hawaii’s Sensei Lānaʻi and California’s Sensei Porcupine Creek. Real-time sleep data is collected before your stay using a complimentary WHOOP 4.0 band, which is shipped to your home ahead of your arrival. Once you’re on-site, guides analyze your results, conduct health assessments, and teach strategies to reclaim restorative sleep.
Set your AI-powered Bryte Balance Smart Mattress to your preferred firmness at the AAA Four Diamond Carillon Miami Wellness Resort during its four-night Sleep Well Retreat. Enhance your sleep habits with healthy meals, movement classes, spa treatments, and a thermal hydrotherapy experience. You’ll also receive a copy of Sleep for Success! Everything You Must Know About Sleep but Are Too Tired to Ask, co-authored by Dr. Robbins, to help you maintain better rest long after checkout.
An off-the-grid escape built for deep sleep
Really disconnect at Menizei, an adults-only forest cocooning retreat in Washington’s Olympic Peninsula. Snooze soundly in blackout glamping tents—even during 16 hours of daylight. Enjoy plush bedding, unwind in a private cedar sauna, and indulge in couple’s massages amid a forest of cedar, fir, and pine—trees that release stress-reducing phytoncides. Drift off with nature’s ultimate white noise machine: the waves of the Salish Sea. Its Dream Ritual Kit provides guests with oil-infused sleep stones, weighted eye pillows infused with cedar, and hand-blended herbal sleep tea.
Unique hotel amenities that enhance your sleep
Restorative sleep starts with the right support, and hotels are taking that seriously by offering personalized pillow menus for every type of sleeper. The AAA Four Diamond Royal Sonesta Benjamin in New York City boasts a 10-Choice Pillow Menu—featuring options such as anti-snore, cooling, buckwheat, satin, and water-filled—with expert recommendations for back, side, or stomach sleepers. On the other coast at San Francisco’s historic Chancellor Hotel, guests can choose from a dozen pillows, including a 5-foot body cushion, an insomnia-relief magnetic therapy pillow, and one with cervical support.
Hotel sleep amenities are evolving far beyond blackout curtains and fluffy robes—some now deliver full in-room sleep rituals. Chicago’s AAA Four Diamond Loews Chicago O’Hare Hotel offers a Sleep Better Package that includes a Hatch sound machine, Shakti acupressure mat, and vouchers for cherry juice Sleepy Time cocktails at The Ashburn restaurant. Its curated wellness menu includes eucalyptus shower spray, MZOO luxury sleep mask, aromatherapy pillow spray, a mindfulness journal, and sleep-promoting snacks such as almonds, bananas, and dark chocolate.
In Newport, Rhode Island, unwind with an aromatherapy bath after a busy day exploring the Gilded Age elegance. At The Chanler at Cliff Walk, a AAA Four Diamond hotel, you can choose between Relax Deep (vertivert, chamomile, and sandalwood) or Relax Light (lavender, ylang ylang, and petitgrain) bath blends. Enhance the experience with rose petals and a bottle of sparkling wine before you tuck in.
Sleep-boosting tech offered by hotels
Technology has surprisingly become a valuable ally in the quest for better sleep. To help guests wind down, Hyatt offers World of Hyatt members complimentary access to Headspace, a mindfulness platform featuring sleep sounds and guided meditations. Hyatt also recently launched a new sleep series available in the Headspace app and in select guestrooms: Headspace’s Science Behind Sleep, presented by World of Hyatt, is a video series that provides expert and science-backed tips on how to get better sleep while traveling.
At Hotel Figueroa in downtown Los Angeles, the Rest & Recovery suite is packed with thoughtful tech and tools designed to enhance restorative sleep.
- Customized Pluto Pillow – personalized to your sleep style for optimal neck and head support
- Eight Sleep smart mattress – adjusts temperature, elevation, and ambient sound for tailored comfort throughout the night
- Molekule air purifiers – improves air quality by filtering out allergens and pollutants to support better breathing
- Bollsen Life+ earplugs – block disruptive noise to help maintain uninterrupted rest
- Gamma Light Therapy Revive lamp – emits sleep-promoting red light designed to help you fall asleep faster and stay asleep longer
- Loftie Lamp – mimics natural sunrise to gently wake you, supporting a more energized start to your day
Kid-friendly sleep perks at hotels
The littlest travelers aren’t forgotten at hotels that place an emphasis on fostering good sleep—which can prove a godsend to their grown-ups. Some standouts include the following:
- Kimpton Surfcomber in Miami offers a Bedtime Bliss Menu that includes milk and cookies and a library of classic children’s books to help foster wind-down time.
- The AAA Four Diamond Royal Sonesta Benjamin features a Little Royals Sleep Program that includes a child-size goose down pillow, a sleep mask, a bedtime visualizations book, and an owl nightlight. Parents get sleep tips to ensure sweet dreams for everyone.
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Sleep tourism continues to grow because of a “collective awakening—pardon the pun—to the importance of a good night sleep,” says Dr. Robbins. “For so long, we, as a global society, prioritized other areas of health, such as exercise and nutrition, often to the detriment of our sleep—for example, waking up early to workout, etcetera.” Covid-19 caused “a shift to the importance of sleep,” she says, and hotels followed suit. Now, travelers looking for a good night’s sleep can find it during their travels and maybe even learn something to help them get some extra zzz’s when they return home.