There was a time when patchy hotel Wi-Fi would earn a property a one-star review. Now some of the world's best hotels are advertising it as the main attraction. Digital detox, once the preserve of silent retreats and Himalayan monasteries, has moved firmly into mainstream luxury travel — and the properties leading the charge are getting creative about it.
The appetite is real. A 2026 Pew Research survey found 53% of US adults believe they're on their phones too much, rising to 58% among under-50s, while 44% of all respondents say they're online almost constantly. Booking platform Goboony reports that nearly 39% of travellers now actively look for places with no signal at all — a dead zone has become a selling point, not a flaw.
The approaches vary in style. Unplugged, a UK outfit expanding into Europe, rents out remote cabins and asks guests to lock away their phones for a minimum of 72 hours, handing them a basic Nokia for emergencies and leaving books and board games to fill the gap. Co-founder Hector Hughes started the company after burnout led him to a silent retreat, and his takeaway is refreshingly anti-wellness-industry: rather than adding supplements, trackers and therapies to fix ourselves, he argues we should simply remove what's making us unwell in the first place.
Elsewhere, it's less boot camp, more gentle nudge. At Grand Velas Riviera Maya in Mexico, a 'Reset Concierge' seals your devices in a dual-key lockbox and trades you jungle walks, stargazing and a Polaroid memory walk. At Villa Stéphanie in Baden-Baden, Germany, a bedside button kills the room's electricity and Wi-Fi entirely. Jamaica Inn in Ocho Rios, Jamaica, has quietly gone without TVs, clocks or radios for years — the fourth-generation Morrow family point to their weekly Sunday Switch Off, a Wi-Fi-free hour spent napping, reading or drinking at Teddy's Beach Bar, plus free diversions from croquet to turtle talks.
Safari lodges may have the easiest job of all. Singita Ebony Lodge offers Wi-Fi that's slow enough not to bother with, while &Beyond leaves it out of shared areas entirely. One travel editor's verdict after a stay: she never noticed the absence, because floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking a watering hole served up better drama than any screen.
That might be the real lesson for anyone tempted to book a detox: the most appealing version isn't about confiscation or rules. It's about going somewhere so good that you simply forget to pick the phone up. Whether that's a cabin in the British countryside, a beach bar in Jamaica or a tent facing a watering hole, the best hotels aren't forcing you offline — they're making offline the better option.
