Five Star Service

When you spend your hard earned money on a hotel you expect the five star treatment; clean rooms, room service and a warm bed. But in Britain that warm bed may be provided by a complete stranger.

Over the past month the international hotel chain, Holiday Inn has been offering a new service at three hotels in Britain. If requested a hotel employee will dress in a one piece fleece sleeper and roll around between the sheets of your bed to warm it up before you arrive.

Holiday Inn spokeswoman Jane Bednall says it's like having a giant hot water bottle in your bed. Bednall says each of the bed warmers will be equipped with a thermometer to make sure the employee wriggles around enough to bring the bed's temperature to 68 degrees. The warmers will be fully dressed with their hair covered before climbing in, but there was no comment on whether they woudl be required to shower first. Despite the obvious publicity over this idea, I wonder if it might be better for hotels to just invest in electric blankets.