Bring Bathroom Doors Back to Hotels
91 comments
·November 26, 2025rjdj377dhabsn
stavros
Was it made of glass?
I've stayed in a hotel where the toilet door was made of glass, and had big gaps. I was staying with an acquaintance, so things were really awkward. It didn't help that the shower was right in front of this frosted glass, so the person's entire silhouette was very visible when showering.
Another time, in Amsterdam, I stayed at an AirBnB where the toilet was on the balcony, and had a glass door (non-frosted) in the kitchen. Yep, if you needed to go, and someone was cooking, or was a neighbour, they were looking right at you.
cammikebrown
A lot of them are becoming barn style sliding doors, with large gaps. So if you’re making some noise, everyone will hear you.
dawnerd
Lowes hotels at Universal Orlando has them. Worse is they sometimes just slide open on their own.
RoyTyrell
Yes! I was just recently traveling for work in a decent hotel but not a suite, just one with two queen beds but by myself. It had a glass barn door and the top half was frosted glass with "painted" glass on the bottom. Irritating but at least it was just me.
op00to
People make noise when they piss and shit. It’s not scandalous.
giantg2
If it's not scandalous, can I shit in the lobby trashcan? If the hotel wants me to have an audience, might as well...
olyjohn
Well, I still don't wanna make everybody in the room have to listen to my grunts as I push out an unhealthy binge-drinking hangover turd followed by a liter of flatulent gas and and liquid spraying into the bowl. I like my privacy, kthx.
Brian_K_White
Some people make noise when they eat with their mouth open. It's not scandalous, it's just ignorant and gross. It's always an utter clod that is so unaware of themselves just smucking and squelching away on their open mouth full of gloopy donut muck.
It's not a virtue to be so unselfcounscious. It's not about being ashamed or inhibited or in pathological denial of biological realities. It's about being fucking minimally considerate and just the tiniest bit self-aware.
rkomorn
It's not, but I prefer not being heard and not hearing over being heard or hearing.
m463
But it is a good argument for privacy.
mitthrowaway2
I recently stayed at a hotel in San Francisco that had no bathroom door. I'd even upgraded to the queen size room specifically because their layout map showed a door while the smaller rooms did not. I was pretty annoyed by that.
Happy to see someone is trying to fix this trend.
jampa
Me neither, but I remember that when searching for hotels and Airbnbs, I only filter for hotels that are 8+/10 domestically and 9+/10 internationally, which filters out many of the hotels that have those kinds of issues (and score doesn't affect budget much).
zeroonetwothree
Really? I stayed in far fewer and maybe 10% have no doors. And then another 30% have no locks or doors that don’t close all the way (barn doors)
akersten
It's not about saving a few bucks on a door. It's about discouraging you and your friends from sharing a single room. Hotel sees the money they're leaving on the table and will trade you for it for the low price of watching your buddies do their business.
autoexec
It's far more likely to discourage me and my friends from staying at that hotel entirely.
throitallaway
How many people consider what a bathroom looks like before booking a hotel room? I can't say I've ever done so.
RoyTyrell
Until recently, you never had to think about it. But as it becomes more common it will become something you might want to consider.
rolandog
It sometimes feels like hotels are taunting us: "we're behaving like a cartel, whaddaya gonna do? Regulate us!? We've already tricked you into thinking that's socialism!"
giantg2
New business idea... set up a truck with automated lockers on it next to the hotel and rent folding doors to the occupants for $20/night.
idiotsecant
Oh wow, I actually never realized this was the motivation. I thought there was just a hotel convention somewhere and they decided bathroom doors don't look good on social media so they're not gonna do them anymore.
This makes much more sense.
kstrauser
Maybe, and also 100% guarantees I’ll never stay there with my family.
akudha
But do you check if the hotel has bathroom doors? If yes, where? You call up and ask? And trust the person on the phone is honest?
Most people would assume bathrooms have doors. It is just exhausting to have to check for every small, commonsensical, super basic detail
roadside_picnic
I honestly think it's more about "things that look better on instagram" that has infected virtually every hospitality related experience I've had in the last few years. A room that photographs well or a meal that looks ridiculous are more important than a room that's actually comfortable or a meal that tastes good.
randycupertino
When I stayed in the Dubai airport hotel not only was it $550 a night for a basic tiny room and there were there no bathroom doors but there was a GIANT painting of the king of dubai both in the bathroom and the bedroom! The one in the bedroom was almost floor to ceiling size. I hung a towel over him. It was super creepy and felt like his eyes were watching you as you walked around the room.
ddtaylor
Impossible to sex near that painting as the speaker will begin talking at you half way through!
throitallaway
"To sex" is to determine sex (gender.)
debo_
If someone says "I am sexing your mom" on the internet, that is definitely not what they mean.
_carbyau_
A toilet door is a basic no brainer. Unless you want any others to watch or - if travelling alone - you want your bedroom area to smell the same as your freshly shat-in toilet...
But then hotel do dumb things like fully enclose a barfridge in a cupboard too.
darth_avocado
It’s also a hygiene issue. Bathrooms are notoriously covered in fecal particles, one of the reason why flushing with the lid up is not a great idea. Having a door at least provides some protection against your bed also being covered in them.
refulgentis
I hate to say it, but lowkey airflow is not stopped by doors.
darth_avocado
There’s a big difference between a ocasional whiff and a massive stinker.
moralestapia
It probably is.
Door closed + extractor makes gaps have negative pressure, no way anything goes into the room.
refulgentis
Extractor, what I’d call a bathroom fan, fair, I’ll go with “close enough to negative pressure for civvies that they fool themselves” (I.e. ain’t actual negative pressure like a cdc lab)
Doorway? No.
m-hodges
WSJ did a good explainer on hotel room design anti-patterns: https://youtu.be/116cwKs2XQs
stickfigure
I watched this and it doesn't seem like anti-patterns to me? I spend more time in hotels than most and ironing boards, closets, minibars, and "bigger rooms" are not things I care about. I don't hang out in the room; it's a box I enter to shower and sleep.
petepete
Kendra Gaylord released a video on the topic yesterday too.
ohhnoodont
I’m glad that someone has built this and made it their personal crusade, but this is a problem that I can’t relate to having. I find it far more uncomfortable/intimate to sleep next to someone (even if in separate beds) than to shower or use the toilet in front off someone. Snoring, farting, dream talking, morning erections, etc.
Somehow I seem to be in the minority with this opinion. But if we’re sharing a room we’re probably pretty comfortable with each other.
pests
The purpose of no bathroom doors is to limit their use to single people or couples. They want business travelers to get a separate rooms or upgrade.
jakereps
I can assure you not even single people nor couples want doorless bathrooms.
ohhnoodont
Couples that poop together stay together.
echelon
Why? I'd prefer a doorless bathroom.
One of my bedrooms at home opens into an open concept bathroom. No doors, vaulted ceilings, open.
I really don't get this.
I don't want to feel claustrophobic.
Edit: Like these -
https://34stjohn.com/blogs/inspiration/how-to-pull-off-an-op...
robrain
You have the choice to open the door if you wish. This choice has been removed from those who prefer privacy if the door doesn't exist.
frereubu
From your link:
Making Privacy Work
Make sure to address the elephant in the room - privacy. Consider installing electrochromic glass panels that switch from clear to opaque. Or take inspiration from Japanese architecture with sliding wooden screens that double as art pieces.
rkomorn
Your sample link's examples seem conspicuously toilet-free to me.
But even without talking about toilets, I don't like airy/drafty feelings when I'm wet, so I'd hate most of those designs, myself.
op00to
I love pooping and having my dog visit. A little someone to talk to rather than scroll.
nehal3m
So you can take a dump with some privacy, obviously.
RAMJAC
I don't want a room to smell literally like shit.
lazyeye
You live alone?
Newlaptop
I'd imagine that most couples would still want to be able to close a door when they're on the toilet.
I'd rather sleep in a shared room at a hostel and use a toilet in a stall in a communal bathroom than in a hotel room without a proper door on the bathroom.
p1necone
I'm in a committed long term relationship. I absolutely do not want to shit in front of my partner (nor do they have any desire to watch).
dexzod
Basically, just like the airlines, the hotels are saying if you are such a broke destitute to be able to upgrade to our premium tier, then go suffer in the smell of your own shit.
autoexec
Only once have I seen anything like this. The room had a bathroom door, but also a giant hole cut out in the wall so that everyone in the room could peer into the bathroom for some reason. We demanded a different room with a complete wall separating the bathroom and got one (a nicer one at their expense too).
kotaKat
The Brookstreet Hotel in Kanata (just outside Ottawa), Ontario has bathrooms with windows in them.
There's a shade inside the glass, but still... did I really need to open the blinds to my bathroom?
GaryBluto
This is a thing? I've only stayed at Premier Inns (a budget UK hotel chain) and have never heard of anything like this happening.
ghaff
I've seen it in the US in smaller dense urban rooms and it's honestly something I've never thought about.
It's honestly something it would never occur to me to write a blog post about. But I guess it's one of those things that some people are sensitive about.
krona
I first encountered it at a Hotel du Vin (UK) about 10 years ago.
forthwall
I noticed in East Asia, they also have some tendency to have floor to ceiling windows through the whole bathroom to the bedroom, sometimes with no curtain either. I am not sure who this is for
m463
I've seen that in japan, but they had a switch that would electronically switch off the window (it would become opaque white).
arrty88
Love this. I was super scared the first time i was booking travel to Europe with a newish girlfriend.
Huh.. I've stayed in over 1,000 hotels and Airbnbs over the last 15 years and not once saw a bathroom with no door. Lots of bathroom windows, but always some kind of door.