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Comment by pests | Hacker News Reader

The purpose of no bathroom doors is to limit their use to single people or couples. They want business travelers to get a separate rooms or upgrade.

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I can assure you not even single people nor couples want doorless bathrooms.

Why? I'd prefer a doorless bathroom.

One of my bedrooms at home opens into an open concept bathroom. No doors, vaulted ceilings, open.

I really don't get this.

I don't want to feel claustrophobic.

Edit: Like these -

https://34stjohn.com/blogs/inspiration/how-to-pull-off-an-op...

So you can take a dump with some privacy, obviously.

There must be two types of people/couples.

Those that prefer privacy and those that don't care.

A door has two states to choose from, so having a door covers all use cases.

And a third type, people who have had children so have gone through the toddler stage where a toddler would literally chainsaw and burn down a locked door before they let you have 3 seconds of peace to take a shit.

That's actually a very valid point I hadn't taken into consideration.

If you're single or have a partner that you're comfortable with, open concept bathrooms feel luxurious. But if you need sanctity and salvation from the kids, I can get it.

The real issue is when they're old enough to reach the lock, but not old enough to trust not to destroy things or injure themselves if left unsupervised.

I’ve actually ended otherwise decent relationships early because the other person was way too coy/upset with bodily functions like farting and pooping. If we’er sleeping together I expect us to be farting together. And if we are living together I expect us to be using the toilet in front of each other. Anything less is both inconvenient and reflective of deep personality conflicts that will never be resolved.

I have never in my life imagined that someone might break up with another person for the sole reason that the person refused to poop in front of them. That is honestly wild to me, but I appreciate your perspective, thanks for sharing.

Been married twenty years and haven't seen my wife poop yet. Not really on my list.

Similarly, married ten years and my wife and I have never seen each other use the bathroom. And barring dire emergencies I can't actually envision, we never will.

It's stories like these (and poor parenting I guess) that causes things like my cousin standing up to wipe for close to 30 years until his gf filled him in one day.

My college roommate told me I was doing it wrong by not standing up to wipe. I just rolled my eyes, that guy had a lot of weird things going on.

Sounds like there's going to be someone around who's bound to be the source of deep personality conflicts all right.

I would be surprised if private defecation is not a majority preference among couples.

Even if I'm alone in a hotel room, I'd prefer to contain the odor to the bathroom.

We tend to not care for showering/peeing, but pooping is something else...

I don't want a room to smell literally like shit.

You have the choice to open the door if you wish. This choice has been removed from those who prefer privacy if the door doesn't exist.

You live alone?

No. I think some couples are just more private than others.

I don't think there are any couples who prefer the bedroom to smell like the toilet.

If you flush the toilet at precisely the moment after you take a shit, the vacuum force of the toilet venting down the waste line will pretty much keep that from happening. That's basically prison rules.

Where is this magical prison where nobody farts?

They flush the toilet every time they fart, of course.

That is called a courtesy flush and it does happen.

Your sample link's examples seem conspicuously toilet-free to me.

But even without talking about toilets, I don't like airy/drafty feelings when I'm wet, so I'd hate most of those designs, myself.

From your link:

Making Privacy Work

Make sure to address the elephant in the room - privacy. Consider installing electrochromic glass panels that switch from clear to opaque. Or take inspiration from Japanese architecture with sliding wooden screens that double as art pieces.

I love pooping and having my dog visit. A little someone to talk to rather than scroll.

apparently not having doors prevents hemorrhoids.

Couples that poop together stay together.

Can you show off your toilet fetish on a more appropriate forum please

Single people or couples don't want doorless bathrooms, but they will probably tolerate them if forced into a room with that setup. Other types of travelers might not be so open-minded, and that's the point that OP is arguing about. Provide the bare minimum tolerable experience to your target audience and punish the customers you don't want.

I'd imagine that most couples would still want to be able to close a door when they're on the toilet.

I'd rather sleep in a shared room at a hostel and use a toilet in a stall in a communal bathroom than in a hotel room without a proper door on the bathroom.

> I'd imagine that most couples would still want to be able to close a door when they're on the toilet.

Right?

My wife and I don't use the toilet in front of each other. Even when we lived in an apartment with only 1 bathroom. You gotta use the toilet while one is showering? You can hold it.

Even when I'm home alone and don't expect her to come home any time soon, I close the door. I just feel so exposed with the door open. Even when I lived alone, I'm pretty sure I would close the door.

Whether the room has a door on the bathroom or not, business travellers should be getting separate rooms... Over dozens of trips, the only time I've ever shared was a two-bedroom apartment when I went with a colleague for a conference (one had an ensuite so we had separate bathrooms as well as separate bedrooms with doors).

I wouldn't be OK with going on trips (or sending people I manage on trips) where two people had to sleep in the same room, I wouldn't consider that acceptable...

I agree, it's a huge HR risk. It used to be common with British companies sending people abroad. I can't imagine they still do it today.

20 years ago a shared room was kinda the go-to for conferences and business meetings seemed like at companies I worked at. It was normal to share a 2 bed room with another guy, but all the hotels we ever stayed at had a bathroom with door that closed and didn't open straight to the bedroom. It also had a curtain or at least a frosted door if someone happened to open the door.

No, it is because doors take up a lot of space. A typical door is 3 feet wide, and requires 7-14 feet of empty space to operate [0]. You can't place any furniture, toiletries, or luggage racks in this space. For a typical hotel room of 300sq feet, this "dead space" represents 3-5% of the room. Removing the door allows hotels to decrease the size of each room, and fit more rooms on each floor, increasing profit.

This is why many newer hotels choose to sliding doors, which barely take up any space, or just remove doors entirely.

[0] For a door of r=3 feet, A door swings a minimum of 90 degrees, which takes 3.14 * 3*2 / 4 = 7.065 sq feet at a minimum to 14.1 sq feet to operate.

Unlikely, given that you don't know it has no door until after you get there.

And also, when I travel with my kids, I still want to close the door.

I'm in a committed long term relationship. I absolutely do not want to shit in front of my partner (nor do they have any desire to watch).

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