Paris hotel opens an anti-snoring room

The InterContinental-owned Crowne Plaza chain of hotels perhaps has the answer for travellers whose sleep is disturbed by their partners snorting and grunting their way through the night.

The chain is testing a "snore absorption room" in nine different hotels across Europe and the Middle East from June 27 to July 1.

Crowne Plaza Paris République (screenshot from YouTube video)

One of the hotels at which guests can book the snore absorption room - at the same price as any standard room - is the Crowne Plaza Paris République in the French capital.

And as Olivier Billard, the Rooms Division Manager of the hotel, told Europe 1, the idea is to allow both guests in the room to get a good night's sleep.

"The concept is being tested throughout the week at our hotel in just one room which has been specially converted to minimise the noise made by the person snoring," he told a rather perplexed and definitely ill-behaved team during Laurent Ruquier's afternoon round-table radio show on Monday.

"The walls and the headboard have been sound-proofed and there's also a special anti-snoring pillow which prevents the person from lying on his or her back," he continued.

"To help the person being kept awake by the snoring there's a white noise machine which emits a relaxing sound similar to the wind in the trees."

Sceptics might think that the idea nothing more than a publicity stunt especially as it's on a trial basis.

But as Business Traveller points out the Crowne Plaza chain has a reputation for "innovation".

In 2010 for example it came up with the idea of putting real grass in a number of its meeting rooms at two of its British and one of its Irish hotels to "unlock some long-forgotten childhood creativity."

And last year as part of an eco-friendly initiative the Crowne Plaza Copenhagen Towers in Denmark installed electricity-producing bicycles and offered guests a free meal if they produced 10 watt hours of power.

Sweet dreams

Five-star luxury for pampered pooches in Paris

You know the world has quite literally gone barking mad when special accommodation is on offer for Man's Best Friend, often more luxurious and sumptuous than living conditions for those of us with only two legs.

Such is the case of the recently-opened Actuel Dogs hôtel in the suburbs of Paris which, as its name suggests, is exclusively for guests of the four-legged kind.

With just six rooms it could perhaps be described as a "canine boutique hôtel" and has been inspired by similar set-ups in the United States and Japan.

Ulysse, one of the guests at Actuel Dogs (screenshot from Agence France Presse video report)

It's the brainchild of animal behaviourist Stan Burin and his wife Dévi, who wanted to offer dog owners a place to leave their pets while they went out to work.

"We started out from the principle that dog owners were looking for something other than kennels," Dévi, told RTL radio.

"What we're offering in a sense is a pet-sitting or foster service if you like, except we've pushed the concept a little further," she continued.

"Rather than introducing the animal into a setting intended essentially for humans we've created an environment specifically aimed at the well-being of the dog."

What exactly that implies is explained by taking a look at the hôtel's website to discover what owners - or should that be their furry friends - are getting for their euros.

There's a games room, a heated swimming pool, a massage room, bathroom, single rooms and suites and à la carte menus.

And that's not all. The hôtel is close to one of the city's major parks, the Bois de Vincennes, and takes full advantage of its location by offering individual or group "doggy walks", the more physically exerting "doggy jogg" as well as "doggy rando" or hiking and "doggy vélo" where your four-legged friend can enjoy running alongside a bicycle.

Although Dévi insists that the hôtel isn't exclusively for dogs whose owners have deeper-than-average pockets, such luxury of course has its price.

Half-day board starts at €26, while full-day during the week begins at €35 for a standard room and €45 for a suite and that includes two walks and "unlimited access to the games room."

Owners can also keep track of how their pets are faring in pooch paradise by webcam or email.

And whoever said it's a dog's life?

Woof!

Spend a night at the French hamster hotel

Here's a story that might have passed you by: the opening recently of a so-called "hamster villa" in the French city of Nantes.

For an introductory offer of just €99 a night guests can enjoy the experience of what it's like to live like a hamster.

That means they can run themselves breathless in a giant wheel getting nowhere quickly, eat organic grains (yum yum) and drink water from a specially made fountain, all the time wearing special hamster hoods - should they so wish.



The creators of the full-on hamster "experience" are interior designer Frédéric Tabary and set designer Yann Falquerho and the idea is, according to Tabary, "to give people the real feeling of what it's like to be a hamster."

"They're are supposed to come here for fun and to mess around," he says.

"We want them to smile and relax from a society which is often so rigid."

The room currently comes equipped with a conventional shower, a bed and even a most unhamster-like microwave oven, and there are plans to provide a Wifi connection and squeeze a flat screen TV into the 18 square metre space.

And why a hamster house? Well it's something of a personal childhood thing if Falquerho is to be believed.

"When I was small I had a real passion for hamsters and I was never allowed one," he says.

"Now I'm getting my chance."

The pair are no strangers to what even they admit is the slightly bizarre, although another room in Nantes they currently rent out is perhaps a little less strange in that the decor of "Captain Nemo's hut" is inspired by French novelist Jules Verne's fictional character of the same name.

But their next concept promises to make the hamster villa look positively "normal" in comparison, as Tabary says they're currently in discussion with investors for a project which will give people the sensation of "sleeping in their mother's womb."

Enough said perhaps.