Whether you travel for work or leisure, it may be hard to believe that hotels are made to sleep. Between the uncomfortable beds, the noisy air conditioning, the slamming doors and the uncompromising customers of the neighboring rooms, well resting away from the house is not always easy.
Doctor Rebecca Robbins, professor of medical assistant at the Harvard medical school and associated scientist of Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, is aware of the importance of sleep. Her research aimed at encouraging behavioral changes for improving sleep and circadian rhythm, it is quite natural that she was interested in sleep in hotels.
In a study published in 2020 in the journal Tourism and Hospitality Research, Rebecca Robbins and his colleagues discovered that only one in three travelers declared himself satisfied with his sleep on the move, and that the satisfaction linked to sleep while traveling constituted an important indicator of global customer satisfaction.
In a context of boom in sleep tourism and while hotels are starting to take the question of sleep more seriously, Rebecca Robbins has become a sleep specialist at Hilton. Its role is to develop sleep strategies, which can affect the development of rooms or the organization of sleep pensions. The scientist was also consulted by the hotel The Benjamin Royal Sonesta as part of her REST AND RENEW program. In this article, she delivers some approved tips to sleep well when traveling.
“When we are in a place that we do not know, we have a lot more difficult to relax,” explains Rebecca Robbins. Our body relaxes more easily when we are with us, while at the hotel, our brain is on high alert due to the new sounds or smells around us.
It is scientifically proven that the smells that we associate with something positive generate a feeling of well-being. In 2024, researchers from the Medicine School and the Pittsburgh University Medical Center published a study in which they demonstrated that familiar smells helped to end negative thoughts and overcome depression.
Comforting sounds are just as effective in eating spirits and promoting relaxation. Certain machines reproducing sounds of nature, such as the lapping of a stream or a thunderstorm, make it possible to calm our nervous system. As for white noise, it has been shown to be beneficial to sleep in noisy environments.
Whether by sounds or smells, find a way to bring your house to your hotel room. If the candles are to be forgotten, you can put in your bag a favorite perfume, lotion or essential oil to use in addition to a hot shower. The Rest and Renew program of the Royal Sonesta hotel is based in particular on a selection of white noise machines, but you can bring your own portable noise machine if your hotel has not given up to the sleep tourism trend.
We don’t always travel for the holidays. Sometimes it is for family or professional reasons, the kind of thing that keeps us awake when we cannot act at the moment. We have all heard of the benefits of a gratitude journal, but do not underestimate the power of a Journal de l’Aquités.
“One of the main obstacles to rapid falling asleep is an agitated spirit,” said Rebecca Robbins. In addition to strange noises from the hotel room of your neighbors, the stress linked to the trip and the lists of things to do that torture your mind can prevent you from sleeping. The scientist recommends you to write all your concerns on a sheet of paper to lighten your mental charge and thus focus on the task that awaits you: sleeping.
According to Rebecca Robbins, a good routine is essential to sleep well. Before turning off the light, take a long shower, make meditation, brush your favorite cream, turn off your phone or make ear plugs. Repeating these activities when traveling will soothe your body and mind. “It is very important to be diligent so that your brain begins to prepare for sleep,” continues the scientist.
Follow your routine on the go, even if you think it is not the best. If you feel guilty about watching television in the evening, know that “the screens are not necessarily bad,” adds Rebecca Robbins. “If it is part of your relaxation routine and does not disturb your sleep or your ability to fall asleep, keep doing it when you travel.”
However, she points out that it is essential to turn off the screens once you are sufficiently relaxed. Blue light has indeed been associated with sleep disorders.
It is three in the morning, local time, but your internal clock is still set five hours earlier. You can try, it is impossible to fall asleep. Very quickly, you start to associate your bed with stress and insomnia, and the temperature of your mattress increases. If you have trouble falling asleep, especially in another time zone, get out of your bed, because you turn and turn around will not help. Leave the crime scene to break the cycle.
Do something relaxing, such as a breathing exercise with sifted lights, or fold socks if you find that this induces sleep. “Go back to bed when you are tired to strengthen the association between your bed and a good night’s sleep,” observes Rebecca Robbins.
Finally, the most important thing is to find a hotel that takes the reception of customers seriously. If you can do a number of things to sleep well when you are traveling, more and more hotels are eager to help you get there.
Among the services offered in establishments, you will find blackout curtains, pillows and sprays, sleep masks, bath bombs and even a ritual of evening tea.
