To think the hotel were out of order with valentines stay/room?

[Hotelhorror]

I had a night away booked with my boyfriend on Saturday (the first time we had stayed overnight with each other).

It was a modern hotel with a glass window to the bathroom which was supposed to turn opaque when a button was selected. It was apparent this wasn’t working.

We went downstairs to reception to ask for it to be fixed, receptionist said they’d send someone to take a look. Maintenance man came up and said it was a common issue but he didn’t have the part needed (and wouldn’t have it until midweek) so he accompanied us back to reception again saying they’d give us another room.

The receptionist said there was no alternative rooms available as the hotel was full due to valentines and when this happens, couples have ‘seen it all before so just laugh about it’ and enjoy their stay.

I said this wasn’t acceptable and asked for the manager - who did appear from the back office but basically doubled down and said there was nothing they could do. She did offer us a voucher for a drink each in the bar (really!!) as a ‘goodwill gesture’.

As we had traveled some distance we decided to stay, and used the communal loos in the reception area whenever there was a need (luckily there was no need to in the night).

I found them thoroughly dismissive and am awaiting a response to my formal complaint to head office.

AIBU to find these customer service standards appalling?

Image attached of what I mean (this isn’t mine but from another review of same hotel of people unhappy with the set up)

This. It doesn’t matter how long you have been together. One month or 40 years. Doesn’t matter. You booked a room with a bathroom having a privacy option. The hotel were unable to fulfill that booking sufficiently so a refund is appropriate.

FWIW my DH and I have been together nearly 30 years. He has seen me give birth twice. I would not want him to catch a glimpse of me wiping my arse after a poo. Not my idea of a romantic gesture.

This is my nightmare! I don't really like en suite bathrooms as the close proximity of the bed and the toilet makes me self-conscious and uncomfortable. The smell of some else's poo wafting into the bedroom is something I wold prefer to avoid (yes - even after being married for 30 years and having 4 children together!).

I really feel for you as it must be even worse with a new partner. You are not being unreasonable at all.

We had this recently, where the bathroom had a full glass window so no one missed ‘the amazing view’. The problem was though, there was exterior window, then little sitting area, then bed, then bathroom - so while on the loo, you looked out across the bed and sitting area to the lovely view outside the window.

However, there was a roller blind which you could put down if desired. Neither DH or I could be bothered faffing with a roller blind every time we went to the loo, so just left it. We didn’t look at each other on the loo though, who would? We were either in the little sitting area, having wine or cup of tea while looking out at the view, or laying on the bed watching Netflix, not ogling the person who had gone in and was sitting on the loo, or drying themselves off from shower behind the glass. So, while an odd’ish set up, it was no biggie at all and we certainly were not storming down to reception about it, or using reception toilets.

Good for you.

This room had no ‘little sitting area’ out of sight of the bathroom.

Baffling that no one at the hotel has come up with a temporary fix for customers who are uncomfortable with it, if it is an ongoing problem. A curtain that fixes with suckers or electrostatically for example. You can't be the only 2 guests who have a problem with it. It's not you, it's them.

I wouldn't want to use the toilet in front of my OH but I think I would just ask him not to look.

I would expect better customer service around the issue though - clearly if the room was advertised with a see through door to the bathroom, you wouldn't have booked it.

Ah, romantic valentines weekend.... where forced to see each other shit.

Hotel are taking the pee.

😱

Gross. Nobody wants to see that.

Is that a Village Hotel? One I go to regularly (with a child for sports) does not have glass doors like that to the bathroom ... which would absolutely not be acceptable if not working!

If anyone who'd be ok with this could please - genuine question - tell me how they're ok with this? At what stage of the relationship did it become ok to poo in front of each other? Did you feel embarrassed the first time? I'm genuinely asking, because I think I do err too far on the other side - I honestly think I'd be reduced to tears by this set up, if there wasn't a toilet at reception to use.

Puts me in mind of a bloody prison cell, with the loo in the corner, opposite the bed! Who thought this was a good idea? A pervert, that's who.

Although... that hotel room doesn't look like - even with a special opaque glass wall, that the bathroom is particularly private. It looks like a small room, and a tiny bathroom, and not well-sound proofed. I wouldn't happy sharing that room for a first weekend away with someone, or even with someone I'd been together with for years.

That's what most people would do surely. Most new partners aren't going to stare at you when you're on the toilet surely?
Mind you we've been together for a long time and once they've seen you in labour three times and breastfeeding then I wouldn't care about him seeing me on the toilet.

Ewww, that is awful! I would be mortified to have to share a room and bathroom like that with a new partner! I'd find it pretty awful to have to share a room like this with my husband of 15 years! That's completely unacceptable. I'd have made my husband leave the whole room when I needed the loo!

I stayed in a hotel with my husband and 2 children where the bathroom had a sliding door on one side but completely open on the other. But the toilet was in an individual opaque glass cubicle. I've never seen one quite like yours before, You're basically sleeping in a bathroom, how romantic!!

What is it with the fashion of this see though semi ensuite bathrooms, they're awful!? Are they a lot cheaper than an actual wall and door or something?

Is this the Village Hotel in Eastleigh, @Hotelhorror?

I stayed there once before a last minute cruise - everywhere else was full - and thought the see-through loos in keeping with the rest of the place, which I found dodgy in the extreme

Sooner or later a big chain will probably buy the place and remedy this, but that's not much use to guests in the meantime

yep... I think I'd be doing my Number 2 in the reception anyway TBH (and expecting my OH to as well).

I have been with DH for 15 years and would not be happy with this - I have IBS and need privacy in the bathroom.

This room had no ‘little sitting area’ out of sight of the bathroom

So, there was no way in the rest of the room that you could avoid looking into the bathroom. At all? That seems odd. Worse comes to worse, surely just doomscroll? I just don’t see how anyone is forced to look in? In the set up I described, the bed was right next to the glass window so while laying on it the other person could have had a prime view in, but if you don’t want to look, you just don’t and the problem is solved. So, yes, good for us coming up with such a solution 🤷‍♀️.

Yeah I always think I’m quite relaxed about body stuff, I don’t mind DH/kids coming in while I have a wee, but I can’t ever imagine just standing there while your partner sits straining on the loo and plopping shit into the toilet, the smell, wiping their shitty arse. How does one sleepwalk into this?

All the people saying 'Why didn't you just look away?' or 'Why didn't you just tape a sheet over the door?' are missing the point. It's like telling someone who had to wait 90 minutes for a restaurant to serve them an expensive meal that they could have just gone over the road to Tesco and bought a bag of crisps to eat while they were waiting.

If you pay money for a hotel room, you're not paying for an awkward and uncomfortable experience, or one that requires makeshift cobbled-together solutions to meet the most basic of needs. A hotel room shouldn't require sheets and towels taped over the door, or one's partner having to turn and stare at the wall every time you need the loo - that isn't the comfortable and relaxing experience you're paying for.

It’s not something I’d have booked if I didn’t like the set-up 🤷‍♀️

Not acceptable. The lack of a private loo is a significant factor. Just because you might be able to laugh about it doesn't mean the hotel wasn't failing to provide what you paid for. Complain as high as you need to to get a refund.

YADNBU. Been with my DH for nearly 12 years. Obviously in an emergency situation / in sickness and in health etc it ultimately wouldn’t be an issue, but in any other scenario, nope, absolutely not. One of the ways we firmly believe in keeping a bit of mystery / allure is to absolutely not see each other go to the toilet. Hardly conducive to a romantic valentines weekend, why on earth do some hotels have this ridiculous set up. Nobody wants this. In a romantic relationship, I can deal with the shower situation being like this (albeit would still prefer privacy), but not the loo. Albeit not everyone sharing a hotel room is in a romantic relationship- once had to share on a work trip that had this ridiculous set up for the shower. Super uncomfortable and inconvenient.

Well that’s just wonderful for you. With your lovely view. And your little sitting area. And your glass of wine. Cup of tea. Watching Netflix. So, um, what’s the relevance?

My husband and I changed our hotel room when we realised there bathroom was like this. There’s no way we would accept this. You’re not unreasonable at all and I don’t understand why this glass was even invented !

My DH has seen me in labour, and breastfeeding, and puking. God knows what he saw during labour - he's never said and I was in no condition to know or care. But I just couldn't voluntarily, in normal health, use the toilet in front of him. At a desperate stretch, maybe a pee.

Labour is just a whole other plane of experience - normal rules don't apply. For me, it wasn't like - ok I've given birth in front of him, now anything goes.