Why Sleeping Somewhere New Can Feel So Different: Understanding the First Night Effect
There is something slightly strange about sleeping somewhere for the first time.
You can be exhausted after a long journey, arrive at a beautiful hotel, climb into a comfortable bed and still find that sleep does not come as easily as it normally does at home.
You may wake more frequently during the night, become conscious of unfamiliar sounds or simply feel that you have not quite settled into the room.
For many people, this is a familiar experience. It is also something that has been studied by sleep researchers and is commonly referred to as the First Night Effect (FNE).
The First Night Effect describes changes in sleep that can occur when we spend our first night in an unfamiliar environment.
Research has found that people can take longer to fall asleep, experience more disrupted sleep and spend less time in certain stages of sleep when sleeping somewhere new.
For the hospitality industry, this is an interesting consideration.
Hotels invest enormous amounts of time and money in creating beautiful bedrooms.
Comfortable beds and luxurious surroundings, yet the guest's ability to relax in that environment is influenced by something that cannot simply be solved with better linen or a more expensive mattress.
The environment itself is new.
Why does somewhere new affect our sleep?
At home, our surroundings are largely predictable. We know the sounds our house makes at night, the amount of light that enters the bedroom and the feel of our own bed.
We are familiar with the temperature, the smells and the small noises that might otherwise wake us.
Our brains don't have to spend much effort working out what is happening around us because the environment is already known.
A hotel room is different.
Even in an exceptionally quiet and well-designed property, there are unfamiliar sensory cues to process.
The room may have a different smell, different acoustics and different levels of light.
The mattress and pillows feel different, while sounds from corridors, neighbouring rooms or the street outside may be unfamiliar.
None of this means that the hotel room is uncomfortable. It simply means that the brain has not yet developed the same level of familiarity with the environment.
This helps explain why someone can sleep perfectly well in their own bedroom but find their first night in a hotel noticeably different.
The brain remains aware of its surroundings
Sleep is not quite the complete shutdown that it can feel like.
While we sleep, the brain continues to monitor the environment around us.
This is particularly relevant when we are somewhere unfamiliar, where some research suggests that aspects of the brain can remain more vigilant during the first night.
From a biological perspective, this makes sense. An unfamiliar environment contains more unknowns than a familiar one.
Being somewhat more responsive to sounds and changes in our surroundings may once have been useful for keeping us safe.
We don't need to consciously think about any of this when we arrive at a hotel. We simply experience the result: we feel tired, but perhaps don't settle quite as quickly as we expected.
This is why the first part of a hotel stay deserves more attention than it sometimes receives.
The journey doesn't end when the guest reaches their room
Consider what happens before a guest even reaches the bedroom.
They may have spent hours travelling, dealt with traffic or airports, answered messages, attended meetings or managed the practical demands of getting somewhere unfamiliar.
Even leisure travel can involve considerable stimulation.
Then they arrive at the hotel, check in, find their room and close the door.
The expectation is often that the guest will immediately switch from the activity of the day into a state of rest.
But psychologically, that transition may take a little longer.
The body can be tired while the mind is still engaged with everything that has happened during the day.
Add an unfamiliar environment to that situation and it becomes easier to understand why the first night can feel different.
This is one of the ideas that sits behind Soothr.
We began with a simple question, what could a hotel do to help a guest make that transition from arrival to relaxation?
Not by trying to control the guest's sleep, but by creating a small opportunity to slow down before they get there.
Familiar rituals can help create a sense of comfort
Most people already have some form of routine at home before going to bed.
It might be making a cup of tea, reading, taking a shower, listening to music or simply putting the phone away and dimming the lights. Often these behaviours are so familiar that we don't think of them as particularly significant.
Yet routines provide predictability, and predictability can be reassuring.
When we stay away from home, many of those familiar cues disappear. We are sleeping in a different room, following a different schedule and surrounded by things that we have not encountered before.
Introducing a small ritual can therefore provide an element of continuity.
It does not need to be complicated. The value can come from the act of deliberately slowing down and giving the mind an opportunity to move away from the stimulation of the day.
This is the principle behind the Soothr experience.
Rather than simply placing another complimentary item in a hotel bedroom, Soothr is designed to encourage guests to create their own short moment of calm.
The box brings together a collection of sensory wellbeing products and access to the Soothr app, allowing guests to choose the elements that suit them and create a personal ritual during their stay.
It might be a pillow spray, a calming balm, a cup of tea or one of the relaxation soundscapes available through the app.
The individual elements are deliberately simple.
What matters is the ritual they can create around them.
Sensory experiences can become part of the memory of a stay
There is another reason we are particularly interested in the relationship between sensory experiences and hospitality.
Our experience of a place is not formed solely by what we see. Sound, touch and particularly scent can become strongly associated with memories and emotions.
Think about how quickly a familiar smell can transport you back to a particular place or moment. It might remind you of a childhood home, a holiday or even a particular hotel.
This creates an interesting opportunity for hospitality brands.
Imagine a guest discovering a particular scent as part of their evening ritual during a hotel stay.
If they subsequently take that product home, the same scent can become associated with the memory of that experience.
The relationship with the hotel therefore has the potential to continue beyond checkout.
This is an important part of the Soothr concept. We are interested not only in what a guest receives during their stay, but in what they remember afterwards.
The first night is an opportunity for hotels
The First Night Effect is not something a hotel can eliminate, and nor should it be treated as a problem that hospitality businesses are expected to solve.
There are many reasons why someone may sleep differently when they travel, and no amenity can guarantee a good night's sleep.
What the FNE does provide, however, is an interesting way of thinking about the guest experience.
Hotels traditionally focus heavily on the physical sleeping environment: the mattress, bedding, temperature, blackout curtains and noise levels. All of these things matter.
But there is also a period of time before sleep when the guest is transitioning from the outside world into the unfamiliar environment of the hotel bedroom.
That period represents an opportunity.
Could the hotel help the guest slow down?
Could it encourage a simple evening ritual?
Could it introduce sensory experiences that support the feeling of relaxation?
Could the hotel create something that feels personal rather than simply providing another standard amenity?
These are the questions that led us to develop Soothr.
From hotel amenity to guest experience
We don't see Soothr as simply another box of products to be placed in a bedroom.
The products are important, but they are part of something larger.
The Soothr concept is about creating a moment of calm within the hotel experience. It gives the guest permission to stop for a while, explore a few sensory wellbeing tools and create a ritual that feels appropriate to them.
For a boutique or luxury hotel, that can become part of the property's wider approach to wellbeing and guest experience.
It also provides something that many conventional hotel amenities don't: a connection that can continue after the guest leaves.
The Soothr QR code gives access to the app and its relaxation content, while selected products can travel home with the guest. A small part of the hotel experience can therefore become part of their own environment.
That is particularly interesting in a hospitality market where memorable experiences are increasingly important.
Creating calm in an unfamiliar environment
Perhaps the most useful lesson from the First Night Effect is that comfort is not purely physical.
A room can be beautifully designed and a bed can be exceptionally comfortable, yet the guest may still need time to adjust to being somewhere new.
Creating a sense of familiarity doesn't mean trying to make a hotel room feel like home. In fact, part of the pleasure of staying in a hotel is that it should feel different.
Instead, it can be about giving guests a few familiar behaviours and sensory cues that help them make the transition into their new surroundings.
At Soothr, we believe that hospitality has an opportunity to think about this transition more carefully.
The guest experience doesn't begin when they fall asleep.
It begins when they arrive, close the door and finally have a moment to themselves.
Sometimes, the most valuable thing a hotel can offer at that point isn't another instruction, another screen or another piece of information.
It is simply the opportunity to pause.
That is the thinking behind Soothr: the gift of calm.
