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Can you believe that it takes an Engineering Degree to hang toilet paper? Apparently highly educated folks have been paid to study the best way to hang the roll – either with the loose end hanging under or over the main roll.

The in-depth look into the advantages and disadvantages of toilet paper orientation was created as part of a viral marketing campaign for Engineering Degree, a resource for would-be engineers, but the interesting results can say a lot about the staff in any luxury hotel. Try putting it to the test.

Apparently hanging the toilet roll with the loose end hanging over the roll away from the wall is the preferred method of 70% of us. Not only does this method avoid scraping your knuckles on the wall, it also makes the paper easier to grab and tear off. For the technically minded this method results in kinetic friction with coefficient µ>0 which may be sufficient for accidental tearing.

This option apparently indicates the person hanging the roll is an over-achiever, stays organized and likes to be in charge. Isn’t this the sort of person you expect to be cleaning your room and making your hotel bed?

Meanwhile those hanging the roll under, so the loose edge hangs down next to the wall, are laid-back, artistic and dependable types who know that this method has less chance of unraveling during an earthquake and less chance of the cat or small child unraveling it. Above all, it looks tidier.

But beware of tampering with the said roll. Apparently 50% of us notice the way the roll is hung and 20% of us get annoyed if it is facing the wrong way and proceed to turn it around to suit our own preference. In fact the average American wastes half an hour per year looking for the end of the roll.

Next time you are staying in a luxury hotel, chances are you’ll never look at the toilet roll (or your room maid) in the same way again!

by Gillian at Luxique Luxury Hotels

Business and leisure travelers may soon have something new to worry about before taking their next trip abroad. The debate between balancing security with personal privacy continues as more invasive body scans are rolled out at airports worldwide. The Israelis have always led the way in the field of security and Israeli scientists have come up with a new method of scanning travelers for explosives and drugs.

According to the New Scientist magazine, mice have been specially trained to trigger an alarm when they sense traces of explosives. The developers claim that mice are more accurate than dogs or x-ray machines and less objectionable than traditional patdowns. The mice work in four-hour shifts and are securely contained in concealed cartridges within a full-body scanning chamber.

The device was trialed in a Tel Aviv shopping mall by inventor Eran Lumbroso and his company BioExplorers. The mice correctly identified 22 people carrying mock explosives, but I wonder what the hit rate was for cheese?

If fully developed, this new idea ticks all the right boxes as being cheap, effective and less open to abuse than the full body scanners. However, how will musophobes - those with a fear of mice and rats - feel about being locked in a scanner within inches of small furry creatures? Squeak up!

by Gillian at Luxique Luxury Hotels

Those who have not returned to their pre-holiday trimness may be considering extreme measures to shed those pounds. Consider one of the luxury boot camps which seem to be the new health farms. These luxury wellness retreats have been nicknamed “pamperdomes”, but the going can be tough.

Camp Biche in southwest France looks like a spa and sounds like a vacation, but don’t be fooled. Libby Pratt’s original luxury fitness boot camp – an oxymoron if ever I heard one – promises a “week long house party where you get fit, lose weight, eat delicious vegan food, drink wine and have fun”.

Those who have previously undertaken the challenge have described Camp Biche as one of the best experiences of their life. Guests stay in a gorgeous French manor house and can look forward to an hour-long massage every day. Perhaps after joining in the six yoga classes, Pilates, circuit training, intensive abs classes and long hikes, your aching muscles may need that soothing touch. The blow is softened with delicious gourmet vegan cuisine and a glass of wine whilst promising guests should shed 4.25% of their body fat on average, during a week-long stay. I remain a little skeptical of the weight loss, as I read that Tatler voted Camp Biche “one of the 1001 best spas in the world”.

by Gillian at Luxique Luxury Hotels

The Emirates Palace luxury hotel in Abu Dhabi is displaying a jewel-encrusted Christmas tree, which it says is worth millions of dollars.

Items of jewellery studded with scores of precious stones are draped on the tree’s branches, along with more traditional baubles and lights. While the tree alone is worth a mere $10,000 (£6,400), the jewellery adds more than $11million ($7 million) to the value, according to the hotel’s General Manager, Hans Olbertz.

The luxury hotel is asking the Guinness Book of Records to certify the tree as the world’s most expensive.

The vast majority of the population of the oil-rich UAE are Muslim, but Mr Olbertz said he didn’t think the tree would offend local sensibilities. “It’s a very liberal country,” he said.

The tree sits in the sumptuous lobby of the 302-room hotel – which is bookable, of course, through Luxique.

by Andy Moreton

Female flight attendants from the Mexican airline Mexicana have posed for a racy 2011 calendar to try to recoup money they and their colleagues lost after the company folded in the summer (see my September 2nd post.)

The flight attendants are pictured next to planes on a runway in bikinis and other skimpy outfits. “We’re not models, we don’t have perfect bodies, but we want to keep [the company] going,” said Rozy Arcos, one of the stewardesses who presented the calendar.

One thousand were produced, but a second print run of 3,000 is already planned after the move prompted media excitement.

After becoming heavily in debt, Mexicana – one of the world’s oldest airlines – suspended all flights in August and a judge granted it bankruptcy protection shortly afterwards. There’s been a suggestion that a restructuring proposal might allow it to resume some flights ‘by mid-December’.

by Andy Moreton

Luxique features a selection of fabulous luxury hotels in Mexico City, as well as in many other parts of Mexico.

The head of the Virgin Group, Sir Richard Branson, has lost a bet with the owner of AirAsia, and will dress as an air stewardess and serve champagne on one of his rival’s flights.

Branson owns the Virgin Racing Formula One team and AirAsia’s owner, Tony Fernandes, is the boss of the Lotus Racing team; the bet was about who would finish higher in the 2010 championship.

In the event, both teams ended with zero points in their debut F1 seasons, but Lotus was placed ahead of Virgin by virtue of better finishes. So Sir Richard will have to don a skirt and serve champagne to a selection of charity auction winners on an AirAsia flight from London to Kuala Lumpur.

Mr Fernandes, a Malaysian entreprenueur, worked for Branson’s Virgin Atlantic as a financial controller in the late 1980s. “We have had this great bet running all season and now it’s time for Richard to start preparing himself for some hard work and the likely pain of a pair of high heels,” he said.

The money raised on the flight will go to a charity chosen by Sir Richard.

by Andy Moreton

A homeless Romanian, named only as ‘Attilla’, has been fined 160 euros (£136 / $216) for staging a spectacular display of acrobatic diving at the famous Trevi fountain in Rome.

The man, who’s believed to have had a drink or two, repeatedly climbed to the top of the fountain and performed a series of elaborate dives to the amusement of a crowd of tourists and onlookers, many of whom filmed the show.

The display ended when police ordered the man, clad only in dripping wet black jeans, out of the fountain and arrested him. “I’ve got it in for the world,” he said as he was led away. Police had earlier fined him for defacing a wall in a nearby street.

Ever since Fellini’s 1960 film La Dolce Vita, when Anita Ekberg and Marcello Mastroianni frolicked in the Trevi fountain, some tourists have tried to recreate the iconic scene and take forbidden dips in the monument.

Visitors also toss coins into the fountain over their shoulders, which according to tradition, means they will return to Rome. As a result, nearly 3,000 euros (£2,550 /$4,000) is collected from the fountain every night. The money has been used in the past to subsidise a supermarket for Rome’s needy people.

by Andy Moreton

Splash out and order a room at one of the finest luxury hotels in Rome – Luxique has a comprehensive list.

Another tourist spot is mobilising its forces to deal with holidaymakers not considered to be in appropriate attire (see previous on Barcelona, Salou and the Vatican).

The Mayor of Castellammare di Stabia, a beach town south of Naples in Italy, has ordered officers to fine women who wear miniskirts that are considered too short or who show too much cleavage.

Explaining what he meant by too short, Luigi Bobbio said ‘skirts that did not fully cover underwear’. He said he had faith in officers to make snap decisions. “They won’t need to carry out checks up close,” he said. “One glance will be enough to judge.”

The measure – controversially approved by the town council – is part of a battle to raise what’s described as ‘the level of public decorum’. But it’s provoked fury among opposition councillors and women’s groups.

Councillor Angela Cortese said: “By equating women’s clothing with urban decorum, this measure implies women are no more than benches or hedges … this turns the clock back years for women.”

The miniskirt ban is one of 41 taboos introduced by Mr Bobbio. Others include swearing in public, playing football in the street, lying on benches, climbing trees and walking a dog with a lead longer than two metres (6 feet 6 inches).

And people won’t be allowed to wander off the beach in swimwear. “This is not Majorca,” said the Mayor.

by Andy Moreton

If you’re planning to visit Italy, take a look at Luxique’s comprehensive selection of luxury hotels in Rome, Venice, Florence, Milan and many other cities.

The popular UK consumer TV programme, Watchdog, recently revealed some remarkable hard-luck stories from people who’d parked their vehicles on off-site airport car parks.

One man left his car at a ‘secure, 24-hour patrolled parking’ lot, but returned from a holiday in Cyprus to find it had been rented out to a tourist. He discovered this only when he received a phone call from an Australian man, who’d noticed he was driving a private vehicle after finding the owner’s paperwork in the car.

The mix-up had occurred because the company was housed next to a car rental firm. The car owner received an unreserved apology and cash compensation.

The programme also featured a couple who left their car with a ‘meet and greet’ company before flying off to Tenerife. Just hours later, they received a phone call from the police, telling them the car had been written off. An 18-year-old employee, driving without insurance, had crashed and abandoned the car on a motorway.

A third case involved an owner whose car had received a parking ticket from a supermarket, when it was meant to be secure at the airport.

by Andy Moreton

The gondoliers of Venice are in the news again – this time fearing that the centuries-old tradition of crafting the boats in wood is threatened by plans to produce plastic versions.

The gondoliers’ association says it takes months to make an authentic gondola and has described plans by a shipyard in Brindisi to start producing plastic and fibreglass replicas as ‘outrageous’.

Each boat is traditionally made by hand, using eight different types of wood, and costs about £20,000. “Safeguarding the tradition of the gondola, of the materials used to build it, are fundamental,” said Aldo Reato of the association.

Venice intends to apply for the wooden gondolas to be given World Heritage status as part of the list of ‘intangible cultural heritage’. The city’s carnival will also be put forward.

A listing would not stop a private company from manufacturing plastic gondolas, but traditional makers would be able to add a stamp of authenticity to their boats.

by Andy Moreton

Luxique’s travel experts have carefully selected the finest luxury hotels in Venice to make your vacation truly unforgettable.