It's no secret that breakups can be brutal. Faced with a fractured future and broken heart, we often do (and eat) whatever it takes to ease the pain.
Some eat ice cream straight from the tub, many throw themselves into work or an extreme gym regime and others head to the UK county of Norfolk.
It's there you'll find The Heartbreak Hotel.
Launched at the end of 2021 by counselling psychologist Alice Haddon and life coach Ruth Field, the residential retreats offer women a place to "turbo charge" their recovery from a broken relationship through an intense weekend of therapy.
"We believe that heartbreak connects us to the essence of what it is to be human and that our vulnerability is also the birthplace of compassionate change and daring creativity," Haddon wrote on her website.
It's a philosophy the founder doesn't just promote but lives out herself.
After working 25-years in one-on-one therapy, Haddon had been thinking for a while about moving past the traditional 50-minute therapy session. Instead, she wanted to offer something that better provided the care and time people really needed to heal.
Yet, it wasn't until her mother passed away that Hadden properly reflected on the lack of services that catered to women suffering from heartbreak other than a therapy session.
Soon after, she began forming an all-female team, including her close friend Field and launched The Heartbreak Hotel.
"We think of the retreat as an intensive care unit for the heart: hot water bottles, blankets, warm drinks, crackling fires, nobody lifts a finger, everyone is taken care of so completely in order that they can give themselves over to the therapy," Field told CNN Travel.
Running from Friday to Monday, the groups are capped at eight women to create a safe, intimate space where they can self-reflect and move towards 'a new way of being'.
Equally important, according to Field, is that the retreat also physically takes women out of their day-to-day lives and away from gendered obligations often thrust upon women.
"They're freed from, not just their heartbreak, but from all the sort of structures around which women get lost a lot of the time, like service to others and all of the other roles that we [women] have to deal with," she said.
However, this isn't some breezy getaway.
Alcohol and mobile phones are prohibited as they can numb and distract women from the deep emotional work they must do.
However, between the eight hours of therapy each day (which includes working with a specialist in eye movement desensitization and reprocessing therapy), eating plant-based meals and daily walks to the beach, there isn't much time for drinking or scrolling.
Already, the Heartbreak Hotel's first two retreats received a hugely positive response from attendees, who had to go through a detailed process beforehand.
Knowing group therapy works best when members are fully open and are grouped with people who have had similar experiences, Field said a long curation process was vital.
Women must fill out an extensive online questionnaire about why they would like to take part and then have a long call with Haddon or Field to see if the retreat is right.
While no one is turned away, some applicants may be redirected to other, more suitable, therapeutic services.
As expected, the retreats don't come cheap and cost around £2,500 (NZ$4850).
Despite the name, Haddon and Field hope to provide retreats that focus on different experiences such as menopause, grief and sibling conflict.
No matter the reason someone checks into the Heartbreak Hotel, Haddon said their mission is "for all our guests to leave feeling strong and free to act according to their own love values and needs."
They aren't the first place to provide a sanctuary for the recently single.
In Mexico, Chablé hotels in Maroma and Yucatán have run a Healing Heartache wellness programme, while Bavaria's Schüle Hotel offers a Liebeskümmerer-Arrangement (an package for solo guests 'caring for an achy heart').
While Kiwis are yet to have a specialised hotel for the heartbroken, it may not take long for the trend to hit our shores.
