Why is sleep so important for us?

Sleeping is great – and vital! Animals and humans need to sleep to survive. During this time, our mind and body recover, our pulse rate changes and our breathing rate and blood pressure drop. Healthy and good sleep is the prerequisite for being fit and efficient the next day. It also serves as a defense against pathogens, as our immune system works at full speed at night.

Sleep tourism as a new trend

For many years, in fact since the beginning of the grand hotels, hotels have stood for exceptional sleeping comfort. Hotel beds are of the highest quality and hotel bed brands such as Hästens are considered to be the best in the world.

With the increased health awareness of recent years, many hotels have promoted sleeping comfort in particular and further expanded it with sleep coaches or electrosmog shielding. In 2022, there was a much-noticed CNN article proclaiming sleep tourism as a new trend. In 2024, Booking.com determined the following in a global survey on travel trends in 2024:

• 67 percent of all travelers want to relax on vacation
• 65 percent of travelers interested in a retreat would choose a sleep retreat

Sleep and mindfulness

When you are mindful of yourself, you take sustainable action for your well-being. Mindfulness requires you to focus your awareness and attention on the present moment, without judgment. Calm down, leave everyday life behind and be open to new experiences. This also includes restful sleep.

Hästens beds – the most expensive beds in the world, but are they also sustainable?

We have been following the Swedish brand Hästens for a long time. It is known for producing the most expensive beds in the world by hand. Not only members of the Swedish royal family and stars such as rapper Drake, Angelina Jolie and Gwen Stefani sleep on these beds – Hästens beds are also available for guests in many hotels.

The price of a Hästens bed can make your head spin. A “normal” model costs around 10,000 euros and there are no upper limits. (The “Grand Vidus” model, for example, costs almost 600,000 euros)

The special feature of Hästens beds is a mattress filling made from hand-plucked horsehair. In addition, the handles and bed edges are made of high-quality leather and are handcrafted in Sweden.

Are Hästens beds sustainable?

Hästens beds can be considered sustainable for the following reasons:

1. Extremely high quality and therefore very durable
2. Only natural materials are used. However, these are not vegan.
3. According to the company, it has been committed to ecological and sustainable production since it was founded in 1852.
4. Fair working conditions in a Swedish craft and family business

Less sustainable is the hype and the fact that some of the beds are sent halfway around the world. In concrete terms, this means that if there are Hästens beds in a Scandinavian or European hotel, this can be considered sustainable; however, if you find these beds in the USA or Dubai, this has hardly anything to do with sustainability, but simply means luxury and prestige!

Another note is that Hästens beds are not vegan. In our opinion, the most interesting Hästens alternative for vegans is COCO-MAT. (You can read more about this below).

Hästens beds at CERVO Mountain Resort

“Each of the 54 rooms and suites has a handmade Hästens bed,” reports the CERVO Mountain Resort in Zermatt. For even more sleeping comfort, there is also the “pillow menu”. Swiss stone pine pillows, tempura pillows or millet pillows – the choice is yours. The furnishings made of natural, sustainable materials and warm colors contribute to relaxation.

Mattresses with horsehair from Plana Ladina

Not from Hästens but also filled with horsehair are the mattresses from the Italian hotel outfitter Plana Ladina. You can lie on these mattresses in the OLM Nature Escape. The circular aparthotel in South Tyrol only opened this year and sets standards in terms of both comfort and sustainability. The entire complex is powered by self-generated green electricity. “The praise from guests is great,” the owners tell us about their beds.

COCO-MAT – Vegan beds made from coconut fibers

COCO-MAT was founded in Athens in 1989 and had the idea of producing high-quality beds from 100% natural materials from the very beginning. The bed systems are made by hand using solar energy and are 96% recyclable. COCO-MAT uses coconut fibers from coconut shells as well as natural rubber or seagrass as materials. Most of the beds are completely vegan, although the company also offers some animal-based products, such as toppers made from down. Another sustainability plus is that COCO-MAT bed systems can also be combined with bed systems from other manufacturers.

COCO-MAT in sustainable hotels

Many sustainable hotels and accommodations have opted for COCO-MAT because it is not only sustainable, but also meets the comfort requirements of luxury accommodation. You can see how many hotels use this brand’s bed systems on the manufacturer’s website.

Relax on the Baltic Sea at the SAND Lifestylehotel

The SAND Lifestylehotel is located in a very quiet second row on Timmendorfer Strand. It is part of the adults-only hotel’s concept to support sustainable companies and products. You sleep on COCO-MAT mattresses and also have a pillow menu to choose from. Soundproof doors and a harmonious and consistent color concept, natural materials and lavender pillows help you drift off into your dream world.

And when you wake up in the morning, in a good mood, refreshed and well-rested, you can stay in bed for a while longer, as breakfast is available for late risers until 1 p.m. 🙂

Enjoy nature at Gut Sonnenhausen

Gut Sonnenhausen is located near Munich, surrounded by gardens that are cultivated according to the principles of permaculture. Here, too, you sleep in COCO-MAT beds and wake up with a view of the nature reserve.

Health vacation at the Océano Health Spa Hotel on Tenerife

“Healthy sleep is an important part of our health concept,” says the Océano Health Spa Hotel on the Canary Island of Tenerife. The hotel is located directly on the Atlantic Ocean and offers yoga, fitness and spa programs. When selecting the COCO-MAT beds, it was also important to them that the mattresses are metal-free.

Sleeping without electrosmog

Another trend we are seeing is hotel rooms that are shielded from electrosmog. This should also help you to sleep more relaxed and healthier. This is possible, for example, in the new natural rooms at the Hotel Klosterbräu in Seefeld, Tyrol. The rooms are made entirely from natural materials and the wood comes directly from the hotel’s own forest. If you wish, you can shield yourself from 95 percent of electromagnetic radiation in the rooms. All you have to do is press a button.

At the Paris city hotel Le Pavillon, you also have the option of booking a room shielded against electrosmog. Although the hotel is located directly in the central and lively 7th district, alternative technologies have been used to ensure that there is revitalized water, specially filtered room air and the aforementioned shielding. So you’ll get a great night’s sleep even in the middle of the city.

Comfortable sleep in the Allgäu

In the HUBERTUS Mountain Refugio Allgäu in Balderschwang, the smallest town in Bavaria, which is holistically geared towards regeneration and renewal, you will find sustainably produced box-spring beds in all rooms. The box-spring beds are made by Dr. Frank Markmann and are made in Germany. The bed linen and pillows from Dr. Metz are also 100% ecological and particularly suitable for allergy sufferers and asthmatics.

Orthopaedic mattress systems at the nature resort

At Naturresort Gerbehof in Friedrichshafen on Lake Constance, it is also important to the owners that the beds are suitable for allergy sufferers. For this reason, they have switched to blankets and pillows made from synthetic fibers. However, classic feather pillows and blankets are still available in the vacation apartments.

Down comforters and lambskins at Gut Guntrams

Gut Guntrams, on the other hand, still uses natural animal products. The comforters in the futuristic garden lofts are filled with down feathers, and there are also lambskin comforters for the cold season. “We only buy down products from certified farms,” say the owners. This means: down without live plucking. The mattresses are eco cold foam mattresses.

Swiss stone pine pillows at Hotel Das Rübezahl

Thanks to its essential oils, Swiss stone pine wood is said to have a calming and sleep-promoting effect. You can find out more about this in our blog post about Swiss stone pine wood.

Hotel Das Rübezahl in the Allgäu has a Swiss stone pine spa and premium suites with a private sauna made of Swiss stone pine. You can relax here on long walks and hiking tours in the natural surroundings of the royal castles of Neuschwanstein and Hohenschwangau and in the evening you can lie down on your favorite pillow from the pillow menu. The most popular pillow among guests is – surprise – the Swiss stone pine pillow 🙂

Sleep peacefully in the Swiss stone pine suite at Naturhotel Outside

If you dream of spending the night in a room made entirely of Swiss stone pine, you can do so at the Naturhotel Outside in East Tyrol. The Swiss stone pine suite also has a solid Swiss stone pine bed (180 x 200 cm) with a pocket spring mattress and allergy-friendly bed linen.

The hotel is located in the Hohe Tauern National Park and is therefore also ideal for sleep tourism. The hotel itself would probably describe itself more as a hiking hotel. But when do you sleep better than after a long hike in the fresh mountain air?

Mattress recycling

Finally, we would like to address an important point about the end of a mattress’s life. Because even the best and most expensive mattress suffers from material fatigue at some point (after 15 years in the case of premium mattresses).

According to mattress manufacturer SWISSFEEL, 35 to 40 million mattresses are thrown away every year in Europe alone. To counteract this environmental impact and waste of resources, SWISSFEEL takes back its mattresses at the end of their service life and works with its partners to ensure that they are recycled as insulation material.

Our Green Pearls® partner SCHWARZWALD PANORAMA uses the washable and recyclable SWISSFEEL mattresses in its new Circular Living rooms. This hotel room concept is all about ensuring that all materials used can be returned to the cycle.

Have we whetted your appetite for the many sleep offerings in the green pearls? Then good night! And as always, we await your reports.🧏🏼‍♀️ 

This is an update of our article from March 4, 2022

Read more: SUSTAINABLE GREEN PEARLS® HOTEL FOR A VACATION WITH A GOOD CONSCIENCE

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Sustainable tourism – keeping an eye on the big picture

One thing is clear! Sustainable action does not just mean working to protect living creatures and ecosystems. Sustainable action also means acting in a socially responsible manner, being mindful of the needs of others, and taking cultural and regional conditions into account. This applies equally to tourism. Pay hotel employees fairly, hire local suppliers, and structure one’s own offerings so that they fit in with the people and special features in the region. For hoteliers, this is just as important as the purely ecological aspect of sustainability, for example, alternative energy production. A resource-saving organic hotel that employs foreign seasonal workers at dumping wages or a spa temple advertising sustainability that has its food and care products flown in from all over the world – that doesn’t work, that’s not authentic.

Only with a holistic focus on sustainable action and regional authenticity hotels succeed in real sustainability. And it is not a matter of working through a predefined catalog of criteria from A-Z, but of setting one’s own priorities and living up to one’s own vision of sustainability. 

With strategy and conviction to a sustainable hotel

And what does that mean in specific terms? On the way to sustainability, it is first necessary to define one’s own concept of sustainability. With what are we building? At what points do we change our offer to sustainable products? What energy do we use? These are just a few of the many questions that need to be answered. To find the most concrete answers to these questions, operators need a long-term strategic plan, employees who are involved in the decision-making processes, and a large dose of conviction and passion. Only in this triad can they succeed in combining and sustainably implementing important topics such as architecture, materials, regionality, energy management, water, waste, food, and social commitment, both within the hotel and externally.

As diverse as the possibilities are for making tourism sustainable, the passions and focuses of our Green Pearls® hotels are equally diverse. The following initiatives show you how personal convictions and enthusiasm are transformed into great projects.

The ROMANTIC Boutique Hotel & Spa, Lithuania

Vision: Cultural Heritage  

Step into the history of Lithuania! Into the 4-star ROMANTIC Hotel, right in the center of the town of Panevėžys in the north of Lithuania. To the boutique hotel with integrated spa within the historic walls of a renovated former mill. The first mechanical mill in the country.

Dalia Remeikaitė and her daughter Dovilė Šipelienė took over the former mill building in 2001 and lovingly and sustainably renovated it in just one year. The energetic mother-daughter duo is deeply convinced that environmental protection and modern lifestyle are perfectly compatible. The result proves them right. The ROMANTIC is a place that skillfully combines the historic charm of the building with modern elements and has become a lovingly designed place of longing in the heart of Panevėžys. In the in-house ETNO SPA, all treatments are based on traditional, Baltic healing methods, and only regional products are used, which are ecologically certified.

Tongsai Bay, Koh Samui, Thailand

Vision: Biodiversity 

Paradise-like, untouched and unique. This is the impression made by the sloping terrain of Tongsai Bay, the first luxury eco-resort on the island of Koh Samui. On this special place, the vision of biodiversity is part of the program: the green resort, built in 1987, has been committed to the conservation of natural resources since the very beginning. The resort was therefore built around nature and not a single tree in the original area was felled.

Founder Khun Akorn Hoontrakul’s vision of leaving nature as untouched as possible is paying off: Today, more than 60 species of birds alone can be admired on the huge grounds. And it’s not just the birds that have chosen to stay; many of the employees have been there from the beginning, too. This is based on Hoontrakul’s idea of treating not only nature with respect and care but also its employees. 

Relais del Maro, Liguria, Italy

Vision: Sustainable Tradition

Vibrant Italian life at its best! In the buildings of the Albergo Diffuso Relais del Maro, you can immerse yourself in the warm and welcoming world of the small Ligurian village. The hotel, with its 14 rooms, spreads over several lovingly restored buildings, all part of the history of the hotelier’s family Scamlambrin. Family members have lived and worked here. With the reconstruction of the houses into an Albergo Diffuso, they wanted to take into account the history, tradition, and culture. From the beginning, the family emphasized the importance of a sustainable and energetic renovation of the houses.

OCÉANO Hotel Health Spa, Tenerife, Spain

Vision: Sustainable health

Here you can recharge your batteries, regain your focus, and enjoy sustainable wellness. Located directly on the water and with an enchanting view of the Teide volcano, the  OCÉANO Health Spa Hotel is a perfect retreat on the popular Canary Island – and has been for over 50 years! With countless wellness, fitness, sports, and excursion options, special health programs and the new Center of Healthy Motion, it offers recreation and regeneration seekers a diverse range. The Health & Spa Hotel was sustainably renovated in 2019 and received an additional layer of thermal insulation as well as particularly energy-saving technology in the course of the renovation work, for which only natural and environmentally friendly building materials are used. At the new water dispensing stations, you can pump water as needed with reusable bottles, which significantly reduces the use of plastic bottles. But your visit to the hotel restaurant will also be sustainable – and not just because of the good taste. The food is cooked and prepared with fresh ingredients from local suppliers, mostly from organic farming. 

Naturhotel Outside, Tyrol, Austria

Vision: Nature as a place of power

Relaxation, kindness, and enjoyment in harmony with nature. Are you looking for an extraordinary and welcoming place in the middle of the impressive and unspoiled nature of the East Tyrolean Alps? Then you will find your favorite place in the Naturhotel Outside. The hotelier family Ganzer spoils you with everything that comes fresh from nature and emphasizes living environmental protection. 

“In its quiet untouchedness, nature is a source of strength without equal, and we want to actively contribute to its preservation.” – Nature Hotel Outside

For their mindful and resource-conserving use of energy and materials, their social commitment, and their absolute focus on local suppliers, the hotel has already received several awards, including the Austrian Environmental Seal.

Culinary art at the highest level awaits you in the hotel’s own gourmet restaurant INSIDE, which is known far beyond the region. All dishes are regional, seasonal, and rooted in the region. Verena Ganzer, who has been head chef at INSIDE for three years, uses only high-quality ingredients; vegetables, cheese, fish, meat, and fruit come from sustainable farming in the region. Natural – and simply delicious!

Read more: MINDFUL VACATION IN GREEN PEARLS® PARTNER HOTELS IN INDONESIA AND NEPAL

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Lockdown in Lithuania

As early as late February, a state of emergency was declared in Lithuania and a lockdown was imposed in mid-March, which led to temporary closures and a forced break from everyday life. The Green Pearls® member ROMANTIC Boutique Hotel & Spa also had to close. It was not until June that the hotel was able to reopen in the context of the loosening up.

Remaining positive in the crisis

Which experiences and adventures had the hotel team during the past months? The team has used the time for many projects and made the best of the situation. A real heart affair was also pushed forward during this time: An ecology project for which plastic lids of drinking bottles are collected and in which everyone can participate. For this purpose, the lids are picked up in parks or on the street. The ROMANTIC has meanwhile infected the whole city with its enthusiasm and many volunteers hand over the collected lids to the hotel. From a part of the collected lids, artwork is created. The other part is recycled. The hotel wants to sensitize people on-site and show how easy it is to implement environmental protection, waste separation, and cleanliness in public spaces. A much higher level of environmental awareness can already be seen in Panevėžy than just a few years ago.

Learning from the crisis

As you can imagine, the whole hotel team has been put to a hard test over the last few months. But the employees have always remained loyal to the company. During the closing, the whole team pitched in, the hotel was cleaned and brightened up and the whole hotel was brought to a glossy shine.

For the hotel team, the pandemic and the associated restrictions were simultaneously a moment of pause and reflection. The health and hygiene of the guests is now even more important.

All hotel areas as well as the rooms and also the spa area are thoroughly disinfected regularly. Access and allocation are analyzed exactly and adapted to the current situation accordingly. And also in the restaurant, the necessary safety distance between the guests is ensured.

It is a challenging time for all of us. The team of the ROMANTIC Hotel is sure that they will come out stronger from this challenging time.

Read more: Social Distancing and Corona measures – vacations by far

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