Wave goodbye to bathroom doors in hotels

HOTELS are stripping bathroom doors from rooms – creating a privacy nightmare for guests.

The bizarre cost-cutting ploy has enraged customers who say they’re being treated like barnyard animals.

Traumatized travelers are increasingly demanding hotel bosses “bring back proper doors.”

Unfortunately, old-fashioned solid doors are being replaced with “sliding barn doors, curtains, strategically placed walls and other replacements” such as glass, according to an investigation by the Wall Street Journal.

“Hotels are stripping away the only thing separating us from the animals: the bathroom door,” its probe revealed on Tuesday.

The only problem is that – apart from the obvious lack of privacy – replacing proper doors with inferior alternatives “aren’t as proficient in the art of noise and smell containment,” the WSJ warned.

“I’ve been married for 25 years, I love my husband, but I don’t want to see him use the restroom,” complained Denise Milano Sprung.

She and her husband had stayed at the Calgary Airport Marriott, where she was unimpressed with the hotel room’s frosted bathroom door.

Experts told the paper the move was to axe costs amid soaring employment, building and energy prices. And door handles, which might fall off or become stuck, add to that financial burden.

Some hotel guests don’t care though, particularly if they are traveling alone.

“If the toilet is in the middle of the room, I don’t really care, so long as I’ve got a comfy bed to sleep in,” said Jonathan Grubin, who often stays at CitizenM, which offers compact rooms.

Are you ready for your partner to know when you’re doing a bowel movement?

Comedian Becca Herries

There are also plenty of holidaymakers poking fun at the lack of privacy, and the potential impact on relationships.

Comedian Becca Herries, for example, has racked up hundreds of thousands of views of a video featuring her standing near a cheap-looking barnyard-style sliding door in a hotel, and weighing up the pros and cons.

“So when designing this, we wanted a door that allows you to both see and hear everything that’s happening behind this in an effort to create openness and transparency with our guests,” the comic stated, deadpan style, in the TikTok video.

“The person who decided it was a good idea to put a sliding door in every hotel room… [it’s] designed to either move your relationship forward or end it.

“Because hotels are not about relaxing, OK? It’s about, are you ready for your partner to know when you’re doing a bowel movement, cause if not, then maybe that’s not who you should be with.”

DIGNITY

Meanwhile TikToker Sadie Lowell (@bring_back_doors) is “on a mission to protect everyone’s dignity,” reported the Daily Dot last October.

She’s had enough of bathrooms without real doors or having see-through glass, which she slammed as an “invasion of privacy.”

“Bring bathroom doors back to hotels!” the digital marketer demanded.

“The commodification of privacy ends here. I will continue to name and shame hotels in 2026 and beyond if they decide a bathroom door isn’t needed,” she vowed.

“I get it, you save a few inches on every room and eventually you get to make an extra room without any noticing. That doesn’t mean I accept it.”

Her videos feature a horrifying array of bathrooms without proper doors, including a ceiling-to-floor glass version while staying at the Empire Hotel in New York City, NY.

And guests’ privacy is not just sacrificed in the States – it’s happening worldwide, warned Sadie’s hotel reviews.

“Nothing says romantic mini-break like struggling to defecate quietly in a glass box as your beloved turns on the TV and tries desperately to dissociate,” joked the Guardian newspaper in the UK.

“Sliding barn doors – what are we, animals, forced to do our business for all to see?”

Yet hotels have increasingly been ditching bathrooms over the past few years.

The U.S. Sun reported in August 2024 that bosses have been axing them as hotel rooms are getting smaller.

Sadly for desperate guests, it can force them to suddenly bolt to an alternative – and more private – restroom if they’re sharing their room.

Sliding barn doors – what are we, animals, forced to do our business for all to see?

The Guardian

Some have even been forced to use the bathroom in the hotel lobby on more than one occasion.

Or, visitors are forced to use swimming pool toilets.

One woman said she had a “frosted glass door” to the bathroom when sharing with a friend – only for one of them to get food poisoning.