It must be a thankless job to be a hotel room designer. Either you’re trying to make a cookie-cutter hotel room seem interesting and inviting, or you have to shoehorn a design into a hotel that has a seemingly infinite number of different room configurations. You’re also trying to maximize the functionality of the room with a limited amount of space, while at the same time trying to remain current with design trends. AND you’re trying to please different masters – keeping the hotel executives happy while pleasing hotel guests.
While I can usually see the thought process behind many decisions (except removing desks from hotel rooms; that’s just dumb), I found a hotel room with a layout where I couldn’t believe no one noticed this major design flaw.
Like I said before, hotels try to keep their rooms interesting by including some trendy design fads. The newest one of these I’ve found in hotel rooms recently is bathrooms with sliding barn doors. While I love watching Fixer Upper, these designers need to let go of their inner Joanna Gaines. Before you know it, we’ll all have hotel rooms filled with shiplap walls.
The most recent hotel room I stayed in had this design with a sliding barn door for the bathroom. Considering the total size of the room, it really was unnecessary.
Opposite the toilet was the storage area of the room. Since the room didn’t have any drawers, it has plenty of baskets for you to put your items and a reasonable amount of space to hang clothes, jackets, etc. There was also a full-length mirror to check yourself out before leaving the room.
I stayed at this hotel on my first (and probably one of my last) business trips. I was the only one in the room. I don’t know your habits, but when I get back to my hotel room, there’s occasionally a task I need to take care of right away. When speed is important, closing the bathroom door isn’t the first thing on my mind. When looking up, there’s something I just don’t want to see:
For my entire time on this earth, I have never stared at myself while sitting on the toilet, and I never want to do it again. Yes, those are Star Wars pajamas and yes, I did text this picture to Sharon to show her how ridiculous the design of this hotel was. When she surprised me by showing up at my hotel for the weekend, she also had the thrill of seeing herself as she had never seen before. She has some self-control and did not take a toilet selfie (Note from Sharon: After seeing myself on the bowl [and without Star Wars pajama bottoms, because I was using the toilet for its intended purpose], why would I EVER want to take a picture of myself on it? Ew!).
Dear hotel designers, if you do one thing in my next hotel room, please don’t put a full-length mirror across from the toilet and give me no way to close the door from where I’m sitting and taking care of serious business.
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This post first appeared on Your Mileage May Vary
6 comments
lol first bathroom selfie I’ve seen on a travel/points blog. Cheerios.
In my experience I’ve seen many hotels that have full length mirror set up like that. My complaint is the stupid rolling doors. One time I stayed at a trendy hipster hotel in Santa Cruz California that had the barn doors. I didn’t think too much about it until bedtime when all I heard all night was these doors all over the hotel banging open and closed. Crazy.
I have ran into a few hotels like that as well. It really doesn’t make any sense. You have a lovely barn door you just installed, hang the mirror on that. I have a hotel I use when it is game season in our college town. That hotel is going through a redo which was truly needed. They to have gone over to the Sliding Barn Door Side along with walk-in showers. The oddest shower was that there was no sliding door, just a step in with glass panels all around. I saw the flaw the minute I looked at the panels. After I showered I then had the joy of mopping up the water that was all over the floor. The glass panel did not reach all the way to the end where the shower head wouldn’t blow water straight out onto the floor. I wonder how long before the hotel has to replace the floor. Aren’t these professionals?
Glad you were alone when she showed up.
Funny post. Been there, done that.
Reminds me of stupid hotels and cruise ships that put semi transparent doors to the bathrooms.