There’s a spacious desk by Gordon Russell in the Sir Paul Smith Suite at Brown’s Hotel in Mayfair, walnut and reassuringly glossy and broad. I sit with my elbows supported by its solid presence, trying to isolate the source of a deliciously calm yet energised sensation across my entire body. That novel feeling is rest. The nine hours of the ‘dreamy, undisturbed sleep’ that is promised with Brown’s ‘Forte Winks’ package.
Luxury hotels promising a decent kip seem on first hearing to be ludicrous. Hotels are for sleeping in. What next, food dining? But sleep tourism, inevitably given the ugly portmanteau of ‘sleep-cations’, has become a rising trend over the past few years. Brown’s take on the sleep-tourism trend is to offer bed, breakfast, a silk eye mask by nightwear designer Yolke and a hibiscus night cream by Irene Forte Skincare (which also designed the facial exclusive to the package).
There are other little touches: the turndown service includes a pot of fresh camomile-flower tea and a soothing This Works pillow spray. Irene Forte conceived Brown’s sleep escape to be ‘pretty relaxed’ in comparison with other offerings on the market. ‘It is designed to encourage a relaxing evening routine – which is crucial,’ Forte says. ‘There are so many sleep packages out there now. Some are intense.’
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The Belmond Group’s Cadogan Hotel in Chelsea has a sleep concierge, recorded sleep meditations and a hypnotherapist for one-to-one sessions. London’s The Standard in King’s Cross has a handful of rooms that offer a level of sensory deprivation for people suffering from jet lag and night workers – like DJs – who have to sleep in the daytime. (This is also a canny repackaging of rooms in the building’s core that have no windows.)
New York’s Park Hyatt has its scientist-designed Bryte Restorative Sleep Suites, with all the persuasive aromatherapy and eye masks you’d expect, plus an AI-assisted bed that measures multiple biomarkers like body temperature, breathing patterns and heart rate, and adjusts accordingly. At downtown LA’s Figueroa Hotel, there’s a Rest and Recovery Suite with a whole menu of sleep-assisting extras including guided meditation, red-light therapy, a lamp that simulates sunrise... the list goes on.
As I lay down for my ‘Buona Notte’ (goodnight in Italian) facial in Brown’s small spa, I realised how much I regularly fight genuine tiredness, unable to surrender to it given all the pressing needs of work, family, dogs... just life. While sleep tourism initially sounds a bit silly, I fully relaxed into the idea and resisted the urge to invite a few friends over for drinks given the rare treat of staying in such an elegant suite.
The capable Olga Holub describes the facial as ‘more about relaxing than addressing skincare issues’, and I duly fall asleep within a minute or two. I wake just as she is starting a head massage, and go straight back to sleep as if a hypnotist has me in their grasp.
Afterwards, Holub and I chat, though I’d really rather just go to bed. She has an intimate understanding of who the classic ‘Forte Winks’ guest is, describing knackered new mums on their first night away from their kids and frequent travellers who build a sleep-focused stay into their schedules.
I go to bed at 9pm. Telly might stimulate me and, thankfully, I didn’t pack a phone charger, so instead of trotting to the concierge when my phone died, I picked up a book and read. None of this comes as part of the Brown’s package, but it is crucial to the outcome. You’re an active player in ‘Forte Winks’ – it’s not going to work if you proceed straight to the bar for rounds of Salvatore Calabrese’s excellent espresso martinis, which did cross my mind.
But without active engagement, what even is the point of checking in? I pass the bar, and its wallpaper painted with wisteria, to sleep, waking up the next morning with weary cynicism replaced by refreshed enthusiasm. Sleep tourism? I’m a bright-eyed convert. ‘Forte Winks’ prices start at £1,700 for two nights and two people, Albemarle Street, London W1S 4BP; roccofortehotels.com
