How to sleep in a hot hotel room: a day-and-night plan

Hot rooms are one of the most common travel sleep complaints and one of the easiest to improve. The NHS lists being too hot or too cold, noise, light and an uncomfortable bed among the things that make it harder to sleep. A hotel gives you less control over all of them than your own bedroom does.

This plan is split into three parts: what to do in the daytime, what to do in the evening and what to do in bed. The NHS advice for hot weather is aimed at heatwaves in the UK, but the principles apply anywhere a room gets hot.

Daytime: keep the heat out

The NHS recommends keeping your living space cool by closing windows, curtains and blinds during the day and opening them at night once the temperature outside has dropped. In a hotel room, that means:

• Close the curtains or blinds before you leave in the morning, so the sun does not heat the room while it is empty.
• Check whether the air conditioning is set to a sensible temperature and not switched off when you go out. A room that is already cool at 6pm is easier to keep cool than one that starts hot.
• Ask at check-in for a room away from the afternoon sun and away from noise.

Outdoors, the NHS advises staying in the shade if you can, especially between 11am and 3pm, and wearing sunscreen, a hat and light clothes. Heat you collect on a long walk comes back to bed with you, so planning shade into the day is part of sleeping well. A compact umbrella is one way to carry your own shade. Calm Eden, which has the same owner as PillowBrief, has a guide to portable shade for city walks if you want a starting point.

Evening: cool the room and yourself

The NHS suggests cooling yourself down with cold food and regular cold drinks, a cool shower or cool water on your skin or clothes. It advises extra fluids and avoiding alcohol, caffeine and hot drinks. Its general sleep advice adds that tea, coffee and alcohol should be avoided at least 6 hours before bed, and that heavy meals can affect sleep.

A simple evening order:

1. Open the window or balcony door when it is cooler outside than in, unless noise or safety is a problem.
2. Use a fan if the room has one. The NHS says electric fans can help if the temperature is below 35 degrees.
3. Take a cool shower rather than a hot one, then pat yourself dry loosely.
4. Drink cold water, not alcohol.
5. Switch off screens and bright lights an hour before bed. Our guide to sleep masks covers what to look for if the room cannot be made dark.

In bed: adjust the layers

You cannot change the hotel’s mattress, but you can control what is on it.

• Use the lightest cover. Fold a duvet to the foot of the bed and sleep under the sheet. Ask housekeeping for a lighter blanket if there is only a heavy one.
• Keep your pillow simple. A thick, stuffed pillow can feel warmer against the neck. Our pillow loft guide explains how to choose a height, and a thinner pillow may feel cooler if the hotel offers a choice.
• Choose light sleepwear. A loose cotton top or nothing at all is easier than synthetic fabric.
• Take the clock out of view. Watching time pass in a hot room makes it feel longer. If you wake, sip water and lie still instead of checking your phone.

For the science behind sleeping cool and a method for changing one thing at a time, see sleeping cool: check the whole bed before buying new bedding.

When heat is a health risk

Hot weather is not only a comfort issue. The NHS notes that the main risks are dehydration, overheating that can make existing conditions worse, and heat exhaustion and heatstroke, and that older people, babies and young children, pregnant people and those with long-term conditions are more vulnerable, as are people who spend a lot of time outside, including walkers, runners and cyclists. If you feel unwell with a high temperature in hot weather, treat it as possible heat-related illness and get help. This is general information, not medical advice.

A note on the umbrella mention

The only product named here is Calm Eden’s Haven Umbrella, which is listed with one-press opening and closing, a folded length of 40 cm (15.75 in) and a weight of about 390 g. PillowBrief has no hands-on experience with it, and the shared owner means this is a disclosure, not an endorsement. Shade is one of several steps, alongside sunscreen, a hat and water.

A quick checklist

• Close curtains before you leave in the morning
• Ask for a room away from afternoon sun and noise
• Plan shade and water for the hot part of the day
• Open the window or use a fan in the evening if it is cooler outside
• Cool shower, cold water, no alcohol before bed
• Lightest cover, simple pillow, loose sleepwear