Bedtime Stories for Business People: One Hotel Chain's Approach to Making Business Travel Less Scary

By Susan Reynard 

Business travel is inherently difficult, stressful and disruptive. According to Harvard Business Review, 75% of business travellers report high stress levels. BCD Travel reports that only 25% of business travellers manage to sleep well. There’s no question that career-driven guests are losing sleep, the night (or nights) before showtime.

While most hotels have been offering morning wake-up calls since the early 1900s, now, City Lodge Hotels is introducing its own service to help people fall asleep instead of wake up: Bedtime Stories for Business People. Anxious travelers can listen to a selection of custom tongue-in-cheek tales written for weary professionals to help them relax before important events. 

While they are designed to induce sleep, unlike standard sleep apps, these stories incorporate City Lodge Hotels' signature off-beat sense of humour, offering a lighthearted perspective on common office scenarios. Developed in collaboration with TBWA/Hunt/Lascaris, the stories playfully explore classic office archetypes like middle management, HR, and that infamous character from the Procurement Department. Should you prefer the somewhat muffled hum of white noise, they have that too.

The stories can be accessed easily via QR code or website: Click here to listen: www.bedtimestories.co.za