Research from Beacon, the UK’s leading purchasing company, has revealed that over 50% of UK hotel guests struggle to get a good night’s sleep when staying in a hotel. With summer holiday in full swing, Beacon, working alongside its leading bedding supplier Fogarty, has pulled together its top tips on how operators can make sure guests get a restful sleep during their all-important summer breaks away.
With a good night’s sleep high on the nation’s agenda, sleep expert, Dr. Sleep from Fogarty, discusses the importance of sleep: “We spend a third of our lives asleep, and evidence proves that the quality of this sleep is essential to allow us to reach our full potential during our waking hours. Small changes can make a big difference in improving your guest’s sleep experience, which in turn will undoubtedly lead to greater customer loyalty.”
Lauren Parker, Buyer at Beacon, continued: “So many of us are struggling to sleep in hotels, but this can easily be improved, and operators should capitalise on this opportunity. Our recent research found that guests would be willing to pay an extra £10 for a larger room, £8 for a choice of pillows, £9 for a larger bed and £10 for an extra bed to help with their sleep in hotels, suggesting there is money to be made in offering sleep related upgrades. This indicates how important sleep is to guests, so considering some small changes could really benefit your business.”
Top Tips with the help of Dr. Sleep and Fogarty
Fresh plants
Consider investing in fresh plants in your hotel bedrooms to help to maintain good air quality. We would suggest choosing flowers such as jasmine or lavender; these scents are known to have a positive effect on the quality of sleep. The display of flowers in a bedroom also creates a more soothing and relaxing atmosphere, putting your guests at ease.
Bedroom thermometers
As you get ready to go to sleep, your body begins to cool down to its optimal sleep temperature. To help this process, use bedroom thermometers to set the temperature in bedrooms to between 15-18 degrees, or by giving guests the option to turn off their heating about an hour before bedtime; which is plenty of time for the room to reach this temperature.
Soundproofing
Hotels can be noisy, with this creating disturbances for some sleepers. You can provide your guests with a more peaceful sleep through soundproofing bedrooms, which needn’t cost the earth – thicker curtains, or the provision of ear plugs can help improve guest experiences.
Lavender
Studies have shown that the scent of lavender has excellent sedative effects and helps to promote better sleep. To reap the benefits of this in hotel bedrooms, you can invest in the plant, a diffuser or pillow sprays. Lavender pillow sprays have become increasingly popular, with one of Beacon’s leading suppliers, Gilchrist & Soames, stating that sales for 2016/17 have increased by 40% over the 2015/16 period.
Anti-allergy bedding
During spring and summer many of us will experience an increase in allergic symptoms. Allergies are one of the most common causes of sleep disturbances and anti allergy bedding helps protect your guests. Fogarty provides an anti allergy range, fully endorsed by Anti-Allergy UK, that has been treated with anti-microbial material, providing you with peace of mind that your bedding is fresh, clean and safe.
For more information about Beacon please visit www.beaconpurchasing.co.uk
