By Lea Mira, HTN Staff writer – 4.11.2024
Kimpton Fitzroy London, a historic five-star hotel situated in Bloomsbury, close to Russell Square tube station, is venturing into the realm of sleep tourism with the introduction of Room to Dream, a unique experience designed to facilitate lucid dreaming for guests. The initiative, a collaboration between dream expert Charlie Morley and AI artist Sam Potter, provides guests with a range of products and a VR experience to help them achieve a state of lucid dreaming.
Lucid dreaming, the practice where the dreamer is aware they are dreaming, allowing them to control and direct their dreams, is a growing wellness trend. It is believed to aid in combating anxiety and PTSD, and its popularity is evident in the 1.5 billion views of the TikTok hashtag #luciddreams and the five hundred thousand subscribers on Reddit’s r/luciddreaming subreddit.
The Room to Dream experience, a first in the hotel industry, was developed by Morley and Potter. Guests are provided with an ‘Open Your Dreams Kit’ that includes a VR headset preloaded with Potter’s VR lullaby, a dream journal, a lucid dreaming guide by Morley, and products from LabTonica’s Unplugged range to promote restful sleep.
The VR lullaby takes guests on an AI-driven journey through a soothing virtual environment inspired by the hotel, increasing the likelihood of achieving lucid dreams. Guests are encouraged to record their dreams in the provided journal, and Potter can then create a visual representation of their dreams as a piece of ‘Dream Art’ to be sent to their homes.
The Room to Dream package also includes decidely non-technology products from Lab Tonica’s Unplugged range, such as a sleepy tea, balm, and pillow mist. Guests will also receive limited edition Lucid Dream Drops containing mugwort, a herb known to aid lucid dreaming.
According to Garreth Walsh, the General Manager of Kimpton Fitzroy London, the Room to Dream campaign is designed to provide guests with a unique experience as wellness trends increasingly focus on dream therapy and manifesting. The package offers tools and experiences to harness the power of dreams, providing guests with not only a restful night’s sleep but also a visual representation of their dreams.
The Room to Dream experience launched in February and can be added to any Kimpton Fitzroy London room or suite booking for the price of £50 ($63). The package includes a Dream Journal for recording lucid dreams and a bespoke digital artwork visualizing the dreams.
The hotel has partnered with Charlie Morley, a lucid dream teacher and author, and Sam Potter, a storytelling artist who uses a language-based algorithm to create dream visualisations. Morley provides curated dream advice to master the art of lucid dreaming, while Potter has designed an immersive virtual reality experience to induce lucid dreaming.
Kimpton Fitzroy London’s Room to Dream stands as a testament to innovation, merging the worlds of wellness, technology, and luxury accommodation. It’s too early, however, to visualize whether the new technology-enabled offering proves successful for the hotel from a financial perspective.
