This year he persuaded franchisees to update the system's beds, bedcovers and skirts, and towels.

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Rooms have tiled floors, bright bedcovers and large picture windows, and there's an oceanside bar.

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Thus, weathered stone bricks form a backdrop for travertine sinks and sleek glass showers, and antique carpets complement custom-designed bedcovers.

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The bedcovers were folded beneath her arms, one wrist was encircled by a yellow plastic bracelet, and a constant bleeping hammered the silence.

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The year 2009 will indeed, here and across the world, be a chance to recognise this form of communication as an essential liberator, a window on the world for children reading their books (under their bedcovers, as I did), or adults being able to go about their business with confidence - and with the certainty that very few other people will be able to read their secrets.

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