Please sign in to post.
Posted by
778 posts

I consider myself a pretty unfussy traveller but the partial piece of glass attached to the tub to prevent shower water getting on the floor is often insufficient (not to mention ultimately creating maintenance issues for the hotel with the risk of mould and floor deterioration if the water isn’t quickly mopped up and I wouldn’t assume all guests do that). And I will agree with a commenter on the article, the stinginess of hooks in the bathroom, particularly when there are signs suggesting reusing towels which I would do anyway.

Posted by
2138 posts

I've encountered many of these examples, both here in the US and in Europe/UK. A few drive me nuts, but I usually just consider them a challenge of traveling. You need to not be upset when the plumbing equipment is not as standard as you usually find in the U.S. I remember one bathroom in Ireland I really loved. It had very complex plumbing fixtures with multiple shower heads. Clear directions, step-by-step were etched on the glass shower enclosure. I really appreciated it.

Posted by
8294 posts

My recent trip description of Hotel Navona immediately came to mind! Besides camping trips, the most primitive shower/bathroom we’ve had was in a tiny village in Cambodia. We were staying there as volunteers helping prepare a school. We weren’t expecting anything & very much appreciated that the toilet had a bowl (refill with a bucket) and the shower was a hose.

”My room at Hotel Navona was my least favorite room during the whole trip. And the fact that it was the same price as my gorgeous one with the amazing terrace in Polignano a Mare was very sad! The teeny old room had a square cut out of a third of the room with plexiglass. That was the sink/shower/toilet/bidet/ closet/refrigerator combo. Seriously, I think there were larger bathrooms in some of my trains! I was definitely glad I didn’t have my husband or daughter with me, so we didn’t have to watch each other using the toilet. : (. But, what it lacked in looks, it made up for in location. Just a few turns, and I was at the Pantheon or Piazza Navona”.

Posted by
4944 posts

Hers a photo of our shower at our hotel in Barcelona in October. The frosted glass on the right is the bathroom door (no lock), but in the middle of the photo and right beside the bed is the shower. No hiding yourself from view of your travel partner. The hotel advertises itself as adults only, but perhaps that should be changed to couples only.

https://imgur.com/a/hMqGO5X

Posted by
12405 posts

The hotel advertises itself as adults only, but perhaps that should be changed to couples only.

If a room has 0ne bed for Two people, is having a view of them showering really revealing anything?

Posted by
2750 posts

@Allan... we had a shower like that once at the citizen M hotel at the Amsterdam airport. Right next to it was a similar a little glassed in pod that held the toilet. It is hard to imagine what designers might think people would appreciate in these kinds of things. But thanks for the laugh with your picture:)

Posted by
17612 posts

I almost booked a hotel room in Basel, Switzerland, with clear glass wall between the bedroom and the shower room ( toilet was in a compartment). That was in 2018. I have been on the lookout for ones like that ever since ( to avoid them).

Posted by
418 posts

I see those and wonder if they save money by not having lighting in those areas and rely on what gets through the transparent doors/barriers. And/or if it's more money to make lighting safe enough (Ground Fault plugs,etc) with all the water in those rooms.

Posted by
3759 posts

Some weird bathrooms to be sure.
My only gripe is not having secure grab bars ,or indeed any grab bars at all, in hotel bathrooms.
A large portion of travelers are at, or getting to, the age where we need added safety.
In all my years of travel, the first time I ever saw grab bars in a hotel bathroom was this year on my one night stay in Rome.
I was so shocked I had to grab the grab bar. ;))

Hotel Nord Nuova Roma, near Termini, in a single room.
Can’t swear that every room had them.

Posted by
11951 posts

Let us hope it is a “phase” that will pass quickly. I am super careful about seeing photos of bathrooms after encountering a couple of these nightmares.

Posted by
17043 posts

I firmly believe that people who design hotels never actually stay in them.

I had a bathroom in one hotel in Paris where there was a window between the bedroom area and the tub. There was also a set of blinds that could be raised and lowered as well as closed.

Springhill Suites by Marriott has opaque glass doors between the bedroom and the bathroom.

Posted by
8294 posts

”If a room has 0ne bed for Two people, is having a view of them showering really revealing anything?”

My adult daughter & I shared a couple of beds during our Italy trip where two twins weren’t an option. I don’t think anyone wants to see their mom showering & using the toilet! ; )

Posted by
22046 posts
Posted by
8804 posts

We have had some very small hotel/B&B rooms. One was an oversized closet and the bathroom was so small that you could do the three S's all at one time.

Posted by
965 posts

I travel solo and much of the bathroom weirdness, especially the glass walls and doors, just leaves me scratching my head and shrugging. Maybe the designers have seen too many movies, and by using glass walls and doors they're taking away the ability of spies, deadly assassins, and monsters to hide in bathrooms and jump out and get their victims.

But, that article is a list of first world problems and reads as whining. An exploration of some of these design choices might have been a more useful article, but that would have been actual work rather than pulling quotes from Reddit. "Too Many Shower Heads"? The rainfall shower heads and wall jets are pretty awesome, but there are those that have difficulty with standard shower heads for which handsets are an accessibility God send (they were rather beneficial after my accident when I could only sit and couldn’t pull a shower curtain of course I wasn’t traveling then).

Mr E – Cool pictures!

Posted by
586 posts

I'm pretty low maintenance as a (usually solo) traveler so I don't have many hotel bathroom gripes (as long as it's clean, I'm good) but the lack of enclosure/shower curtain/"wet room" concept has always flummoxed me, as well as being a pain to clean up. Also, what if you need to go back in there after you shower? You get your socks wet, or you have to dry your feet again, or you track water into your room.

The first time I encountered the lack of shower curtain was in an old Air BnB in Berlin, my first time to Europe in over a decade. The bathroom had a giant old tub, a handheld sprayer, and no shower curtain. Everything in the bathroom got soaked everytime one of us bathed.

One Air BnB in Iceland had a big wet room bathroom, but also provided a squeegee and the floors were heated, so once I squeegeed up the excess, the heated floor took care of the rest in just a few minutes.

Oh, and the lack of hooks - totally agree about that one. It's not just hotels, Air BnBs are bad about it too.

Posted by
3035 posts

We had a bathroom in Copenhagen that had glads cubes for the wall between the shower and the rest of the room, but then the rest of the bathroom was clear glass. Even the cubes were not really frosted, so you could see everything. We had a triple room, so my husband and I and our college age son. Needless to say, we rotated who went and had breakfast and who stayed in the room to get ready in the mornings.

Posted by
1730 posts

The first time we had a glassed off bathroom was in a Yotel in an airport. DH made me wait in the hall while he did his business. Then again in China, on a tour, so we had no choice. We will never knowingly book one.

A bathroom feature I hate even more is the toilet with the "platform". We had this is Austria. Your poo collects on the platform and when you flush, the water whooshes it into the bowl and away. It was disgusting, and it stinks more than traditional toilet bowls. Someone told me it's specifically designed so one could inspect the speciman for health purposes, but I call bull --- on that. At a hotel? Maybe in a hospital but not a hotel!

Posted by
2164 posts

I don’t really get the glass showers and think they’re just weird, period. Couple or not (like the not uncommon mother/daughter arrangement or variant mentioned above ) privacy for bathroom activity isn’t a bad thing. Fifty years ago I went to the desk of our Athens hotel asking why we had no shower. The owner came up to our room to explain…the tiny, green tiled bathroom was the shower. The drain was in the middle of the floor and the shower head in the ceiling. You could brush your teeth at the sink, comb your hair in front of the mirror and shower at the same time. An advantage I guess. Then dried the soaked toilet. Who knew.?

Posted by
1595 posts

This article was written by someone who is way too sensitive, picky and demanding to live in this world. What a ridiculous whine fest.

Posted by
2179 posts

My hubby loves the glass showers :). We encountered one at Citizen M at CDG and I think in a hotel in Evora. I moaned and groaned about it but he didn’t.

Posted by
1562 posts

We’re currently in Japan and our shower situation here in Kyoto might take the cake. We’re traveling with our family and have two identical apartments one for our son and his family and the other for us and our unmarried son. In both Tokyo and Kyoto there are shower/tub rooms where you shower before entering the tub. In our current apartment the glass walled shower room is in the kitchen! It’s a great shower room, just in the wrong place, probably due to retrofitting the space into an apartment. I had read the reviews prior to booking the apartments but thought there must be some way to make it private and the location of the apartment outweighed the inconvenience. Luckily there’s a wood door into the kitchen so the view can be controlled. So far there have been no mishaps.

Posted by
349 posts

Our stay at the Ruby Louise Hotel in Frankfurt had the glass shower. The bed was not on a frame (futon style), but the bed set was a step or two above the remainder of the room. Their website advertises it as "blend of 19th century elegance with edgy urban accents". One of their amenities was a "Glass rain shower". It definitely caters to a younger set.

Posted by
2921 posts

The hotel advertises itself as adults only, but perhaps that should be
changed to couples only. https://imgur.com/a/hMqGO5X

Love that shower. Why would anyone but a couple stay there anyway?

The reason for having glas partitions between room and bathroom is so that natural light can get all the way to the bathroom. When we renovated we moved the bathroom to next to an outside wall, so we could have a window. If that would not have been possible we would have installed a glass wall between that and the bedroom as well.

I could not live with a bathroom were there is no natural light.
In Europe the toilet is often in a separate cubicle, an I find that a good solution. I grew up in a house were the bathroom was for taking baths (or showers). And yes, we would share. Nobody gave a second thought that someone might be brushing their teeth while someone else was showering.

And maybe that is also a difference between Europe and the US. We mostly do not believe that bodies are something the sight of which needs to be avoided at all costs...

What I missed in the US is shower mixing taps where you could just dial in the temperature. These are very common in Germany and Switzerland, but unheard of in the UK, and I never encountered them in the US either.

Love the outdoor tub the article starts with though. In Australia I one stayed at a place where the toilet was set in a tree, open to the landscape. Kept the place smelling fresh, and the view while sitting on the porcelain throne was priceless.

Don't understand the issue about bathroom door locks. We don't have them at home. You just knock before entering the toilet cubicle...

Posted by
418 posts

"The reason for having glas partitions between room and bathroom is so that natural light can get all the way to the bathroom."

Knew it!

"We mostly do not believe that bodies are something the sight of which needs to be avoided at all costs..."

"Don't understand the issue about bathroom door locks. "

As most Europeans know, the US is a little(?) messed up in our collective heads.

Posted by
34838 posts

I don't know what is meant by Barn Doors. Is it an oversized door? Or is it a Dutch Door, two doors one above another? Can somebody explain please?

Posted by
2921 posts

Rather than a door that swings on a lever & fulcrum/hinge into a
space, they're doors that ride on a track sliding left or right.

Look at this photo from the article
https://www.fodors.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/2_Interior-sliding-barn-doors-into-bathroom_Dreamstime_84837418_Danny-Raustadt.jpg
And look at the track at the lintel and the door riding on the track.

I have one of those in our house. But not on the bathroom. I think for an ensuite (ie. private) bathroom they are just fine.

Honestly I do not get the fuss. Hotels try to do something nice with the bathroom, make a design statement, and people complain. I used to live in a house in The Netherlands that had the shower in the kitchen...

Posted by
34838 posts

oh a pocket door!!

had one of those the Dorint in Düren, between Köln and Aachen. A creative use of available space, putting the sink and other sliding units behind the bed. No issues, just interesting. Creative lights too.

Posted by
458 posts

But without the pocket.

The door is hanging on the top rail outside the door opening.

Posted by
34838 posts

I was confused because I go to a lot of barns, and they don't have doors like that. Just really big doors, usually in pairs.

Posted by
1860 posts

Nigel, We have a ;pocket door in our house. It slides into a "slot" in the walls between rooms, and is then out of sight. The barn doors are outside the walls. Think of a curtain or drape that slides left or right to open. And yes, I have never seen or heard of a barn with doors like that. I wonder who gave them that name.

Posted by
22046 posts

VAP, those pictures were from
Hitgeheim Country Lodge
https://www.hitgeheim.com/

An absolutely wonderful place. And I found the shower to be .............. "Liberating"

Posted by
4944 posts

I was confused because I go to a lot of barns, and they don't have
doors like that. Just really big doors, usually in pairs.

Maybe it's a North American thing. My grandparent's farm had large doors like that, two doors suspended on the outside with one sliding left and one to the right. It's also a common concept in office design to maximize space that would otherwise be used up by a swing door.

Posted by
418 posts

"Maybe it's a North American thing."

Those were on Barns in Washington/Oregon when I was growing up. It seems like a cheap way to get very large doors (weight suspended and distributed by the overhead track) without putting all that weight on metal hinges of conventional doors.

"And I found the shower to be .............. "Liberating" "

There was a brief period (decade or so) when I was young when things like that were much more casual. Not a big thing. That was one of the things that got rolled back.

Posted by
22046 posts

RobertH, I am 60-somehting and still wating to grow up.

Posted by
842 posts

I'm imagining all of implications of having a glass walled shower in my large kitchen considering it's part of a great room. Only 40% of the home wouldn't have a view.

Posted by
458 posts

Posted by Nigel oh a pocket door!!

Posted by khansen But without the pocket. The door is hanging on the
top rail outside the door opening.

Posted by Judy The barn doors are outside the walls. Think of a
curtain or drape that slides left or right to open.

Excellent description!

Posted by
32446 posts

I travel solo most of the time, so most of the issues raised in that article wouldn't be a problem. However they certainly would be a problem if I was travelling with a relative or friend. I stayed at one somewhat "quirky" hotel in Florence a number of years ago, where the shower, sink and mirror were in a glass enclosure, all in the same room as the bed. The toilet was in a separate room.

I don't like Barn Doors and would never have those in my house! I do have one pocket door, and don't mind that.

Posted by
3035 posts

Robert--Same, grew up in both OR and WA and many barns had these doors. My grandparents had a farm out in Tualatin (used to be the boonies, lol) and their huge barn had these. Now their land is an entire development, elementary school etc:(

We have barn doors in our house, but NOT for the bathrooms. We have installed them for the kitchen pantry, bedroom closets and the front entry closet. Getting rid of bifold doors was our aim. My husband built one from scratch and it has an inlaid full length mirror. That is for the master closet. Brilliant, but it weighs a ton!

Posted by
2921 posts

This whole thread is again a nice demonstration on how cultures differ around the world. And as you travel you encounter that. In large parts of the world it is assumed that members of the same household will be OK with seeing each other naked. In Scandinavia it is common for families to enjoy a Sauna together for example. When I was sailing in Croatia everyone showered on the deck.

If someone were to walk in while I am on the loo I would just say "hey, I'm busy", and they would say "sorry" and leave, and that would be it.

So just relax...

Posted by
418 posts

" I am 60-somehting and still wating to grow up."

Me too. "Growing up" used to be beaten into you. At least in a lot of places here.

"So just relax..."

Not a choice possible for people who grew up in certain ways. Like much of the US. Can deal with it but the shock/startle/other-stuff isn't a conscious choice. The conscious choices come after that.

Posted by
418 posts

"This whole thread is again a nice demonstration on how cultures differ around the world. "

Just came across another good example. A British comedy sketch that (supposedly) is watched religiously every Christmas in a LOT of northern Europe.

"Dinner for One: British comedy Germans have been laughing at for years (2018) (theguardian.com)"

https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2018/dec/30/dinner-for-one-german-television-new-years-eve

And here's a page with people from all over Northern Europe saying how it was a yearly ritual to watch this in their country.

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42560171

Posted by
3759 posts

How strange.
I lived in the UK for years and have never once heard of this “famous” skit.
Perhaps more famous in England than Scotland?
I wonder why it became popular in Germany?

Posted by
2510 posts

I wonder why it became popular in Germany?

Quoting WP, s.v.:

"The two-hander sketch was originally written by British author Lauri Wylie for the theatre. After featuring on the stage, the German TV broadcaster, Norddeutscher Rundfunk (NDR), recorded the sketch in 1963 as an 18-minute black-and-white videotape recording, performed in English by British comedians Freddie Frinton and May Warden.[...] The sketch begins with an introduction in German, followed by the main act in English [...]
It has become traditional viewing on New Year's Eve in countries such as Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Luxembourg, Denmark, Sweden, Finland and Estonia.[....] In Norway it is broadcast on 23 December. As of 1995 it was the most frequently repeated television programme in Germany.[...] Despite originating as a British stage sketch, the TV version gained only limited recognition in the UK over 50 years after its recording."

Posted by
34838 posts

gained only limited recognition in the UK over 50 years after its recording.

granted.

I have lived continuously back in England for nearly 30 years, and back and forth in the previous 40, this sketch is a new one for me.

Posted by
418 posts

And from that second page I posted, "They were forced to put it on twice...":


steinvakt2 1 day ago | prev | next [–]

Something like 50% of the people in Norway watch this on "little Christmas eve" - December 23rd. For a lot of people, this is what officialy starts off the Christmas vacation.

Edit: Source: I'm norwegian and have watched this sketch with my family every single year since I was born.

kolektiv 1 day ago | parent | next [–]

I'd heard of it as a thing some years ago, but never actually saw it "in the wild" until I was skiing in Norway over Christmas a few years ago. The hotel had it on in one of the lounges, which filled with a variety of nationalities to watch it, notably lacking the British. We're quite mystified.

vidarh 10 hours ago | parent | prev | next [–]

In fact, one year they were forced to put it on twice(Norway), as it was shown as part of a variety show, and was moved earlier than billed, causing an uproar when people realized they'd missed it.

Posted by
144 posts

The shower ‘thing’ is always an interesting discussion on this forum!

My observation would be that most houses have glass doors on either a shower cubicle or a shower over a bath. There are fewer which are wet rooms. There a fewer still which have shower curtains. I am not from or live ithe US by the way.

I think of shower curtains as being a relic of my childhood, and in the worst renovated houses I’ve lived in and something easily and quickly made better (in my mind!) with a glass door! Equally, I initially found it odd when visiting the US that there were shower curtains, and found it old fashioned. Reading this forum has made me realise that (at least in this sample) that it’s common and accepted. In many respects, NZ is generally UK and/or EU similar, but with many many years of TV and media from around the world we also are familiar with and in some things more aligned with North America. The best of both worlds!

Some of the reasons raised on here for not liking glass doors I find funny eg. someone might see you. Yes! They might! But, they probably won’t. The rooms with transparent glass through to the bedroom - you also might be visible to someone else - and if that someone else isn’t someone that you want to see you in the bathroom then I don’t think it takes too much to think of ways to deal with this eg. the other person can politely leave the room or turned away.

Water gets everywhere without a shower curtain? Not in my experience - I don’t have to do anything special to keep the water off the floor where it shouldn’t be. In hotels (and some homes), the rooms will often have heated floors (along with slopes in the right places) , so that any water will disappear quickly anyway. Any unfamiliar bathroom set up in your own country or beyond can cause initial confusion eg. The tap turns a different way, there doesn’t seem to be a plug, where’s the light switch etc. and repeat then repeat the next day and next and next (especially if you are on holiday and changing room every few days). Although this is often how I get new ideas for home renovations!

Lastly, the glass wall into the bedroom. If you find yourself in a hotel with one of these, there is often a switch (like a light switch) or button for turning the wall ‘on and off’ - ie the wall will go opaque.

Posted by
418 posts

"...there is often a switch (like a light switch) or button for turning the wall ‘on and off’ - ie the wall will go opaque."

Yes. If you inject light into the edge of a flat plate of glass(transparent material) it can "scatter" off internal imperfections and "shine" out into the room off the "flat" side => you see that stronger light rather than the weak/dim light shining through from the other side of the flat pane. The scattered light is still dim (a weak glow) but it's much stronger than the image you're trying to block.

edit: there's also newer materials that do it even better (electrically operated) but more expensive

edit2: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smart_glass

Posted by
2024 posts

"So just relax..."

Sure, but there's also plenty of things Northern European people aren't relaxed about that Americans are. We all have our ways -- my daughter isn't interested in showering in front of mom or dad, and vice versa. Doesn't make us particularly uptight on the whole, just American.

Posted by
2921 posts

someone might see you. Yes! They might! But, they probably won’t.

And in most case I couldn't care less. If you stand in our garden in the right spot you can see me shower. If someone were to do that, and see me I would just shrug. If that person would then complain afterwards I would just say: what were you doing in my garden?

Posted by
52 posts

Never understood transparent shower doors. Translucent, sure.

There have been some hotel bathrooms in Europe and elsewhere that I never really figured out. There was one place in turkey where you put the toilet paper in a bin and it stunk to high heavens with lots of flies. Good times.

Funny but I've found good old fashioned shower curtains keep the water in as well as anything.