works and days

Last October, Andrew and Carolyne Abbott spent their vacation in the Rhone Valley, where instead of tooling around the French countryside or sipping wine and admiring the view, they donned kitchen whites at Maison Troisgros and worked as the only two nonprofessionals in a three-Michelin-star kitchen. While on holiday at the small four-star hotel and restaurant, they learned how to "plate" dishes, prepare the chef's specialties, and generally make themselves useful rather than just in the way.

The few days were exhausting, admits Mr. Abbott, a managing director at an investment firm in Calgary, but worth it. "This was a once-in-a-lifetime experience," he says.

Unique experiences are what a lot of travelers are after nowadays and hotels are trying to supply them. There's even a fancy buzzword to describe the hotels that are part of the trend. They're called lifestyle hotels. $.