GUESTS booking into the new Marriot Courtyard Patong are likely to find dogs, swans, even elephants in their room.

Monkey’s, turtles, rabbits, puppies and pigs have also been found in the suites.
But these pets won’t bite.

They look decidedly cute and cuddly, but be warned, if you try to play with one, it is likely to collapse and turn into a bath towel.

The animal art is all made from normal towels and is part of a world-wide ‘towel origami’ fad used by resorts to give their guests something extra.

At the Marriot Courtyard Patong, the housekeeping staff have learned to fold normal, bath towels into fluffy animals, and the hotel is now teaching guests the secret during special ‘towel folding classes’.

Towel-origami is not new but is an art form with origins blanketed in myth and tall-towel-tales.

“Some people believe it started back in ancient Egypt but other people say it started on cruise ships in the 1920’s,” said towel-folding expert John Pullum.

“But however it started, people really love it.”

Mr Pullum, discovered the art of towel-origami while working on cruise ships, and taught himself the novel skill.

“I travel a lot, and I usually leave my hotel towels folded into various animals on the bed or bathroom counter,” he said.

“The room staff are always amazed when they find them.”

The craze caught on and the housekeeping staff at the Courtyard Patong have been overwhelmed by guest signing up for the free towel-folding classes.

“The classes are really good fun,” said Sarah Foster-Gross from Chalong.

“It’s a great way to learn something new and to escape the mayhem of Patong for an hour or two.

“I can now turn a towel into an elephant,” she said.

“I can’t wait to make one for my boyfriend’s bed, but the dog might attack it.”

General manager of the Courtyard Patong, Sigrid Stelling, said hotel guests loved the animal creations.

“So many people were talking about the towel animals and asking how they were done, we started free classes for interested guests,” she said.

The classes are run by head of housekeeping, Khun Dow and executive housekeeper Prayong Phakham.

“Most people want to know how to make the elephant because it is a national symbol of Thailand,” said Mr Prayong.

It takes Dow just under four minutes to make an elephant, but with 390 rooms in the hotel and only five housekeepers proficient in towel-folding, only selected rooms get the animals.

Dow learned her towel-folding skills from her former housekeeping supervisor, Khun Weerakart, while working at the JW Marriott resort in Mai Khao, in northern Phuket.

She said there won’t be an Ox for the start of the Chinese New Year’s but she said she was always willing to try out a new animal and expand her repertoire.

“I would love to see a towel folding competition on Phuket,” she said.

“We could enter a team and show off our skills.”

Saskia Caro, a Courtyard sales and marketing trainee from Holland also took a towel-folding class and came away proud of her new-found skill.

“I think my towel looks like an elephant, but it was my first go, so I will have to keep practicing,” she said.

She said the towel-animals were a great marketing gimmick.

“Guests take photos of the towel origami creations, and then show them to their friends and family when they go home.

“It a great way to promote the hotel.”

For more information, visit www.towelfolding.com, or to book a room at the Courtyard Patong, go to www.courtyard.com/hktcy