[New York Times] $1,780 to Spend the Night in a ‘Cocoon’? Hotels Are Betting on Sleep Tourism.

To sleep, perchance to dream. Or if not dream, at least to feel vaguely rested the next day, especially on vacation. Is that too much to ask?

For many people, yes. The United States is tired, according to the National Sleep Foundation, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the National Institutes of Health, and there is a link between poor sleep and depression, the N.S.F.’s 2023 Sleep in America poll found.

In the hospitality world, that’s a business opportunity. Hilton’s 2024 trends report revealed that the main reason people currently travel is to rest and recharge.

“The earlier paradigm of a vacation was that sleeping was the most boring thing you could do while on holiday,” said Kaushik Vardharajan, associate professor at Boston University School of Hospitality Administration. “It is only during the last 10 years or so that we have as a society started talking about the importance of sleep from a health and wellness perspective.” Now, he said, a good night’s rest isn’t just a selling point for hotels; it’s a “whole fast-growing industry.”

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