The duvet scorge is in all hotels all over the world--at least all those I go to. The worst was in a Mumbai Hotel. In that hot, stickly climate in which electric power is precious, sleeping under the thick, hot duvet was possible on by turning the air conditioning down to very cold.

Lately, I (or my wife and I) have been automatically unmaking the bed and dumping the inner pad; then sleeping under the two-sheet duvet cover (in better hotels a third sheet is usually on the bed--which provides a bit more warmth if needed).

But last month in travel to Cardiff, U.K., I had the foresight to email the hotel and request conventional blanket and sheets. They did it! And I slept great.

Yes, I like the clean white look of duvet-equipped hotel rooms--which are the industry's current response to bedspreads of dubious cleanliness. But clean and white surely can be obtained in a less ridiculous way that a heavy duvet.