Expect the Unexpected: Why the Joy of Travel is in its Surprises

If you spotted an unmarked button on the wall of your hotel room, would you press it? A recent trip to Greece got me thinking about the art of the unexpected in travel. In my Athens boutique bolthole, the manager, Konstantinos, explained - though no mention is usually made of it during check in - that the small, anonymous brass lion head on the wall was a device with which to delight guests. When pressed, it would trigger a surprise appearance (maximum one per stay) from a member of the room service team, bearing, "a bouquet of flowers... or maybe a bottle of champagne... condoms... a magician…" Setting aside the fact that one either needs condoms to hand or doesn't - this not being something best left to fate - I asked him how many guests pressed the button: "100 per cent", he replied, confidently.

In a crowded, dog-eat-dog industry, brands are working hard on ways to stand out, adding value with immersive experiences that will prove unforgettable and thus win them repeat bookings. This can work beautifully - the opportunity to hand-paint your own vase in a small, friendly workshop at Holland's world-renowned Delft Blue Factory; a nonna-taught masterclass in hand-rolling pasta in Puglia; a bespoke best-places-to-go-dancing itinerary from a well-connected concierge - but it can also backfire. When journalist Duncan Hadden (not his real name) booked into a five-star hotel in Berlin for a celebratory weekend, he was initially charmed when staff left a bookmark on his bedside table featuring the cover of a magazine he'd recently written for. Less so when, in preparing a birthday dessert for him, they'd taken a picture of him off his Facebook page and printed it onto a cake topper. "It wouldn't have been so bad, but they'd gone back a whole three years to choose one," he says.

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