Celebrating Z-z-z — and National Sleep Awareness Week — at The Benjamin
Why is the front desk manager at The Benjamin wearing a nightcap and terrycloth bathrobe?
He’s observing National Sleep Awareness Week, a yearly educational campaign promoting the importance of sleep. The week culminates in the worst day of the year, Sunday March 11, when Daylight Savings Time begins and we spring forward, losing a precious hour of shut-eye.
That’ll make you aware of the importance of sleep. And yes, he and his fellow desk managers will be dressed for sleep all week.
Last year The Benjamin, which has celebrated Sleep Awareness Week for over a decade, served up a special snoozey drink in The National bar. This year they’re plumping up their pillow menu. Four fluffy candidates rest on a table in the lobby, and guests can vote for their favorite. The winner will join the NASA foam pillow, Snore-No-More and nine others on The Benjamin pillow menu (a 12th pillow will be tossed to make room for the newcomer).
The front-runner so far is the Bed of Nails Acupuncture pillow, which sounds ghastly but is a surprisingly soothing neck pillow studded with spiked plastic disks. Go figure.
The hotel’s celebration includes a package that offers late check-out, breakfast or brunch in the hotel restaurant The National and a travel pillow and sleep mask to take home. From $244 a night. Sleep on it.
A pillow menu. What will they think of next? Actually, it sounds like a smart idea for a hotel. First with mattresses, now with pillows, hotels have become places for a surprisingly good night’s sleep, even if in unfamiliar surroundings.