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Rub a Dub Dub, Hotels Get into Tubs

February 28, 2006 at 10:59 AM | 0 Comments

The Wall Street Journal reports on the latest trend sweeping the boutique hotel industry--tubs in the middle of the rooms.

The new Hotel Valley Ho (heh heh) in Scottsdale, Ariz., has done this and The Sofitel Los Angeles will reopen this April with long glass panels separating the once private toilet with the bedroom. The Standard Miami has tubs on the balconies but private bathrooms inside.

The W Montreal was called out for too much openness with only a transparent curtain separating bath and bed. And that you can look into the bathroom from each room's private entryway, through a peephole in the wall.

We've actually stayed here and maybe we are just comfortable with our sexuality but these voyeur showers, as they are called, are no big deal. The entire room is huge and the toilet is far from the bathing area, and behind a door--at least in the Urban Suites. We also didn't see any "peepholes", but that is just us.

We do concede that at some places, like Gridskipper found out at Hotel Sezz, baths in the rooms, especially when said rooms are small, just don't work.

For now, the tub trend will continue and these boutique hotels are full aware of their "Look at me!" tendencies.

"We're being deliberately provocative," says Colum McCartan, designer of the new Hotel Vitale in San Francisco, where suites have tubs in the sleeping area, pressed against floor-to-ceiling windows that overlook San Francisco Bay. "It's a little cheeky. We know everyone won't want to take a bath in the middle of the room."

Related Stories:
· Deluxe Suite, Tub Views [WSJ]
· W Montreal reviews [TripAdvisor]
· Viewlicious: Urban Suite at W Montreal [HotelChatter]