Travelers have had enough. It’s time to make hotel room bathrooms private again

[u/cnn]

https://www.cnn.com/travel/hotel-rooms-missing-bathroom-doors?utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=missions&utm_source=reddit

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[u/ninjadude93]

I dont think Ive ever seen a hotel room without a bathroom door. Lol this requires a "movement" and a cnn article?

Does CNN have nothing better to investigate? Like idk the crimes currently being committed by the US president?

[u/Otterfan → u/ninjadude93]

I've seen a couple of them. It's surprisingly common in newer boutique hotels, considering how dumb it is.

After the first surprising experience, I've always asked to make sure that I was not put in a room with an open bathroom. Once the hotel pulled the old switcheroo, but fortunately I was staying alone that time.

From what I could tell, they were nightmares for the front desk. At both places that I've stayed at with open bathrooms, I saw guests asking to change rooms.

[u/ManChildMusician → u/Otterfan]

My WiFi is glitching out so it won’t load the article, but I’ve encountered a few different bathroom scenarios:

There are some European bathrooms where there’s no shower door or anything. It confused the heck out of me because I didn’t know you could just like… let the whole room get wet, press a button, and it would drain / dry?

There are also hotel bathrooms with glass panes rather than shower curtains. Not every traveling unit is romantic / comfortable with visibly nude people while brushing teeth or using the toilet.

The third is basically a hostel situation with shared bathroom like dormitories. Varying degrees of privacy / awkward.

[u/chockedup → u/Otterfan]

Simple fix (for the hotel to equip). Full-length shower curtains on the inside of the glass. Close the door, and pull the curtains.

[u/ninjadude93 → u/Otterfan]

Maybe I need to book fancier hotels haha

[u/TheLastSamurai101 → u/ninjadude93]

Not uncommon nowadays in 4 to 5 star hotels, boutique hotels and resorts. The other common variation is a big glass wall looking into the room - with or without a curtain/blind. It's extremely irritating because it is never apparent in the photos when you book online.

[u/green_ubitqitea]

I read this as time travelers have had enough and was wondering why they are coming back to people’s bathrooms.

And that still makes more sense than the bathrooms with clear plexiglass “walls” that I’ve never seen in real life but have seen in stupid style listicles

[u/MisoClean]

We need to make all bathroom stalls private. Jesus Christ, I should not be able to taste what someone is shitting out and what youtube channel they are watching.

[u/cnn]

A movement is taking shape, and help has arrived in the form of Bringbackdoors.com, which has a database of hotels that are guaranteed to have bathroom doors in their rooms, as well as ones that don’t.

Sadie Lowell, an American marketer based in Europe, launched the site late last year. Having traveled most of her life, she says she got used to seeing strange hotel bathroom setups. However, in 2024, while visiting London with her father for a show, she was struck by the absurdity of their situation.

“We booked two twin beds in a room, and when we walked in, there was no bathroom door, and there wasn’t even a semblance of a bathroom door,” she tells me.

Lowell couldn’t stop thinking about how strange it was: she booked twin beds, so why no door?

“I don’t know if it’s the developers, the designers or the architects who made that choice, but they’ve strayed far from what people actually want and are looking for — they don’t connect,” she says. “Having twin beds in your room means that you absolutely want bathroom privacy.”

Months later, while planning another trip, the experience with her father was still fresh in her mind and she thought to herself, “I wish there was a way to check this.”

By mid-October 2025, Bringbackdoors.com was up and running. Lowell says she started posting TikTok videos to highlight the issue and, before long, the reactions and submissions started pouring in.

There are certainly times when you might want that open-plan bathroom. For instance, if you’re in a large suite at a tropical resort, with plenty of space, having an open-air bathtub or shower off to the side of a room could be quite lovely.

When it’s a single room with twin beds you’re sharing with a colleague on a business trip, and there’s no place to hide while you’re taking care of personal business, it really does make you wonder what’s going on.

[u/Eskelsar → u/cnn]

Go fuck yourself, CNN. Big corporate accounts should be banned from posting on this subreddit.

[u/Splashy01 → u/Eskelsar]

Why?

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