The bathroom door scandal: why hotels are putting toilets in glass boxes

"Name: Hotel bathroom doors. Age: Solid doors have existed since ancient Egypt. Appearance: Increasingly flimsy, possibly nonexistent. Hang on, I've been in many hotel bathrooms in my life and I can tell you they all shared one characteristic: a door. Well, no longer. The Wall Street Journal has exposed the terrifying slide towards extinction of proper, solid, closing doors for hotel bathrooms. They are being replaced with sliding barn doors, curtains, strategically placed walls and other replacements."

"Sliding barn doors what are we, animals, forced to do our business for all to see? It gets worse. Some hotels have been moving the sink and shower into the bedroom and enclosing the toilet in glass or placing it in cubby-like space, according to Bjorn Hanson of New York University's Jonathan M Tisch Center of Hospitality. Nothing says romantic mini-break like struggling to defecate quietly in a glass box as your beloved turns on the TV and tries desperately to dissociate."

"Yep. This door is designed to either move your relationship forward or end it, as the comedian Becca Herries put it, standing in front of a flimsy sliding number. You couldn't see the fine details, but you could see everything else, a victim of a frosted glass door told the Journal, chillingly. I love my husband but I don't want to see him use the restroom."

Hotels are increasingly replacing traditional solid, closing bathroom doors with sliding barn doors, curtains, frosted glass, and partial walls. Some rooms relocate sinks and showers into the bedroom while enclosing toilets in glass boxes or cubby-like spaces. These design choices reduce privacy and can produce awkward or uncomfortable situations for couples and colleagues sharing a room. The changes are often defended as cost-saving measures because sliding or minimal enclosures require less maintenance than full bathroom doors and fixtures. The loss of privacy can undermine guest comfort and intimacy, and risk alienating patrons who expect separation and discretion.

Read at www.theguardian.com