There's something reassuring about the standard rooms of big international hotel chains. Maybe it's the uniform shade of light brown they're painted in. The fuzzy reception you get on CNN. Or the awfulness of the lighting in the bathrooms. And for some poor unfortunates, this predictability is life - or at least, working life.

Now, as a special gift to a special person, one can recreate that bland international hotel chain feel in the unique comfort of one's own home, courtesy of the ever-so-clever hotel phone alarm clock.

Here's the truly brainy bit. Rather than rouse you from your slumber with a shrill peep, a bomb-like explosion or a jolt of electricity to your extremities, the alarm clock calls you in the manner of a hotel phone. It rings. You answer. It greets you with an upbeat message. And even asks if you'd like more time in bed. Sheer brilliance.

Never before has an early morning alarm call in one's own home been more personalised, more courteous, nor more retro. With the classic 'cradle' design of old and presented in sleek and sexy black, with a digital display in the centre of the dial, it's a clock that really wants to be something else... ingenious, clever and delightfully two-faced.