No Door, No Luxury

As we're in holiday season and searching for that perfect hotel in our favourite destination... how are you finding the trend of open-plan bathrooms and loos? Is this luxurious or just weird? Does no privacy float your boat?

I've found myself becoming slightly obsessed with checking every room photo before booking, just to make sure I know exactly what I'm letting myself in for. More and more hotels seem to be putting the loo in a glass box or replacing bathroom walls with glass. Sometimes there's no door at all, sometimes it's frosted glass. Or a sliding glass door, which offers about as much privacy as having no door in the first place.

"What's going on?" I keep asking myself. Someone, somewhere, must have decided that removing bathroom privacy was the final thing needed to tick the LUXURY box. But is it really?

Looking into it a little further, I came across Sadie Lowell's campaign, Bring Back Doors, and it seems she's asking exactly the same question. Turns out this isn't just the result of a few designers having a bright idea; it's part of a much bigger trend. The debate has also been picked up by journalists including Cathy Adams in The Times, Karla Cripps at CNN and The Guardian, so I'm clearly not the only one wondering when bathroom doors became optional.



Don't get me wrong, I love modern design, and I appreciate a fresh, contemporary look in hotels. But practicality has to come first. Whether you're travelling with your better half, your parents, your children or your friends, I can't imagine many people wanting to share the most intimate part of their daily routine with their nearest and dearest.

I guess somewhere along the way, high-end hotel design blurred the line between openness and romance. I can almost see where they're coming from with an open shower or bathtub, but the loo? That's never romantic, is it?

It might look great at first glance, but is that really how you want to spend your two-week honeymoon? Constantly aware that you have absolutely no privacy? Or, even worse, asking your partner to pop out for a coffee every time you fancy a shower or need to use the loo.

I even recall that the bathroom in Fifty Shades of Grey had proper walls and a door. If Christian Grey can manage it, surely a luxury hotel can too.
The first hotel I stayed in with a floor-to-ceiling glass wall around the bathtub was in Dubai. Ironic, I know. There was a switch that supposedly turned the glass opaque while you were showering or bathing, but boy, did I not trust that switch. I won't bore you with the elaborate routine I developed to work around it.

So, is it time to put a stop to open-plan hotel bathrooms and loos? I think so.

Some will argue that glass bathrooms make a room feel larger and more luxurious. As interior designers, we have far better tricks up our sleeves to make a room feel spacious, elevated and genuinely luxurious, without asking guests to give up their dignity. Personally, I'll take a slightly smaller and cosier room with a proper bathroom door over a glass loo any day.

Am I the only one who checks hotel bathroom photos before booking? Or are you perfectly happy with a front-row seat to your travelling companion's morning routine?