From smartwatches to wellness programme rewards, South Africans are tracking sleep like never before. Hotels are equally serious about investing in a guest’s sleep experience – and business travellers are taking notice.
People are becoming increasingly obsessed with the science of sleep. Smartwatches and rings track both sleep stages – light, deep, REM – and sleep quality; wellness schemes like Discovery Vitality encourage and reward it; and supplements promise it in a bottle. Sleep tourism, meanwhile, is one of 2026’s defining luxury travel trends, with hotels building entire itineraries around a good night’s rest.
It’s great news for business travellers. Especially as recent Booking.com data shows that roughly 60% of business travellers report some level of sleep disruption on the road, driven partly by the “first night effect” – the brain staying semi-alert in unfamiliar surroundings – and worsened by ambient noise, uncomfortable beds and rooms that run too hot or too cold.
For Herman Heunes, GM at Corporate Traveller South Africa, the sleep conversation is just as important as, if not more important than, discussions around flight classes.
“Travellers spend 8 to 12 hours on an airplane and a few days in a hotel. Obviously, a lie-flat seat on a plane makes a difference, but a good sleep environment at a hotel, including heavy drapes or block-out blinds, cool temperatures and acoustic insulation, is priceless,” says Heunes.
What “sleep-friendly” actually looks like
While you may have heard of sleep or pillow menus – where guests can choose from a selection of pillows (including soft, medium, firm, hypoallergenic or memory foam), the fundamentals are less glamorous: darkness, quiet, temperature control, comfortable bedding and enough uninterrupted time to sleep.
Sleep-friendly hotels have actually re-engineered their rooms to make sure they measure up, including commercial blackout curtain systems, soundproofing (because lifts, housekeeping stations, kitchens, function venues, loading bays and rooftop equipment can all create intermittent noise) and consistent climate control.
From pillow menus to sleep menus
Hotels are expanding their sleep offerings to include calming teas, lighter evening meals and snacks suited to late arrivals.
For example, Westin Hotels and Resorts’ global Sleep Well Programme centres on the brand’s Heavenly Bed – a custom pillow-top mattress with layered bedding and down pillows – alongside a bedside lavender balm to calm the senses, and a Sleep Well Menu for in-room dining built around amino acids and vitamins linked to better sleep.
Four Seasons has developed a customisable bed with mattress-topper preferences at participating properties, including Four Seasons Hotel The Westcliff Johannesburg. These mattress toppers (with three distinct levels of firmness) can be swapped out by hotel staff in a matter of minutes to match a guest’s specific preferences.
The red-eye problem
Of course, none of this helps if a traveller lands at 05:00 but can’t access a room until 14:00. Standard check-in windows were never designed around overnight flights, and “early check-in requested” is not the same as guaranteed early access – it simply means the hotel will help if a room happens to be available.
This is where a travel management company (TMC) earns its keep. As Heunes explains, the most dependable options are booking the room from the previous night, flagging the traveller’s arrival time so the room isn’t released as a no-show, negotiating guaranteed early access into the corporate rate, reserving a day-use room, or confirming showers, lounge access and luggage storage as a fallback.
“Chat to your TMC about negotiating early check-in or late check-out as part of your hotel programme,” says Heunes. “If you don’t have a TMC or hotel programme, consider booking an additional night. It may look wasteful on a spreadsheet, but it can be a sensible investment before a negotiation, presentation or other high-value meeting. A good TMC will identify potential issues, like an unfriendly arrival time, ahead of time and suggest practical solutions rather than leaving the traveller to negotiate at reception.”
A handful of hotel groups are ahead of the curve, but mostly for elite loyalty members: Marriott Bonvoy Ambassadors get “Your24”, a self-chosen 24-hour check-in/check-out window; IHG Platinum and Diamond Elite members get early check-in (subject to availability); and World of Hyatt Globalists get a guaranteed 4pm check-out. The catch is that none of this helps an SME traveller booking direct with no status to leverage – but TMCs can help.
Jet lag is only part of the problem
Not every exhausted traveller is jet-lagged. Jet lag is a temporary sleep disorder that happens when your body’s internal clock is out of sync with a new time zone; sleep deprivation simply means you have not slept enough.
To counter this, travellers and TMCs should ask for:
- Full-blackout curtains
- A room away from lifts, functions and street noise
- Individually controlled air-conditioning
- Suitable pillow and bedding options
- Guaranteed rather than requested early check-in
- Late-night food or early breakfast
- Reliable airport transfers
- Day-use or shower facilities if the room is unavailable
These preferences can be stored in traveller profiles and used when selecting preferred hotels.
“Companies should also track traveller feedback on noise, darkness, temperature and early room access, not only room rates, Wi-Fi and breakfast,” says Heunes. “Direct feedback from travellers is gold.”
For SMMEs, prioritising sleep on the road doesn’t require a bigger budget. In fact, Heunes keeps the checklist short: identify the right hotels, confirm blackout curtains, soundproofing and privacy, ask whether a pillow or sleep menu exists, and secure early check-in at the booking stage for any red-eye arrivals.
“Many hotels have done the hard part,” says Heunes. “The average room is quieter, darker and better designed than it’s ever been. What’s left is choosing the right flight, class and ground transport to get your people there – prioritising ease and rest from end to end.”
