Crowne Plaza Experimenting with Special Rooms to Diminish Disruptive Effect of Snoring

Sleeping with someone who snores can be a frustrating nightmare of disrupted rest.That's why the international hotel chain Crowne Plaza is experimenting with special rooms designed to minimize snoring noises and to make getaways, at least, a bit more pleasant and restful.In eight hotels across Europe, Crowne Plaza ran a weeklong experiment, offering rooms furnished with sound-absorbing headboards, anti-snoring pillows, body pillow-styled bed wedges to encourage snoring guests to sleep on their sides and, yes, even white noise machines.

Crown Plaza said rooms at some of the hotels each of the eight locations offered a single snore absorption room were fully booked during the trial run. And some of the hotels, the company said, actually extended the room offering because there was so much demand.Guests paid roughly $443 for the hope of minimizing the disturbing drone.

In the United States, an estimated 37 million Americans snore on a regular basis, according to the Atlanta-based National Sleep Foundation, but it isnt clear when Crowne Plaza might offer snore-absorption rooms on this side of the Atlantic.Crowne Plaza, which is operated by the InterContinental Hotel Group, has locations scattered across the United States, including one in Manhattans Times Square. One of their newest hotels is in Elizabeth, near Newark Liberty International Airport.

Once we have all the feedback in, we may consider rolling (the room) out across all our hotels, Jane Hill, a company spokeswoman, wrote in an e-mailed response to questions.Patrick Scholes, an analyst with FBR Capital Markets, said marketing a room that minimizes disturbing snoring noise is quirky, nichey, a novelty.But, he said, its not going to revolutionize the hotel industry.

Crowne Plaza said its inspiration for the room came from a recent study out of Britain that said more than half of all couples in the United Kingdom lose as many as five hours of sleep a night as a result of their partners snoring.We wanted to trial leading technology and initiatives to help our guests combat snoring problems, Hill said in her email, and still spend the evening together rather than apart.