make hotel room bathrooms private again

I came across a bathroom with frosted glass walls in Athens in a RS favoured hotel! I was traveling solo so not an issue but did wonder how it worked for others. Then there was the bathroom at an older hotel in Greece…it was so small it was actually a shower room with a toilet. The door opened outwards into the bedroom and the washbasin was separate from the bathroom! It was obvious the bathroom was a much later addition as the hotel tried to keep up with the demand for en suites. I believe some cruise ships have followed this trend, no doubt to make cabins feel less cramped.

I have had three encounters with bathrooms not fully private. Two had the frosted glass that you can still "see" through and one was clear glass, but had a screen/door you could pull across the glass. In all the the toilet was completely private. Luckily, in all three I was traveling with one of my daughters so it wasn't a big deal, but I definitely wouldn't be comfortable sharing with a friend.

I once stayed here. It was "interesting" https://images.trvl-media.com/lodging/3000000/2750000/2742000/2741950/f995a83c.jpg?impolicy=resizecrop&rw=575&rh=575&ra=fill

This just proves my point.....people who design hotels never really stay in one.

One time in Copenhagen we booked a room without realizing that the bathroom was all clear glass. The room was very small, so it's not like the bathroom was around a corner. This was my me, my husband and our college age son. Our son's bed had his face up against the glass wall to the bathroom. Needless to say we had to take turns in the morning, so two would be banished to the breakfast room. It never dawned on me then, as this was 2015, and now I look!

We have stayed at quite a few hotels that have glass doors to the bathroom. I am not a fan of those, but at least they are around the corner from the main part of the room. My husband and I are fine with that, but when I traveled with a friend I made sure to ask her when we were planning. Only one room on that trip had the glass door that faced the bed, so we just took turns getting ready and the other person sat in the sitting area in a corner, not visible. Good thing we are close friends though;)

Mr. E, where was that hotel room? Looks great!

...people who design hotels never really stay in one...

Frank II, I've long contended that people who design anything should have to use it themselves for several months before unleashing it to the public. This might not be the dumbest design trend ever, but it's way ahead of whatever is in third place.

How many of those clear/frosted bathroom/showers have their own lights in them?

When I'd heard of these I wondered if it was economic reasons as the safety regulations about electricity and water (maybe) make putting lights in there costly.

In 2019 I was planning a trip with friends to Barcelona. As we looked at potential hotels at least 3 had glass bathroom walls or doors. We didn't stay in any of them.

I so agree! Even though I typically travel solo, I always shake my head when I encounter one of these bathrooms enclosed by clear glass.

My most recent experience with this was at the Hotel Europa in Belfast on a RS tour. I googled for a photo and laughed out loud when I saw this tripadvisor review with a photo. Scroll down to the bottom to see the hilarious photo:
https://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowUserReviews-g186470-d191957-r835073026-Europa_Hotel-Belfast_Northern_Ireland.html

Not to be contrarian, but I think the design is mostly about making for fast and easy cleaning, not the comfort of users. Tile is a lot harder to keep clean than glass. Small showers also make for shorter showers.

Wanderlust58 Hitgeheim Country Lodge near Ado Elephant Park in South Africa. We went for the World Cup some years ago. But the photo looks to be new off the internet, so nothing has changed.

I found it somewhat liberating sitting in the tub looking out across the hills. Outside on the patio there was a shower with absolutely no screen from the wilds of Africa. Wonderful trip.

Chani...what a great link!

And yes, although I'm a solo traveler too, it still shocks me!

On my long-ago Best of Paris tour which stayed in a hotel they probably only used that one time, there was a glass wall facing into the bedroom from the bathroom. I did not notice until I disrobed to step into the shower and yikes...I'd left the blinds in the room open and "hello world"!!!!

In a tour hotel this last Fall in Leucate, France where the walls and floor were all poured cement there was a glass wall in the end of the bathroom but there was a heavy curtain on the bedroom side and there was a frosted shower enclosure so a way to maintain privacy.

I've only encountered such a glass cubicle bathroom once back in 2018 in Utrecht. Like others I'm a solo traveler, so it did bother me too much, didn't care for it though.

Here's a YouTube video that includes an interview with Sadie Lowell from the CNN article - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QFPGUTyo9Yk

And a NY Times article from 2009 covering the trend - https://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/05/travel/05headsup.html

I had to pay quite close attention to this when traveling last August to Haarlem and Amsterdam with my sister-in-law and nieces. Sadly most of the places that some trusted RS Forum members stayed and loved were completely out of the question for exactly this reason. And I was surprised at just how many places I had to eliminate because of this.

(We ended up staying in a very nice house my sister-in-law found on VRBO.)

A few years ago we stayed at a fancy pancy all inclusive hotel near Cancun. They believed on the “open concept” room. No door between the king size bed and the bathroom area, and the entrance was the whole width of the room. . The toilet was semi enclosed with saloon doors. You could see from the knees down and the chest up if your partner was standing up. If you were “having a sit”, you could see through the crack in the saloon door and make eye contact with the person on the bed. SO romantic!

The reason for the glas partition between bathroom and bedroom is to allow natural light to reach the bathroom. Since bathrooms are often along the corridor side of a room there is often no other way.

When we renovated our house we made sure that we moved the bathroom to a place where it was possible to have a window. Rooms without windows are not suitable for humans after all.

Our glass to the room shower had blinds that could be closed from inside the shower, so you could have the trendy open-to-the-room sexy bathroom or you could close the blinds and it was fine. We were with a group, and the three men didn't have that, nor did the other two ladies. We, the married couple, were the only ones with the funny bathroom.