ATLANTA— Crowne Plaza recently celebrated the one-year anniversary of its Sleep Advantage program designed to help guests get a good night’s rest. Introduced in May of 2004, the program is now in all of the brand’s 113 properties in North America and has been experienced by 7 million guests.
“The rollout of the program was surprisingly smooth and efficient. We hit 100 hotels in 100 days,” reported Kevin Kowalski, vp, brand management for Crowne Plaza, which is part of the InterContinental Hotels Group.
“Some of our competitors took a long time to develop their programs or are just now introducing programs,” he added.
The Sleep Advantage program has many elements including luxurious bedding, a variety of sleep aids and guaranteed wake-up calls promising the guest a free night’s stay if they do not receive their wake-up call at the specified time.
There are also designated Quiet Zones within the hotel where guests are promised there will be no noise from engineering or housekeeping tasks between the hours of 10 p.m. and 9 a.m.
The bedding ensemble consists of the Serta Perfect Sleeper Mattress; 200-thread-count sheets; a duvet cover and insert; a cotton blanket; and a dust skirt. There are also seven pillows including four sleeping pillows, one decorative pillow and two, large square pillows.
Relaxation Emphasized
The sleep aids in the program include CDs with relaxation techniques and soothing sounds and music; nightlights; drapery clips; and a sleep kit with an eye mask, earplugs and lavendar spray to help guests relax.
Noting that in recent years the guestroom mattress has gotten significant attention, Kowalski said, “we’ve found the mattress doesn’t matter that much as long as it’s a quality mattress and not worn out. Other factors have more influence [on getting a good night’s sleep]like light and noise.”
Turning on a bright light to get up and use the bathroom can signal the brain that it’s morning and make it hard to get back to sleep, he said, so Crowne Plaza included the night light in the Sleep Advantage program. And the hotel’s Quiet Zone helps to solve the noise problem, he said.
There are some “clinical effects” that hinder sleep, according to Kowalski, including the “first-night effect” where the guest knows they are in a hotel room which is an unfamiliar environment and therefore less comfortable. In response to that, “we designed the bedding to be residential style with pieces like the fluffy duvet and multiple pillows,” he said.
Then there is the “on-call effect” where the guest who has an important business meeting the next day doesn’t like the idea of relying on a stranger or an unfamiliar alarm clock to wake them up. Crowne Plaza’s solution to relieving that guest’s anxiety is the guaranteed wake-up call.
Kowalski noted that Crowne Plaza worked with Michael Breus, PhD, a sleep disorder expert, to create the Sleep Advantage program. “It’s a doctor-developed and doctor-endorsed program,” he said.
Staff training was conducted at Crowne Plaza hotels as part of the program’s rollout, with much of the instruction directed to front desk employees and housekeepers, Kowalski said.
“We want the front desk staff to talk about it, for example to push the Quiet Zone to business travelers, and to educate guests in general,” he explained. “And since housekeepers are the ones who have to lay out the pillows, the amenities and other elements, it’s important that they have specific training.”
“But we really want all of our employees to be sleep ambassadors and ask guests if they slept well,” Kowalski added.
Guest Reaction
Guest satisfaction surveys have shown that guests are taking advantage of the Sleep Advantage program, according to Kowalski. “Some of the things are used by almost every guest like the wakeup call, the nightlight and the drape clip,” he said. “The other elements like the eye masks and ear plugs are used by fewer guests, but those who do use them rely on them heavily.”
The Sleep Advantage bedding ensemble is available for guests to purchase either through an 800 number or via the Crowne Plaza website.
While he didn’t have specific numbers related to the amount of goods purchased, Kowalski said, “Sleep Advantage is a great program that is working well and it has been well received by our guests.”