An Aussie hotel rewards guests for sleeping

An Australian hotel is rewarding guests for doing the one thing they’re expected to do when booking a room - sleep.

Sleep tourism is a new travel trend seeing hotels around the world offering services from pillow menus to sleep experts, to help guests get a good nights rest.

According to HTF Market Intelligence, the trend is expected to grow more than $400b by 2028.

One Australian hotel has tapped into the new trend by rewarding its guests with money and knocking hundreds of dollars off their bill for sleeping longer.

The MACq01 in Hobart is running a quirky new campaign for guests who stay in their pay by sleep room, for every hour of sleep guests get over 6 hours, $100 is taken off their bill.

Those who sleep for 9 hours end up with a free night accommodation.

The campaign hopes to entice travellers who experience day-to-day tiredness the chance to catch up on sleep, for free.

MACq 01 01 head of brand and marketing Danika Porter said 70 per cent of Australians agreed that one of the benefits of going on holiday was to catch up on sleep and feel refreshed.

“But we so often heard people returned from a trip away feeling more exhausted than when they left,” she said.

“We’re embracing the sleep travel movement to not only give guests a reason to slow down and reset some negative habits, but also the most idyllic environment to do it in.

“We’re flipping the costly health retreat concept on its head and instead giving you the benefits and potential to stay for free.”

The room has been designed to encourage a good nights sleep and includes everything from red lighting, pillow choice, a weighted-blanket, temperature, a sleep inducing menu and bedtime stories.

Ms Porter said when they looked into trend they found that people needed an extra hour of sleep each night during winter so they took the opportunity to provide travellers with a package that encouraged rest and relaxation.

“We were committed to giving guests an authentic and supportive experience, so we partnered with sleep expert Shea Morrison to curate the Slumber Suite with us,” she said.