Anthea Gerrie enjoys a Sensory Sleep at Pan Pacific London.
“You need only two things for a good night’s sleep – black-out curtains and the right temperature,” says Robbie Leung, showing me around my suite at the Pan Pacific Hotel. In the heart of Spitalfields, with so much bar and restaurant bustle around, he knows I am feeling challenged about getting all my zzz’s before an early flight the next day.
As Leung is Director of Sensory Wellbeing at the London outpost of this Singaporean five-star establishment, I don’t doubt he knows what he’s talking about. But when he presses a button to instantly draw shut the black-out curtains which are a permanent fixture and points out the room temperature control panel, I can’t help wondering what added magic is contained within the optional extra components of the hotel’s Sensory Sleep Programme which can add hundreds to the bill.
Turns out there’s more – much more – to sleeping at the right temperature than just having the room set to what seems like the right coolth, for me normally 23 degrees(73F). Meet the OOLER, an electric system which powers water into a concealed under-sheet to keep your body at the right temperature while you sleep.
This may well vary during the night from the toastiness craved by regular users of electric blankets like me when they climb into bed to the chilliness capricious sleepers often crave an hour or two later, when we throw off the covers in an effort to cool right down – the natural state for deep sleep.
The Ooler is controlled from a box beside the bed resembling a portable air-conditioning unit, and a couple sharing a bed can have a box on each side if they have different sleep temperature preferences. I was treated to two boxes so I could move from toast to chill simply by rolling over to the other side of the bed – an experience which can only be described as delicious.
Guests are recommended to order in advance, as the set-up, which takes an hour to kick in, will be scheduled for between 5pm and 8.30pm – during which time you might enjoy an excellent dinner in the Straits Kitchen.
This spacious, under-stated eatery, which made a statement in the first months of opening by fielding local favourites of its origins like spicy chili crab, now serves modern English cuisine with light Singaporean accents in a restaurant offering a panoramic view over Spitalfields from its wraparound floor to ceiling windows.
Taking a break for dinner while the sleep system is installed also offers a chance to wind down from the daytime stimulation of the guest rooms, whose view of city skyscrapers, not to mention the added interest of murals and textured fabrics, might be the most visually stunning hotel accommodation in London.
HIgh design elements in my suite extended to textured furniture, including wedge-shaped coffee-tables and banquette sofas which echo the wedge-shaped hotel itself and many sharply angled rooms which facilitate those break-taking views of the surrounding buildings. Electrically operated curtains are drawn during turndown to black out those views, and a playlist offering guided meditation helps complete the wind-down process.
The first time I visited to experience the programme I did not understand how the box worked, so it’s vital to ask for an explanation of the system on check-in if committing to the cost. What I did understand was that the grey quilted velvet throw on my bed, pre-installed on both occasions, was actually a weighted blanket – as the hotel says of this “Mela Comfort” item, it feels a little like a bedtime hug, and costs a mere £30 to rent for the night on top of room rate.
The Ooler system, on the other hand, comes at a slightly eye-watering £150 supplement, though this covers two boxes in a room for two occupants with different sleep temperature requirements.
Although I did not get there myself, there is a dedicated Sensory Wellbeing floor with a 24-hour gym, sauna, steam room and swimming pool. I did not want to risk getting hot and bothered in steam or sauna after working so hard to sleep in the cool and wake up as refreshed as I did, ready for that long flight from Heathrow via the Elizabeth Line at Liverpool Street station, bang opposite the supremely sleep-conscious Pan Pacific Hotel.
Tell Me More About Staying At The Pan Pacific London
Pan Pacific London, 80 Houndsditch, London EC3A 7AB
T: + 44 0207118 6888
Rooms from £395, with additional fees for Sensory Sleep Experience items
