The winter has been a very cold one in the U.K., and Holiday Inn wants to make guests more comfortable by warming up their beds – with people.
Yes, the hotel chain has introduced "human bed warmers" in the U.K. The complimentary, five-minute service is being tried at the Holiday Inn London Kensington Forum, Holiday Inn Kingston South and Holiday Inn Manchester Central Park through Jan. 25.
"Dressed in all-in-one sleeper suits, bed warmers will work as human electric blankets, bringing the bed temperature up before guests climb in so guests can be toasty warm from the moment their heads hit the pillow," Holiday Inn said.
Holiday Inn said the suits were "specially designed to maximize sheet-heating efficiency."
The hotel chain teamed up with sleep psychologist Chris Idzikowski, director of the Edinburgh Sleep Centre in Scotland, to launch the promotion.
"There's plenty of scientific evidence to show that sleep starts at the beginning of the night when body temperature starts to drop," Idzikowski said. "The decline occurs partly because the blood vessels of the hands, face and feet open up and release heat. A warm bed is a good way to start this process."