When a recent speaking engagement brought me to a beautiful Mediterranean resort, admittedly, I was equally excited by the hotel itself as I was the professional opportunity. A quiet night away from busy London, with blackout curtains and climate control? Who could say no?
What I got instead was a thermostat refusing to emit anything but warm air, no matter how low I put it; windows that opened to wonderfully crisp temperatures but 45mph winds; and the impossible choice between darkness and breathable air. In the morning, my Oura ring confirmed what I already knew: less than six hours of broken sleep.
When I went to the front desk to ask for some relief, the answer was simple: come back in summer if you want cool air inside.
Which left me wondering: what is a hotel’s highest purpose, if not to help you sleep? And if it can’t deliver on that, has it not failed at its most fundamental job?
Interestingly, the hospitality industry is asking the same question. In an age where
one-third of adults struggle with symptoms of insomnia and spend roughly another third of their waking lives commuting, working, or simply thinking about work, rest has become a fleeting luxury. More and more, people need permission to “do nothing.” A holiday has always offered that escape, and now the industry is taking that a step further, by positioning sleep itself as the ultimate luxury amenity. Enter: sleep tourism.
As it turns out, sleep is only one part of rest, and it’s more nuanced than a good mattress and blackout curtains. According to researcher Dr. Sandra Dalton Smith, the rest we crave spans seven types: Physical, Mental, Emotional, Spiritual, Social, Sensory, and Creative. To design the future of hospitality, we must stop treating sleep in isolation and start understanding the guest experience through three essential lenses: Recovery, Clarity, and Connection.
Recovery (Physical and Sensory Rest)
As a species, we have existed over 12,000 generations. That’s 300,000 years of evolution spent outdoors, waking and sleeping with the sun, and moving our bodies through physical challenges. According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, we spend roughly 90% of our time indoors, and the University of South Florida reports that 80% of modern jobs are sedentary. It’s no surprise we feel “tired but wired,” relying on coffee and sugar to stay awake or sedatives to fall asleep. For 300,000 years, cortisol was used as a survival tool, triggering fight or flight to stay alive. Now, it’s no surprise our nervous systems struggle to distinguish between an overdue email and being chased by a bear. What used to be an occasional, useful hit of fear, has become constant low-level anxiety.
The hospitality brands distinguishing themselves recognize that physical and sensory rest require both passive and active approaches. No brand has taken this further than Equinox. What began as a luxury gym brand has evolved into a lifestyle empire with both passive and active rest at its core. Their Manhattan hotel rooms are entirely centered upon sleep with complete blackout systems, high-tech performance mattresses, soundproofing, thermoregulation, and circadian-supporting lighting, aka: passive rest. They also encourage active physical and sensory recovery through sleep coaching, performance consultations, nighttime nutrition menus, and magnesium-based bath products. Outside the room, they offer cold plunges, infrared saunas, cryotherapy, breathwork, meditation, and of course their signature high-performance gym. They even host sleep symposiums to educate consumers on recovery as a performance tool. As a result, Equinox Hotel commands a higher ADR than comparable New York City hotels—their “Sleep Lab” rooms have been reported at about $1,700 per night with a two-night minimum—supporting the theory that rest, is truly the new luxury. The premium they charge is a perfect example of tapping into a culture that needs to frame sleep as “productivity” to feel justified indulging in it.
Clarity (Mental and Creative Rest)
On average, people now spend nearly seven hours a day on digital media, and 53% of 18-40-year-olds struggle to limit their screen time. What was once an “information economy” has become an “attention economy,” where focus is no longer influenced but actively exploited, turning our mental bandwidth into a commodity. In this increasingly oversaturated existence, silence, focus, nervous system regulation, and deep sleep become scarce and exclusive. Quiet luxury is not just an aesthetic; it’s a recognition that clarity, through mental and creative rest, is now the new aspiration.
This shift is closely aligned with who’s driving travel growth. International arrivals around the globe are projected to approach 1.52 billion by 2026, surpassing even pre-pandemic levels. Leading that surge? Gen Z and Millennials. Today, Millennials, now entering middle-age, are the largest emerging spenders in travel. They were the first generation raised online, the first to normalize therapy, wellness rituals, neurodiversity, and nervous system language, and are now the generation most caught between career, family, and that always-on digital life. Unsurprisingly, they’re the generation most likely to book wellness-based travel.
It’s no surprise, then, that global search interest in “digital detox retreats” is rising and more hotels are finding ways to upsell by offering less through tech-free spaces. Unplugged UK offers luxury off-grid cabins where guests lock their phones in a padlocked box and receive “offline essentials” like board games and Polaroid cameras. In Umbria, Italy, the Eremito hotel occupies a converted 14th-century monastery, completely off-grid. For €230 a night, you sleep in the original minimalist “celluzza” rooms once used by hermits. There’s a spa, massage therapy, Yin meditation, and lots of silence. So much silence, in fact, they offer “silent dining” where you eat a locally sourced menu by candlelight, with Gregorian chants in the background and one rule: no talking.
But clarity isn’t only achieved through mindfulness. It also touches on creative rest, which Dr. Dalton-Smith defines as allowing inspiration to spark creativity without the pressure of perfection. Over 78% of Millennials now prioritize experiential learning on vacation through cooking classes, art workshops, foraging and more. Equally, these “skillcations” offer a way to engage with a destination while pointing their (and their children’s) attention at something other than a screen.
When we consider how to design for this type of rest, one thing is clear: nature is taking the lead. Our design researchers at HKS define awe as an emotional response to perceptual vastness. In simple terms, it’s a response to something large or emotionally powerful that stretches how we normally understand the world. It can be triggered through scale, light, drama, silence, and especially nature. Biophilic design isn’t just aesthetic. It’s essential to disconnecting from our screens.
The HKS-designed Conrad Orlando at Evermore harmonizes luxury with nature. Expansive water views, abundant natural light, and interiors inspired by sand and sea create a calming retreat for guests. Thoughtfully integrated wellness offerings, including spa treatments, hydrotherapy, and meditation gardens, create opportunities for rejuvenation while supporting a truly restful night’s sleep.
This emphasis on restoration extends beyond new developments. In Texas, La Cantera Resort & Spa partnered with HKS to introduce Loma de Vida Spa & Wellness. Meaning “Hill of Life,” the spa draws on vernacular traditions and local materials to offer a serene counterpoint to the traditional resort setting. With sky lofts, private soaking pools, and glass-walled spaces overlooking the landscape, it provides a contemporary sanctuary for rest and renewal.
Connection (Social, Emotional, & Spiritual Rest)
Finally, Dr. Dalton-Smith speaks to Social, Emotional, and Spiritual rest. With 24% of people worldwide reporting loneliness, and relationships today increasingly transient, self-selected, and mediated by screens across geographies, the hospitality industry is uniquely positioned to offer what’s missing: connection.
While social rest for many means time alone, for others it means spending time with people that nourish your emotional wellbeing. More mental health professionals are “social prescribing” or instructing patients to seek intentional connection with others. Some hotels are stepping in to help.
The Social Hub brands itself as a hotel to “live, work and connect,” marketing itself to digital nomads seeking community. The newly opened Six Senses in London features three main pillars on its homepage: Inspire, Connect, Surprise. Under “Connect,” it positions itself as a place to open up over a shared moment in fast-moving London, encouraging locals and visitors alike to use the dining spaces from morning to late night to cowork, socialize, and meet. Hotel Aviva in Austria goes further—it’s exclusively for singles and solo travellers “looking for good company.” In fact, the full name of the hotel is “AVIVA make friends.” They offer a full calendar of sports, dining, workshops, themed weeks, and performances designed to foster connection.
Hotel Aviva also leads us to the final form of rest rooted in connection: spiritual rest. Spiritual rest is defined as giving a sense of belonging to something greater than oneself. This is where regenerative tourism is rising, whether through volunteerism, faith, or purpose. “Closed for Maintenance” is a program in the Faroe islands that shuts down the destination to tourists for a weekend, welcoming 100 volunteers to participate in maintenance tasks such as repairing paths and building infrastructure, promoting a symbiotic relationship between tourism and environmental stewardship. Accommodation is provided by local volunteers who offer home-cooked meals, turning the experience into a cultural exchange. The initiative is hugely successful, with over 4,000 annual applicants competing for those 100 spots.
From Amenity to Infrastructure
Across all seven types of rest, the pattern is clear: rest is not just a necessity, it’s an imperative. Designing and planning for it—whether it’s a £550-an-hour certified hypnotherapist on staff at the Mandarin Oriental London or the Conrad Bali offering SWAY sleep therapy, where guests are suspended in cocoon hammocks to induce deep relaxation—sleep is no longer being served as an amenity. It’s being designed as infrastructure.
Sleep isn’t a niche trend, either. As of 2023, the sleep tourism market was valued at $640.9 billion and is projected to grow by another $409.9 billion by 2028. These are astronomical figures, but they make sense. We are living through rapid, civilizational change. We’re overstimulated, lonely, and caught between the pressure to perform and the permission to rest. Material luxury has been democratized to the point of oversaturation. What’s become truly scarce, truly exclusive, is recovery, clarity, and connection.
The hotels and destinations that understand this aren’t just offering a place to stay; They’re offering a place to recover what we’ve lost.