This month at Insider’s Guide to Spas, we’re celebrating Sleep—one of the very fundamentals—or what we call the Seven Timeless Truths—of spa. To celebrate, we’ve rounded up six sleep programs designed to help spa-goers sleep easier.
Wine Snooze
You’ll want a glass of pinot noir to celebrate as you peruse Carmel Valley Ranch’s newest suites—30 havens, set alongside the vineyards amid the coastal foot hills of the Santa Lucia Mountains, a short drive from Big Sur. But sleepyheads can do more than wine taste here. Seek the sandman with the help of Dr. Bee Epstein-Shepherd, who helms Slip Into Sleep Wellness. A hypnosis program that gently guides you to repose at the resort’s Spa Aiyana, the sessions not only relax on the spot, but provide instructive, self-hypnotherapy skills (and a helpful recording) to take home. The 60 to 80 minute Hypno-Health treatments can be repeated more than once during your stay. Or, start practicing your newly learned, self-calming skills from your suite’s vineyard-view porch, before leaving the resort. carmelvalleyranch.com
Sleep Butler
You won’t want to waste time sleeping at a Six Senses resort. And, yet, this Thai-based, worldwide hotel group knows that you may arrive exhausted and sorely stressed from the rigors of urbanity. With that in mind, they’ve introduced Sleep With Six Senses, a personalized formula, created in collaboration with Doctor Michael J. Breus, Ph.D, an internationally touted sleep specialist. The program begins with a pre-trip questionnaire. Upon arrival, guests meet their personal “Sleep Ambassador,” who ensures they receive optimum sleeping conditions throughout their stay—something that may vary dramatically for each person. From handmade mattresses sourced from sustainable resources, to organic sheets, including, a sleep tracking device and a customized agenda of snooze-inducing spa treatments, a variety of methods combine to send the sleep deprived home, well rested. To be embraced by all the brand’s resorts by mid-2017, Sleep With Six Senses is currently available at six resorts, including Six Senses Douro Valley. sixsenses.com
Hotel Haven
Westin has always had your back—literally. Long before other big brand hotels began to acknowledge the importance of a good night’s slumber, Westin standardized superior bedding and put a tiny bottle of lavender oil on your pillow in the evening. Today, they’ve introduced a Sleep Well package (at select hotels, starting at $189) to ensure every guest awakens rejuvenated and ready to take on the world. Besides your accommodations, you’ll get late checkout, a nightly credit from the Westin Sleep Well Menu, (which provides a curated selection of sleep-enhancing, nutritious, superfoods developed in partnership with SuperFoodsRx™,available through in-room dining), a renewing spa treatment of your choice to enhance deep sleep, and their newest bedside amenity—Sleep Well Lavender balm, a chamomile/lavender fusion. westin.com/sleepwell-package
Desert Siesta
Among the saguaro cacti in Tucson, Canyon Ranch offers a bevy of bespoke wellness programs meant to change lives. Understanding that fitness goes beyond exercise and healthy eating, the destination spa takes on sleeplessness in an effective new program. Under the tutelage of Dr Param Dedhia, Director of Sleep Medicine, guests may enroll in a comprehensive, overnight shut-eye experience meant to analyze—then pin down—problems with their slumber. Taking place in the resort’s on-site lab, the study tucks guests into medical rooms as cosseting as those found elsewhere at Canyon Ranch. In the morning, Dr. Dedijia will discuss their nighttime disorders—which might include snoring or sleep apnea—then offer take home solutions and on-site sessions to improve their future rest. canyonranch.com
Texas Shut-Eye
City slickers can get dreamy at The Ritz-Carlton, Dallas, where guests have long mentioned that a good night’s sleep is their top priority. Their Suite Sleep package provides all the tools necessary for fostering forty winks. Overseen by the hotel’s Sleep Therapist, a specialist in sleep aid (such as controlling lights and sounds and offering myriad white noise options), the program includes suite accommodations, noise-canceling ear plugs, herbal (or unscented) eye masks, a cool-temp pillow, a bedside collection of inspiring reading, a pre-sleep tutorial, soothing music, a lavender linen mister, and 20 percent off the Drift to Sleep ritual at The Spa, a treatment which begins with herbal tea, includes an alpha-sleep oriented massage, and ends with a power nap atop a warmed, down duvet. ritzcarlton.com
Colorado Composure
At the foot of Beaver Creek Mountain, Park Hyatt Beaver Creek’s Allegria Spa lures winter skiers and summer hikers off the trails for some well earned, end-of-the-day, recharging. A European-style spa, complete with a “bad” or “therme” water area, the spa also caters to the sleep impoverished with its Slumber Service—a four part spa-a-thon meant to rewire the mind, body, and spirit. Guests enjoying this program have full access to hydrotherapy at the Aqua Sanitas Water Sanctuary, and will receive a Deep Cleansing Facial (to prepare the skin for nighttime healing), a Reiki Treatment (for energy balancing), and a Slumber Massage, which incorporates hot stones and lavender compresses. allegriaspa.com
Learn more about Sleep and Spa Sleep Treatments
Try one of these 10 Blissful Spa Balms
Read more about The Seven Timeless Truths of Spa
Becca Hensley
Becca Hensley is Editor at Large for Insider's Guide to Spas. Based in Austin, she writes regularly about travel and spas. She believes a good story draws you in like laughter in a crowded room, and challenges you to do it justice. Her work appears regularly in Austin Monthly, Travel Channel, Toronto Star and National Geographic Traveler.