Yes, it’s absolutely real, I have seen people I know get hypnotized. And from my understanding, it feels like a very relaxed state of mind, where you wake up feeling refreshed.
One thing to note is that while they can make suggestions, they cannot make you do something you don’t believe in. So in a way, it’s almost like drinking too much and losing your inhibitions, where maybe you say something that you didn’t mean, but it wouldn’t make you do something you would never do otherwise.