A few months before the D2hotel in Chiang
Mai opened, we were told by the hotel's management that there
would be "a whole new concept" in greeting guests, which piqued
my interest. What could someone possibly do that's different
these days at a hotel check-in desk?

Have a massage on the spot?
A singing telegram perhaps?

It turns out a singing
telegram wasn't far from the truth. When we checked into the D2
recently, we were handed glasses of iced lemongrass juice. As a
porter ushered us towards the elevator, about twenty staff
members broke into an old fashioned, Fred Astaire-style
choreographed dance routine.

Welcome to the world of D2,
where having fun is just as important as high thread-count sheets
and designer water bottles in guest rooms. When the D2, a...