As long as there have been hotels, there has been those who want to know what happens inside them. Thirty years ago, the television series “The Duchess of Duke Street chronicled the comings and goings of a hotel in Victorian London. Nearly 80 years ago the film, Grand Hotel did the same thing.

Novotel, the hotel chain has been running a survey in Australia. Fiji and New Zealand for the last 10 years into what guests leave behind in their hotels and it is intriguing to see how habits have changed over the decade. Most of us believe that the guests nick the soap and the little shampoo bottles but is this still the case?

Turned off by chain hotels? Bored with ‘boutique’? Bettina Kowalewski, author of Bed in a tree – a gorgeous coffee table book published by DK Eyewitness Travel about the world’s craziest, quirkiest places to stay– suggests provides some inspiring alternatives from an actual bed in a tree in South Africa to a hanging eco-sphere in Canada, a giant suitcase in Germany and glass igloo in Finland!

[ January 8, 2010 9:00 am to January 10, 2010 6:00 pm. ] 8-10 January

Earls Court, London,

www.thefranceshow.com 

Tickets are now £10 each; accompanied children under 16 are free