The hotel bathroom is more than a place to freshen up. It’s considered an indicator of how upscale, current and clean a hotel is — an extension of its identity.
So how do travelers feel about them?
TrustYou — a reputation-management company that parses hundreds of thousands of guest reviews from more than 250 websites like TripAdvisor, Twitter and Yelp and then shares that information with hotels and other hospitality companies — says that “bathrooms are failing”.
But what travelers don’t often think about while tearing open the miniature soap is that everything in the bathroom — be it the shower or its humble curtain — is the result of a designer’s careful choices in an effort to balance desires, space and money. I asked designers and researchers at some of the world’s leading hotel brands to talk showers, vanities and everything in between.
Photo by Ralph (Ravi) Kayden on Unsplash
Most online comments about hotel bathrooms are about size or cleanliness,TrustYou said, with complaints about the latter up 5 percent from last year — although germaphobes take heart; that doesn’t necessarily mean bathrooms are grimier. It could simply mean that more people are complaining. Also, that figure doesn’t account for the vast number of travelers who don’t write online reviews.
Drew Shepard, senior director of consumer insights for Marriott Hotels, spends copious amounts of time listening to travelers.
“The bathroom is a really important signal for a bunch of things,” he said. “You hope it’s a little aspirational, a little better than what you have at home. A little fun.”
And it’s the little things, he said, that add up, which is why Marriott is not only renovating but also investing in things like thicker towels and a new amenity brand.
JOMOO Hotel Bathroom Suite
The shower experience
“We’ve seen a movement away from tubs in the three-star-and-below category in the U.S.,” Robson, of Cornell, said. Instead, many hotels are opting for showers. “It’s cheaper, faster. It takes up less space,” she said.
Handheld showerheads, popular in Asia and Europe, are finally becoming a trend in the United States.
“There are guests coming from other places who have this expectation,” Hoover said.
Wyndham is among the companies considering opting for lavish showers, instead of tubs in its more upscale properties. A new “shower column” has a rainfall head, body sprayers and, on the side, a hose with a handheld showerhead. For curtains, the company has designed a recycled shower curtain with a “peek-a-boo” window, netted material across the curtain at eye level, which helps open up the room and prevents guests like me with lurid imaginations from picturing what Scammell jokingly referred to as a “‘Psycho’ situation.”
Shower benches appear to be in, according to Robson.
“Older and larger customers appreciate that,” she said.
Out of vogue: the swinging bathroom door. Brands like Westin and Marriott are opting for sliding doors, instead of swing doors.
“In urban markets where you have space constraints, we are moving toward what they call barn doors and adding some transparency to them,” Shepard, of Marriott, said, explaining that, when you open the door “it doesn’t impede your access to the room.”
And the bit of transparency allows light in from the main room.
JOMOO Bathroom Suite
Source: Stephanie Rosenbloom/ bendbulletin.com
