SET AGAINST THE backdrop of the Aravalli mountains in Udaipur, The Ananta, a Balinese-style luxury resort, has every detail in place to ensure guests enjoy a sound sleep. ‘Hush pillows’ crafted from duck feathers that adapt to the contours of the guest’s head and neck as well as pressure relieving mattresses anoint each one of its 243 suites. The bed linen boasts of a 300-thread count, the sheets soft and smooth to the touch, and dabbed with a lingering lavender fragrance, a herb renowned for its sleep-inducing properties.
The 100-acre resort — favoured by Bollywood celebs — also offers an in-house, environmentally sustainable dry cleaning service, which ensures guests enjoy fresh, crisp linen at bedtime. In case, a shut eye still eludes the guest, a resident yoga expert is at hand to guide them through a series of techniques that ensure restful shut eye.
“We prioritise a top notch sleep experience that focuses on guests’ comfort and luxury. From sustainable laundry practices to customised curtains that block out light, as well as a strict no-honking policy for all vehicles on the property, our ecosystem is conducive to rest and rejuvenation. Our architect has spaced out all villas for maximum privacy to ensure guests’ sleep experience is delightful,” elaborates Ashutosh Goyal, director, Ananta Hotels & Resorts.
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The Ananta isn’t the only property that has woken up to the power of good sleep for their guests. Call them ‘sleepcations’ or ‘napcations’, travellers are opting for good sleep over traditional holiday activities such as sightseeing and shopping. According to Skyscanner’s Travel Trends 2024 Report, 20% of Indian travellers consider sleeping as one of the main activities for their next holiday.
40 Winks In Style!
To leverage demand, hotels are rushing in with an array of amenities to ensure guests get their full 40 winks in style. Quality sleep is becoming pivotal to guests for several reasons, says Sumit Dutta, resident manager, Le Meridien Gurgaon. “It enhances their ability to relax and unwind, crucial after a day of travel or business meetings as lines between work and personal life become increasingly blurred. Moreover, adequate sleep improves cognitive function and physical health, all of which are integral to a fulfilling hotel experience.”
Le Meridien’s bespoke sleep programme, adds Dutta, is designed to alleviate the day’s fatigue and refresh the guest. The hotel also offers plush bedding, calming aromatherapy, and a selection of soothing teas to help guests unwind, rest deeply, and awaken refreshed. Aromatic baths with relaxing salts, chamomile tea, a personal turn down service, de stress eye pillows and pillow mist with guests’ favourite essential oil are also part of the hotel’s sleep-enhancing repertoire. The rooms are soundproofed to minimise external noise with advanced sleep inducement technology such as white noise machines or calming ambient lighting.
The Exhaustion Economy
According to recent global studies, with sleep deprivation reaching epic proportions since the outbreak of the pandemic, the world’s exhaustion economy — made up of underproductive workers due to compromised health — has grown exponentially. If not addressed, this could be catastrophic not only for individuals, but also national economies, say economists.
A recent study by the Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine found that 40% of the over 2,500 adults who took part reported a sharp reduction in their sleep quality since the start of the pandemic. According to a study by U.S.-based Fitbit across 18 countries, Indians are the second-most sleep-deprived globally after the Japanese, getting less than six hours of shut eye as against the recommended eight hours by experts. Studies by the National Institute of Health have further linked deficient sleep (less than seven hours daily) to obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, hypertension, anxiety, depression, and alcohol abuse in both children and adults.
Hoteliers say the pandemic threw everyone’s sleep routines into a tizzy disorienting lifestyle, which has opened up a whole new revenue stream for them — of sleep amenities. While demand for good sleep may have existed before, the pandemic has amplified its importance, resulting in travellers seeking wellness retreats where they can achieve their health goals.
“Hotel guests have been looking for luxury properties which offer them something as basic as a good night’s sleep. In the fast-paced digital lives that we lead, most of us are perpetually sleep-deprived. Hotels can play a vital role in ensuring healthful environs for guests,” informs Rahul Sharma, general manager, ZANA Lake Resort, Udaipur, a 30-roomed property overlooking the Udaisagar Lake.
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At Zana Lake Resort, Sharma adds, apart from a serene, nature-embraced location, room amenities, including high-quality duvet covers, premium mattresses, customised beds as well as bedsheets with a high GSM (grams per square meter) value which are also embroidered with the brand’s logo of a rare purple lily flower (called Zana) signifying peace, underscore the resort’s theme of optimal rest and rejuvenation.
“We often get enquiries about where we source our mattresses from as guests say they’re never able to sleep so well at home!,” says Sharma. “To further facilitate guests’ sleep, we’ve kept our breakfast hours very flexible so that they don’t have to scramble for their first meal of the day. Zero movement by staff on the property post 10 pm aims to minimise disturbance for early sleeping guests. Further, our landscaped gardens filled with exotic flora attract numerous avian species which encourage guests to engage with twitter of a very different kind! All this encourages a restful state of mind and deep sleep.”
Even at all Marriott hotels across India, guests are offered sleep aids, including a sleeping mist that envelops them in a calming ambience and a calming balm to augment their pre-sleep routine. Digital detox boxes in rooms offer a dedicated space for guests to temporarily stow away their phones, facilitating a seamless transition into a restful slumber.
Restful Slumber And Health
Perhaps Indian hotels are taking a leaf out of their foreign counterparts which have been offering sleep amenities for much longer. At Park Hyatt, New York, a 900-sq-feet bedroom, Sleep Suite by Bryte, helps guests tackle jet lag. Sleep amenities such as a Vitruvi essential oil diffuser with a signature sleep essential oil blend, Vitruvi air sprays, luxurious Nollapelli linens, sleep masks and a collection of sleep-related reading are available.
Mandarin Oriental, Geneva has taken things a notch above by teaming up with CENAS, a private medical sleeping clinic in Switzerland, to curate a three-day programme that studies guests’ sleeping patterns in order to identify potential sleeping disorders.
Sleep doctors inform there has been a heightened public awareness about the importance of sleep since the pandemic. “Our hospital has started seeing more patients with mental health issues, anxiety and insomnia since Covid... We’ve also observed a strong desire from people for experiences and treatments that aid in better sleep,” says Sanjay Manchanda, Department of Sleep Medicine at Sir Ganga Ram Hospital, New Delhi.
Seven to nine hours of nightly sleep, adds Manchanda, is critical to physical and mental health which allows the human body and mind to heal and recharge while also helping them to remain disease-free and build one’s immunity.