The hotel bathroom has become a part of the itinerary

A good holiday has always involved a certain amount of doing absolutely nothing in a very nice setting. Restaurants, adventure, and sightseeing are all well and good. But spending an unreasonable amount of time in a bathtub after a full day of holidaying is also a perfectly legitimate holiday activity.

Which is probably why I've always paid attention to hotel bathrooms. And lately, it feels like hotels have started paying attention to them too.

The thread count still matters. The pillow menu is still a pleasure. But you can tell a lot about a hotel from the first five minutes you spend in its bathroom. 

My standards aren't particularly high. I just want to feel mildly pampered at all times. So here's a completely reasonable and not at all demanding checklist for what constitutes a great hotel bathroom.

A bathtub that's actually large enough to justify the existence of a bathtub. Thick towels. Good water pressure. A cosy bathrobe you'll wear more than necessary. Good lighting for the inevitable pre-dinner selfie. Enough counter space that you don't have to develop a strategy to place your skincare and makeup. A hairdryer with genuine conviction. And products that make you pause for a second and smell them before using them. None of these things is particularly important. Which is probably why they're exactly the things you tend to remember. 

Because somewhere along the way, hotel bathrooms stopped being functional and started becoming a part of the experience. The good ones feel like tiny private spas you happen to have a bedroom attached to. The products are where it gets interesting. The days of anonymous 2-in-1 shampoo bottles are behind us. 

At Soho House properties, it's Cowshed. The Berkeley has Bamford. The Oberoi commissions its own formulations. The Taj's relationship with Forest Essentials feels old enough to qualify as tradition. The message is rarely subtle: we have opinions about soap. And that's the luxury. Not necessarily the brand itself, but the fact that somebody cared enough to choose one.

Which is also why hotel amenities have become such effective marketing. The products have become better, the bottles have become prettier and the sizes have become suspiciously perfect for travel. The amenity is the marketing.

Long after you've forgotten the room number, you're still finding traces of the hotel in your toiletry bag. It's sensory, residual, and a little impossible to fully leave behind.

We talk about holidays differently now—rest, recharge, reset. And the hotel bathroom is where that happens too. It's where you slow down, take your time, and enjoy the luxury of having absolutely nowhere else to be.

Somewhere along the way, it stopped being the place where you got ready for the holiday—and became a part of the itinerary itself.

Lead image: Getty Images

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