Designer spaces: hotel bedrooms vs. hotel bathrooms

Select your champion: here, we’re putting the spotlight on five luxury hotels from across the globe and asking which guestroom space captivates you more — the bedroom or the bathroom?

Bedroom at the Hard Rock Hotel Budapest, with a bath

When it comes to luxury hotel design, the bedroom and bathroom are two key spaces where comfort and style must coexist in perfect harmony. While bedrooms serve as the ultimate sanctuary for relaxation, offering comfort, serenity, and a personal touch, bathrooms increasingly go beyond functionality, transforming into tranquil, indulgent retreats too. Whether through open-air layouts that connect guests with nature, as seen in Buahan, Bali, or through sleek, sculptural designs that offer panoramic views, as seen in Jumeirah Marsa Al Arab, Dubai, these spaces are thoughtfully curated to elevate the guest experience.

From contemporary elegance with organic influences to vibrant, bohemian flair, we’ve listed five hotels with a unique approach to design; combining aesthetic beauty with a deep sense of place, culture, and indulgence. Let’s explore how these hotels balance bedroom and bathroom design to create truly unforgettable stays, and, bedroom or bathroom, which space makes you want to book your stay?

Jumeirah Marsa Al Arab, Dubai

As of Friday, 4th March, 2025, guests will step into the superyacht-like Jumeirah Marsa Al Arab, for the first time. Inspired by the sleek elegance of a superyacht, the ultra-luxury hotel’s architecture — designed by award-winning architect Shaun Killa — seamlessly integrates with the surrounding seascape and its own exclusive marina.

The interiors, envisioned by French designer Tristan Auer in collaboration with Wilson Associates, so too exude contemporary elegance with organic marine influence. The higher-end suites feature floor-to-ceiling, fully retractable glass walls that mirror the hotel’s sinuous exterior, blurring the line between indoors and the shimmering Gulf beyond.

The seamless flow between bedroom and bathroom enhances the feeling of openness, with freestanding sculptural bathtubs positioned to take full advantage of panoramic views. Thoughtfully curated lighting and high-end materials create a serene yet indulgent atmosphere, ensuring that whether guests are unwinding in bed or soaking in the tub, every moment feels like a continuation of the ocean’s embrace — oh, and a 7-star hotel stay…

Buahan, Banyan Tree Escape, Bali

Buahan, a Banyan Tree Escape in the highlands of Bali, redefines luxury with its ‘no walls, no doors’ design. The bedrooms, known as Bales, offer a lavish yet eco-conscious retreat, featuring private pools and panoramic jungle views. Traditional Balinese architecture and an open-concept design, dubbed “The Naked Experience,” allows natural light and airflow to enhance the sense of tranquillity and immersion in nature.

The bathrooms continue this theme, embracing an open-air layout that feels both chic and sophisticated. Despite the lodge-style setting, the design maintains high-end elegance and the seamless indoor-outdoor flow encourages a deep engagement with nature, elevating the experience beyond typical luxury resorts.

The thoughtful design of both the bedrooms and bathrooms reflects a commitment to sustainability and cultural preservation. By working with local architects and artisans, Buahan creates a space that respects its natural surroundings while providing an unparalleled escape. Check into the Buahan with Hotel Designs.

The Silo Hotel, Cape Town

Once an international grain trade and export facility, The Silo Hotel in South Africa‘s capital now offers some of the most spectacular views across Cape Town — from its bed and bath-framing floor-to-ceiling ceiling windows.

One of The Royal Portfolio’s collection of luxury South African hotels, Founder and Owner of the portfolio, Liz Biden, took the lead with the interior design of the Silo. Her focus was on ‘balancing the stark industrial style of the architecture with aspects of glamour and modern comfort’, which one can see from the tiffany blue bathroom cabinets in the bathroom and the plush velvet headboard of the bedroom, set against a limewash-look wall.

Of the renovated silo, completed in 2017, the hotel occupies the top six floors. The Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa resides within a grand atrium, carved out of 42 original cylindrical storage silos, on the ground floor — the brain-child of pioneering London-based architecture firm Heatherwick Studio, who oversaw the building’s conversion.

Raffles Europejski Warsaw

A 19th-century Grand Dame of European hotels, in 2018 the Europejski Hotel in Warsaw, Poland, reopened under the Raffles banner following four years of restoration which returned the property to its former, pre-war glory.

Proudly Polish, the hotel’s interiors, by WWAA, APA Wojciechowski, and Boriš Kudlička, showcase the very best of modern and contemporary Polish art and heritage Polish craftsmanship; the site’s Polish art collection amounts to almost 500 artworks.

Heritage craftsmanship is represented in both the bedrooms and the bathrooms at the Hotel Europejski. In the bedrooms, intricately carved headboards, furniture and walls made of wood (by native artisans and carpenters) narrate Polish architectural traditions — of which wood is key. In the bathrooms, the Warsaw skyline is etched into the grey marble walls; a rooted design choice that reaffirms the hotel’s location on Warsaw’s historic Royal Route.

Hyde Johannesburg Rosebank

The freshly renovated Hyde Johannesburg Rosebank’s bedrooms and bathrooms blend urban sophistication with a bohemian, earthy aesthetic, creating a stylish yet relaxed retreat. Designed by Oniro Studios, the guest rooms feature a serene mix of neutral textures, earthy tones, and bold patterns, striking a balance between comfort and creativity. A unique “try-on wall” allows guests to accessorize their outfits with locally crafted items like woven fans and glass beads, adding a personal and interactive touch to the stay.

In contrast to the bedrooms’ calming palette, the bathrooms burst with colour and pattern, embodying a lively, festival-inspired summer feel. Playful design elements ensure an energising atmosphere, while thoughtful details contribute to the hotel’s signature laid-back luxe experience. The fusion of artistic décor, cultural influences, and modern comfort defines the hotel’s approach, making each stay an immersive, design-forward escape with a distinct South African soul.

Main image credit: Hard Rock Hotels