In recent Newsletters and Reviews I have commented on the inability of the UK’s Hotel standard or star rating authorities to consistently implement their own rating standards, resulting, in my view, in major hotel developments that do not meet the star ratings advertised.
The Guides to Hotel Design (available in the DesignClub) illustrates the hotel bathrooms that work. The standards in the Guide articles are worth a wider mention, so here they are.Firstly what are the major annoyances recorded by all guests in survy after survey? Both designer and hotel need to take note these are:
• Cleanliness (or rather, lack of it)
• Not enough space to layout wash gear
• No space to dry swimming gear/running gear or hand laundered items
• Mirrors that steam up
• Poor water pressure
• Varying temperature in the shower
• Eco-flush toilets that fail to clean the pan after use combined with no toilet brush
• Poor shaving/make up mirrors
• Low powered hair dryer ‘toys’
• Poor quality toiletries (one travel writer said they wouldn’t stay in an hotel whose toiletries were not worth stealing)
• Poor lighting
• Noisy extract fans
