Hotel 'cycle for your supper' deal

Crowne Plaza

The Crowne Plaza Copenhagen Towers is installing two exercise bicycles hooked up to generators.

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A Danish hotel is pioneering a pedal-power electricity generation scheme it hopes will catch on in other countries.

The Crowne Plaza Copenhagen Towers, 15 minutes from the centre of the Danish capital and five minutes from Scandinavia's main airport, is installing two exercise bicycles hooked up to generators.

Guests will be invited to jump on and start pedalling - and if they produce enough electricity they will be given a free meal.

From June, they will be able to race against the 366-room hotel's solar panel system in a bid to produce the most electricity.

"Anyone producing 10 watt hours of electricity or more for the hotel will be given a locally produced complimentary meal encouraging guests to not only get fit but also reduce their carbon footprint and save electricity and money," the hotel said in a statement.

Hotel spokeswoman Frederikke Tommergaard said the free meal offer applied only to paying guests, not passers-by.

The value of the meal - any one of the main courses on the hotel restaurant or lobby bar's menu - is about 240 Danish crowns (NZ$61), she said.

The electric bikes will be up and running from April 19 and the plan is to test the idea for a year with a view to expanding it to more Crowne Plaza hotels, part of the InterContinental Hotels Group.

- Reuters