Travel News: Travelodge Launches the UK's First Night sky Panorama Hotel Room

by Shabana Adam | 7 December 2012

Travelodge Night Sky

In a UK first, Travelodge has launched a hotel room, which will allow customers to sleep under the stars in the comfort of their bed.

A secret technique has been used to create the stunning ‘Night Sky’ at a dozen Travelodge hotels across the country. Artist Carl Marshall has created each bespoke cosmic panorama.

Carl and a colleague have artistically transformed a standard white ceiling into a cosmic sky by hand painting individual shooting stars, milky ways and constellations of twinkling stars. On average it took them three hours to complete one ceiling.

During the day, the ceilings look plain white but in darkness the stars appear to twinkle and the dust clouds seem to move mysteriously. Whilst the three dimensional effect of the ceiling also appears to fall towards the bed by around three feet, creating a sense of immersion.

Carl Marshall created the ceiling by working in the dark wearing a UV headlight. He covered the ceiling with a base layer of special light-activated paint then used glow-in-the-dark paint that glows blue, green and aqua to add dust clouds, stars and their tails. The paintworks soaks up light during the daylight hours and glows in darkness.

Carl Marshall from Euxton, Lancashire said: “The exact technique I use is a closely guarded trade secret because it is so effective. It is a painstaking process as you have to position the colours perfectly to achieve a three-dimensional effect but the results are definitely worth it.

“The stars twinkle and the dust clouds appear to move as you lie in bed looking at it. Everybody is blown away by it when they see it and my children think it is amazing.”

Travelodge has created the UK’s first night sky panorama hotel rooms in response to findings from its latest sleep study. The hotel chain surveyed 2,000 adults in order to investigate the nation’s most desirable sleeping locations.

Key findings from the study revealed the most desired kipping location for Britons is under a blanket of twinkling stars with 42 per cent of adults choosing a starry night sky backdrop as their most desired sleeping location in contrast to a tropical beach, rainforest and jungle.

Travelodge spokesperson, Shakila Ahmed, said: “As part of our commitment in helping to ensure our customers attain a good night’s sleep, we are constantly looking at innovative sleep aids.

"Therefore in response to our latest sleep study, which highlighted Britons most desirable place to nod off is under a blanket of stars, we took the challenge and created the ultimate outdoor sleeping experience indoors. Now our customers can gaze into a cosmic night sky of shooting stars, milky ways and constellations of twinkling stars from the comfort of their warm cosy bed."

Sleeping by the sea was the second most popular desired kipping spot for Britons followed by a sandy beach in third place.

Delving a little deeper into the nation’s fascination with stars the study also found that that over a half of Britons (52 per cent) think there is something very magical about a starry night.

A third of Britons reported they regularly enjoy looking up to a night sky at bedtime and find counting stars very tranquil and a good sleep aid.

Whilst four out of ten adults reported gazing up at a starry sky puts them in a romantic mood.

Neil Shah, Founder of The Stress Management Society said: “The Travelodge night sky room is a great concept to help you de-stress after a long day. Focusing on something, such as a sky full of stars, which the brain is unable to consciously analyse or tune into, encourages our minds to switch off and drift into a stress free deep sleep.”

Further findings from the sleep study revealed that 28 per cent of British adults would love to sleep under the stars every night because it would help them to nod off easily.

One in ten Britons would love to transform their bedroom ceiling to a starry night sky so that they can achieve a good night’s sleep.

Chris Idzikowski, Director of Edinburgh Sleep Centre, said: “This new innovation can help towards attaining a good night’s sleep. The way it works supports our natural sleep / wake cycle. In darkness our brain’s (pineal gland) releases melatonin, the hormone of darkness which supports sleep. Whilst dawn light is very important for keeping the biological clock ticking to the right time.

“The Travelodge night sky room replicates the natural environment which our ancestors would have experienced in the savannah grasslands during the evolution of human sleep patterns.”