To think hotel designers should at least have once slept in a room before being allowed to design a room.

Hotel in Tallinn that I stayed in last year had a sensor that switched on the most gentle warm light in the bathroom when you got up at night, just enough light to find your way when you gwent for a wee, then turned itself off a few minutes later, fantastic. That was a great hotel anyway. I can't think of a single thing I disliked about it.

Not on MN, you have to shower twice a day and use a clean towel for every shower - that was a whole other thread. One person even showered 3 times a day. Once when the got up, once at the gym after their session and then the final time before they went to bed. Not sure about their preference for how fresh their towels had to be though, that wasn't mentioned

No wonder the planet is fucked

Yes.... but does her hair and skin look amazing? I'm trying to pay more attention to my skin, so enquiring minds want to know! (I've swapped most of my daily wine for green tea and that has made a HUGE difference).

I'm an every day hair washer- my hair is very fine, and greasy. I'm 52 now and know what I need to do to keep it looking and smelling good.

Oh yes that was another issue I had with the hotel with the massive free standing bath. The bedside lamps were so huge there was no room for anything else on the bedside table.

Not really, she looks just like every other seventy year old. She says that she's only doing it because she's done it for so long that now it's a habit.

This.

The Bloc Hotel at Gatwick exceeds on this one. From some rooms you have to negotiate a lift to get a cup of coffee.

That is after you have got out of bed, had a wee and a paddle from last night’s shower water, which has also soaked the loo roll.

You got a shelf for toiletries? Luxury. So many hotel showers are bare white cubicles with no shelf or hook and nowhere to put anything other than the floor.

Bugger- I was ready to get all inspired.

I WILL say though- I'm Australian who has lived in Europe the past 30 years. I can certainly see a massive difference in my skin (daily sunscreen) and my friends and family in Australia (also daily sunscreen) so after my last trip I became even more rigorously adherent to sunscreen. Mind you, they are all pretty health conscious and have active outdoor lives, which I need to emulate a bit of too.

With regard to the whole washing my hair every day - as I got older (late 60s now), my hair got drier and drier. I keep it short, so it looks like a normal texture, otherwise any longer and it looks like shredded wheat! My hairdresser specifically told me, not to wash it every day, because that would dry it out even more - to leave it at least 3 - 4 days. As it is, I wash it and put conditioner on at the beginning of the shower and leave the conditioner on, until the end, when it’s the last thing I wash off.

One more thing about baths - now we are getting older, we are more conscious that if we fall and break bones, healing takes much longer and still there’s potentially a lifetime of problems with that bone. The big chain we used to stay in, never had grab rails over the bath to help with getting in and out. We stayed in one, and the bath was so slippery, that our daughter with LD could not get out. She was panicking and crying. Normally, I take our own shower mat; but this time I had forgotten. DH went to ask reception, if they had a shower mat; but they didn’t. Luckily, I managed to grab her, as she tried to stand up, and was able to pull her up. (She’s heavier than I am) DH had a bath later, and commented it was so slippery, he struggled to get out of it!

It would be nice if major hotel chains could remember that elderly customers may struggle more in slippery baths; and that applies also to standing on a slippery surface under the bath shower?

I had the 'free tea and coffee available' experience at the Garner Hotel at Haymarket in Edinburgh, also by IHG group. It wasn't even a station on the corridor - you had to go down to reception to get yourself a hot drink (and some nice free snacks, I have to say). Horrible!

There is just one room out of six floors that I like in a certain hotel- the manager told me that it was the initial test room when the place was redesigned. For some reason, after proving the test room a success, they decided to make every other room smaller so guests have to navigate carefully around the end of the bed.

Ha yes, I was just thinking about the Garner as well. On the bright side there is the Palmerston just a corner away for any meal of the day and a 12 Triangles a three minutes walk down Dalry Rd for bread, pastries and decent coffee.

Definitely the plugs issue, never in the right place and then as I had to keep my phone by the bed to use as a torch to avoid the lights issue when going for a nighttime wee, i could leave it charging while I go downstairs for breakfast, except the electric goes off if you take the keycard with you.
To add to the nowhere to put your shampoo and conditioner plus fixed point shower head, when the water pressure is so high that I can barely stand back up after I have bent down to get the conditioner from the shower floor. Also towels, I want a hand towel for regular hand drying, a clean towel for drying my hair and a bath mat to stand on but there’s 2 non descript little squares (at least dp doesn’t have enough hair to need his own towel!) and the bath towel is also far too small.
2 single beds pushed together disguised as a large bed, so one of us spends the night sleeping down the gap. No proper duvet, just a sheet and the option to add a heavy scratchy blanket to combat the over zealous air conditioning.

i just popped in to say I loved your post. I had a laugh. I have a bladder prolapse, but I keep a tiny torch by the bed, for my night excursions to the toilet.

Special mention for the Novotel at Birmingham Airport. The room was perfectly pleasant and contained all the usual equipment, except that there was no rubber mat in the bathroom, but there was a printed notice stating that you could get one from reception. Who wants to flog back downstairs and queue at reception for a piece of basic equipment? Why can't they leave one in the room, rolled up, for the guest to use or not use according to preference? It's almost as if the hotel does not want older or less mobile guests.

that podcase sliced bread is fantastic really informative its on my podcast saved list

I can do that but it’s a hell of a lot easier and feels more effective with a non fixed shower head. If they’re going to skimp on shower fittings then they should at least provide a couple of washcloths every day. And it’s very hard to properly rinse my long hair especially under it at the neck with just an overhead one.
Also they’re hopeless if you’ve been out for the day wearing sandals and just need to wash your feet. Of course a bath is better for this but so many now don’t have one, alas - often due to planning restrictions/ water use concern which is understandable but still annoying. I’m short but flexible so while I can still manage to wash one foot at a time in the hand basin, I assume many people can’t and have to undergo the full deluge.

Anyone not always keeping a shower cap in their wash kit is daft though, they’re tiny and weigh nothing.

A lack of accessible plug sockets - no I don't want to have to move the bedside table and unplug the light to plug in my phone.

And a lack of hooks - I don't want to have to hang my damp towel over the wardrobe door or bathroom door!

I think this just goes to show that the question of shower head is down to personal preference rather one or the other being intrinsically ‘better’ as I can’t relate to any of the issues you’ve mentioned here. I love hot showers and would happily just jump into one for a couple of minutes even if I only needed to wash one particular part of my body.

Best case scenario would be all hotels offering decent fixed shower heads with separate additional hand shower! Then everyone’s happy.

Well obviously the more options the better. But it’s pretty obvious from this thread your preference is the minority view among women.

I was once in a room so small that you had to climb over your partner to get out of the bed if you needed a wee during the night. Another place that had the coffee machine in the wardrobe. Now I just book Premier Inn because I know what Im getting.

Also, everyday washing is bad for hair.

Can i join? I have a few moans!

Stayed at a hotel in Sicily (not a chain) where we had a huge family room with a balcony on three sides. But the layout of the room was really odd. There was a nice big mirror which should ideally have been above the desk/ dressing table. But instead it was over the sofa bed so it was hard to use when the sofa was folded up and utterly useless when folded out. There was also a large alcove in the wall containing a safe but nothing else - - no drawers, no shelves, no hanging space and instead an ugly hanging rack was plonked against one wall.

Autograph collection hotels with odd bathroom arrangements. In St Lucia the bathroom and two basins were in the bedroom (sep shower room) even though there was loads of room for a large bathroom. The toilet was also in its own little room just inside the room door but no basin so after a poo you'd have to undo the door with unwashed hands to go and use the bedroom basin. Autograph hotel in KL also had the basin outside the bathroom, just why???

Jetwing hotels also have odd bathrooms. One had all the facilities in the bathroom but fully glass walls. There were thankfully blinds but they were awkward to pull up and down with cords that tangled. Jetwing Yala had what I think was supposed to be a huge luxury wet room style bathroom but it was all black granite and I felt scared to go in alone. I posted a photo on FB and someone dubbed it "the killing room". It really did have gas chamber/chainsaw massacre vibes.

I haven’t read every post but possibly yes, I’m a bit unusual! Perhaps men would have a different opinion as you imply. I know my DH also hates hand showers on poles as they are never really high enough for him.