According to The Wall Street Journal, modern hotel rooms often greet guests with bathrooms that lack fully closing, solid doors. Instead, guests find sliding wooden doors, frosted glass panels, or simple curtains that fail to block noise or odors. Some hotels have pushed the trend further, leaving sinks and showers openly accessible while enclosing the toilet in a small glass box.
For travelers seeking peace, quiet, and privacy, the experience can feel more like a challenge than a restful stay. Sharing such rooms with partners, friends, or colleagues can turn an ordinary trip into a stressful ordeal.
In London, traveler Sadie Lovell launched a website called Bring Back Doors, rating hotels based on bathroom privacy from ‘full door included’ to ‘zero privacy.’ Lovell emphasizes that a bathroom door is not a luxury, it is a basic necessity and removing it is an intrusion on guests’ personal space.
Hotel operators defend the trend as modern design and cost-saving measures. Doors, locks, and handles add maintenance expenses, they argue. Yet many guests remain unconvinced, with social media posts highlighting their irritation.
As a result, bathroom privacy is becoming a top concern for travelers. Many warn that if the trend continues, the first question at booking will soon be, ‘Does the room have a bathroom door?’ The bigger question looms: will hotel owners listen to guest feedback, or will future stays require mirrors, earplugs, and even blindfolds as standard amenities?
