Joe and I have stayed at our share of hotels with bizarre bathroom designs.
- How did NOBODY notice this mirror placement???
- The shower that was apparently designed to flood the rest of the bathroom
- Our friends stayed at what we think is THE CREEPIEST Marriott hotel bathroom ever
- Our bathroom at the Crowne Plaza in Changi had a, I dunno, something I like to call a “Peek-a-boo, I see you!” feature.
With that last one in mind, it brings me to what may be THE most bizarre bathroom design yet.
Journalist and world traveler Ben Souza created the Cruise Fever website about 12 years ago. According to his LinkedIn page, he says he uses the website as a way of sharing his passion for cruising with the world.
Souza has a presence on TikTok, where he has about 23.3k followers. Most of his TikTok videos are cruise-related, but since he likes to travel in general, non-cruise videos are also in the mix.
In Late June, Souza posted a TikTok video of a European hotel that piqued my interest. Why? It kind of has an open floor plan.
I mean, the room itself is pretty typical, with a modern European design:
- Small
- No dresser (we’ve gone over why that’s become a trend)
- Floor to ceiling window, to give more light and the appearance of more space
- the flooring appears to be wood, not carpet
But the most interesting feature? ALL the walls of the bathroom are see-through glass (not frosted, like you sometimes see), there’s no shower curtain (instead there’s a half-glass door), AND…there’s no bathroom door. Look:
@cruisefever No privacy here
“This hotel didn’t bother to add a door to the bathroom since the walls are glass,” Souza wrote as the narrative of the video.
There were o60-something comments that seemed to go into 4 teams:
This is CRAZY/bad
- What if your travelling with your sibling or friend, just sharing a bed and have to deal with this? No thanks. — theycallmesed
- This happened to my family and my adult son and daughter were NOT pleased! — Wendy Futterman
- When that happens I often have to go wandering around the hotel to find another toilet — Mikey P
- how romantic , plop plop ,wipe , let’s go out instead 😂 — user4365274273324
- And No balcony to kick the spouse/date onto for 30 minutes for privacy and while the room airs out??!😅 no thanks — ***Laurie***
This is typical/no big deal/good
- I like this — Raymond
- What are you hiding from your partners? I dont see the problem. We are in the same bathroom at home together too. Its not like stranger walking by. — Grumpiestmanintheworld
- what is the problem?😁 — javiercarrera8401
- There are sooo many like this it’s not that weird — C0C0nut
Other hotels that had something similar
- Ended up on a tropical vacation where’re it was like this! Just horrible!! Who doesn’t want privacy in a bathroom???!! — joycegagliano7
- Is that the westin somewhere in 🇩🇪? — FlyingJames
- This is a common layout for Hyatts in Asia as well as the Cordis in TST Hong Kong. — H2.the.Izz0
There may/should have been something somewhere to turn the walls opaque
- The bathroom in the Hyatt in Trinidad is like this — Tar
- Our bathroom in Amsterdam. A sensor was supposed to make the glass opaque. It didn’t. 😹 — user4046833682654
- We stayed at a hotel like that and there was a switch on the wall that tinted the glass for privacy. — Todd Milton
Souza mentioned the hotel was the nhow in Rotterdam. I check out their website and there is one photograph, under the Rooms tab, of the nhow Suite by Rem Koolhaas (sleeps 3) where you can sort of see how “open” that bathroom is.
Except you may see it and not really notice that you’re looking at an open bathroom that has no door. The list of amenities the hotel offers also gives no clue of this little doorless surprise:
- Air conditioning – Climate Control
- Baby crib possible
- Bathrobe
- Bathroom amenities set
- In-room selection of pillows
- Extra bed possible
- Hairdryer
- Minibar
- Safe
- Sitting area
- Shower
- Slippers
- High-speed Wi-Fi available
- Free Wi-Fi
- Satellite TV
The only way you can really see the lack of a door is if you look at the Virtual Tours of the rooms (although frankly, even if you were looking there, it might not be something you’d notice). Based on the Virtual Tour, it looks like what might be the toilet room has a door – so less chance of having to deal with sounds and smells. And if the toilet room is big enough, I suppose you could even have some degree of privacy for changing clothes. But for taking a bath or shower? Nope.
As one or two of the commenters said, if they’re staying in the room as a single, it’s really no big deal. 2 people who were a couple might not even mind it. But for friends, co-workers, some families, etc., it might not be the ideal set up.
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1 comment
In the Crowne Plaza Madrid Airport hotel, the shower is right in the middle of the room, encased in glass between the bathroom and the bedroom. You can see right through it of course and right into the toilet too. There is no way to block it.
My wife is lovely, so I didn’t care.