Dear Hotels (RE Your Showers)

[blackcat20]

I have just spent over 6 weeks in the US and I swear EVERY shower at each accommodation place was different!
We showered at hotels, motels, B&Bs, trains, apartments, a cruise ship, airport lounges and friends' houses and they all confused me.
I, too, found it difficult to see which were the hot and cold taps (without my specs on).
Why, oh why, do they have the shower and bath taps all in one over there? And not a single set of instructions

The first time I visited the US I spent a good 10 mins in the bathroom, completely starkers and very jet-lagged, trying to work out how to get the water to come out the shower head rather than the bath tap...

 

[harvyk]

I've had two really annoying ones, the first was at LAX where no matter what I did I couldn't get the showers to send out hot water (cold shower wasn't exactly what I wanted), and the other one was at a hotel in SF where it was a strange combination of turning, pulling and pushing. It was an absolute balancing act to get the right temp and moving anything my more than a mm would throw everything off whack (temp \ pressure)

 

[MatF]

Hate shubs. Hate shubs with shower curtains even more. Can't stand them.
Seriously, how many people use a bath in a hotel anyway?

Best showers I regularly use are at the Hilton in Brisbane. Nice big shower, great screen and drain system so you don't flood the bathroom, nice big shower head, good pressure, single simple to use mixer tap.

 

[simongr]

Hate shubs. Hate shubs with shower curtains even more. Can't stand them.
Seriously, how many people use a bath in a hotel anyway?

Also factor in how small the shubs are as well - I couldn't actually have a bath even if I wanted to unless I bathed in phases.

 

[drron]

Hate shubs. Hate shubs with shower curtains even more. Can't stand them.
Seriously, how many people use a bath in a hotel anyway?

Best showers I regularly use are at the Hilton in Brisbane. Nice big shower, great screen and drain system so you don't flood the bathroom, nice big shower head, good pressure, single simple to use mixer tap.

Me.I love my morning soak.And when you get old and arthritic you may too.

 

[Fantic125]

The taps I've hated the most are ones that look like normal hot and cold, but one of the taps has a little lever on it that "locks" the temperature setting.

You have to turn both taps on, then push in the lever and turn the knob to get the desired temperature, then release the lever, then use both knob to adjust the pressure. :evil:

Can't remember now which hotels (or even the country; either Taiwan, Korea or the US) they were in, but it took me ages to work it out the first time......

 

[MatF]

Me.I love my morning soak.And when you get old and arthritic you may too.

Hehe, fair enough, though I'm a bit of a germophobe - I'm not sure I could bring myself to get into a hotel bath. I don't even like standing in one

 

[dajop]

Usually work it out eventually, but apart from most of above (shubs, shower curtains, alternating hot/cold etc) my pet peeve is showers that you can only adjust temperature not pressure (the ones with a single temperature dial and that is it). Seem to particularly prevalent in the US hotels I've stayed in.

 

[simonpenny408]

Hates:
1) Fiddling around like some demented safe cracker getting alternately scalded and frozen
2) Having to run around to get wet in British aerosol showers
3) Stooping down to turn on the bath taps only to have the shower head blast icy water on you

 

[thewinchester]

Forgive me for playing devil's advocate, but are the various permutations of shower controls too much for the folks of AFF?

It pains me to say this, but despite having stayed at various hotels in different countries I am yet to encounter a shower who's controls require me to whip out a manual of instructions.

I agree that consistent water pressure is always a PITA, and getting the hot to a setting you like is always a fun game of hit and miss.

 

[blackcat20]

Hates:
3) Stooping down to turn on the bath taps only to have the shower head blast icy water on you

Sitting on the edge of the bath to wash my feet after a day walking around New Orleans in thongs, had exactly the same thing happen. And I thought the tap was meant to reset to bath once the water was switched off.... Good thing it was so hot my clothes dried quickly.

 

[harvyk]

Forgive me for playing devil's advocate, but are the various permutations of shower controls too much for the folks of AFF?

One of these days you'll end up at a hotel which has decided to do some god-awful \ strange plumbing and you'll know what it's like to be unable to get a shower going properly. It'll happen, trust me...

 

[Justchecking]

I hate the ones with multiple shower outlets amd those stupid push buttons to change which outlet the water comes from. Somehow I am never able to get the water running from anything except the sodding bath tap....:evil: i would actually just like a shower that has the water coming out of the shower head.

 

[trippin_the_rift]

Or where the tap/button/swipe key is on the opposite side to where you enter the shower. So you need to get wet in order to turn it on!

 

[amaroo]

The taps don't bother me...as much as a little useless shower head does.

Give me the biggest water flowing shower head & I'm happy. IMO the only good shower is one that is stand alone & has a water flow similar to Niagara Falls.

Also like the description rain shower when reading hotel features

 

[Fifa]

Hehe, fair enough, though I'm a bit of a germophobe - I'm not sure I could bring myself to get into a hotel bath. I don't even like standing in one

I always wonder how well the housemaid has scrubbed that bath tub too!
:shock::shock::shock:

 

[RB]

After 2 motorhome trips around NZ I believe the problems of hotels also extend to the showers of campgrounds, rarely saw 2 the same- made much more difficult by my need to wear glasses. I had to be super organised knowing that sometimes there were timers on the hot water.

 

[Warks]

Great topic for a good old whinge!
The worst are those UK ones with no pressure and the shower head is that removable rose with the flexible hose thingy - you have to remove it to get water on anywhere below the equator as the pressure is so poor no water actually gets that far! I thought they'd gone the way of the dodo but I note on those UK reno shows where they ALWAYS install such a shower when they replace the bathroom!

Back home what is it about the traditional two tap showers where the nuts with the 'H' and 'C' on them are ALWAYS loose? Before I even turn the water on I have to get them as finger tight as possible. One of the taps is always like this.

Then there's those ultra trendy hotels with the shower recesses that have no hob - the water just flows out onto the floor and into the drain. Of course if you've left anything on the floor the water is magically drawn to it for a good soaking.

Ahh. I feel better now. But I think there's more to come....
:mrgreen:

 

[QF029]

I actively choose hotel rooms based on them having a standalone shower. If not available in my price range, my current policy to to request an accessible room instead as I hate showering in a bath.

 

[casanovawa]

Doesn't sound like there are many Bear Grylls candidates on AFF who are up for an adventure does it???