Westin was among the first to offer sales of the "Heavenly Bed" - Hampton Inn followed - announcing recently that starting next January - its guests would have a chance to bring their hotel's sleep equipment home with them.

What is this about? Hotel chains (Hampton is part of Hilton Hotels Corp.) selling beds and bed linens?

As it happens, selling bedding and pillows (separately or together) is only one example of new perks that have been appearing recently as the creativity race is on in an increasingly competitive hotel market.

"No doubt about it: We've checked into the platinum age of hotel pampering, where heavenly mattresses and hedonistic bathrooms are now just the bare minimum," wrote Kitty Bean Yancey in USA Today.

This is not an entirely new development.

In what was at the time sometimes referred to as "amenity creep," all the major hotels in the 1970s played "keep up with the Jones" by making shampoos and bath amenities de rigueur. Bed turndowns also followed suit. And in the 1990s, guests came to expect such amenities as dedicated fax lines.

A newspaper report almost ten years ago pointed out that guests at the Nob Hill Lambourne in San Francisco were no longer just being asked whether they wanted a no-smoking room or not. They were being offered the free use of laptops during their stay.

That seems old-fashioned today.

Many of the old-time perks such as flat screens, coffee-makers and in-room safes are also old hat by now. So hoteliers are looking at finding new and enticing extras in a variety of ways.

Many of the perks, though far from all, involve new luxury touches.

In the later category: Creative amenities from various hotels in recent months have included offering four kinds of sheets (Rosewood's Las Ventanas in Mexico, among others); 15 soaps, 22 bottled waters and 16 coffees (The Rome Cavaleiri Hilton); and an in-room basketball court (The Palms In Las Vegas).

The later also has a suite with a bowling alley.

Butlers have always been popular as an upscale amenity with the Ritz generally credited with pioneering the concept. But now the St. Regis chain has added E-Butler Service, where guests can be in constant e-mail contact with their wireless handheld PDA-equipped butler.

The pillow menu option is almost common (with the possible winner here Chicago's Conrad, with six choices that include a pregnancy pillow).

With all the gadgetry and gimmicks, however, fairly simple service options continue to be popular at hotels. A massage therapist is on hand at the White Barn in Kennebunkport, Maine, to visit guest rooms and do a message from chocolate oil. A bath butler then runs a warm bath with chocolate-scented bath salts.

Some hotels/resorts offer perks that are logical because of their nature or location. Universal Orlando Resort, for example, offers Premier Pass members a variety of special privileges such as preferred self-parking, admission to the park and special events, and 8 free bottles of Zephyrhills water.

The geographic location of The Westin Bayshore in Vancouver is touted for its connection to the 1,000-acre Stanley Park via a picturesque seawall.

Perks can be as small as free Bloody Mary's offered at the Hotel Rouge in Washington, DC, where complimentary morning drinks also include energy potions. Guests who ask for "yoga" rooms receive mats and instructional tapes.

A little more upscale perhaps is another Washington hotel, the Four Seasons Hotel at 2800 Pennsylvania Avenue that offers complimentary sedan service weekdays anywhere within the district.

The OHANA Hotels & Resorts announced that as of December, it will offer all guests' free rides on the Waikiki's famous Pink Line trolley, which goes to most of the area's best-known destinations.  In the same announcement, a somewhat more pedestrian but perhaps even more valuable new perk will be free in-room and long-distance phone calls to the US and Canada.

A high-tech amenity is now available at the JW Marriott Hotel in Washington, where 32-inch TV's offer split screens to surf the Web or answer e-mails while still watching a favorite program.

The Hotel Preston touts its good location near the Nashville airport and Opryland, but one of its perks offers a real claim to fame: goldfish in guest rooms. There's also a pillow menu and lava lamps.

Frequent guests at the 37-hotel Kimpton chain who become GuestWare members by staying 15 nights or 45 nights during a calendar year not only get invited to hotel openings; they also get the direct phone number of CEO Tom LaTour.

"Being able to know our guests, serve them, reward them and market to them is the crux of what we are trying to accomplish with GuestWare," says Renée Will George, director of customer relationship management and strategic marketing.

Looking at the "green" market, the Renaissance Chicago O'Hare Hotel offers complimentary, prime parking spots, a pair of Chicago Transit Authority passes and a cup of Starbucks to guests driving hybrid vehicles.

"It's important that we work together to become more ecologically responsible," says Mark Zettl, the hotel's general manager.

Family or even perks aimed at children can also be popular. The TradeWinds Island Resorts on St. Petersburg Beach in Florida offer glow-in-the-dark volleyball on Tuesday nights. Families dress in washable neon paint clothing to volley and spike.

The Ritz-Carlton South Beach is looking at the "tween" market of 13-17 who are too old for its traditional Ritz program but presumably enjoy the latest Apple G5 computer systems with build-in iSight cameras. Itunes music, custom software and digital cameras are all part of the program available to kids.

Somewhat less technology is required at Ohio's Cherry Valley Lodge, where kids can feed the ducks with free food found at the front desk of the resort located about 35 miles east of Columbus. Adults also have their own perk.They can rent a mascot who will not only entertain the youngsters, but also do the sometimes difficult job of tucking them in and convincing children it's time for bed...that's a little bit of Heaven in itself. 

David can be reached at: dwilkening@cfl.rr.com