A Hotel Guest Filmed Himself Doing Something Bizarre to Prove a Point. One Woman Was So Fed Up She Took Matters Into Her Own Hands

I’ve written before about some rather unpleasant hotel-room discoveries and real hotel privacy concerns that have left travelers shocked, frustrated or wondering how certain things could happen in the first place. I also showed you what happens with stained sheets (a huge debate online), but this time I want to talk about something different. It’s a growing hotel design trend that might seem like a good idea at first, until you actually have to deal with it.

One traveler was so fed up that he filmed himself demonstrating the problem, and thousands of people reacted. Others shared their own experiences, including complaints about things I’d never have thought a hotel would consider a good idea. The frustration has become so widespread that one woman even created an entire database dedicated to helping travelers avoid certain hotel designs.

And I have two personal experiences to share, too. One involved an unexpected video call from my husband during a business trip, and the other happened when we were traveling with our son. I’ll also share some rather revealing research involving nearly 69,000 hotel reviews, along with videos that show exactly why so many travelers are complaining. Some of the details might make you look at hotel photographs a little differently before your next booking.

ID 77244154 ©Elnur | Dreamstime.com 

He Stepped Into His Hotel Shower Fully Dressed to Demonstrate a Problem

Raeon, who posts on TikTok as @raeonartez, was staying at a Residence Inn by Marriott when he decided to show hotels what he thought was wrong with their showers.

His bathroom featured a large shower enclosure with a fixed glass panel covering only part of the opening. There was no full door to close, leaving a substantial section exposed to the rest of the bathroom.

Instead of simply complaining about the design, he stepped into the shower while still wearing his clothes and positioned himself behind the glass panel. He showed how much of the opening remained uncovered and then turned on the water.

The demonstration was clearly relatable. The video attracted more than 191,000 views, 31,000 likes and 850 comments when I checked it, with many viewers recognizing the design immediately.

Some people had dealt with the same problem at different hotels. Others were astonished that hotels kept installing showers that let cold air in or made it hard to turn the water on without getting wet.

People Complained About Being Hot and Cold at the Same Time

Many of the comments focused on how uncomfortable these partially open showers can be. Guests described feeling cold on the side of their bodies that wasn’t directly under the water, even while taking a hot shower.

“HATE IT!!! Water be everywhere. The cold air hitting you. It’s such a lazy concept.”

“And whatever side ain’t under the water is freezing 😂”

“yup. they all like this. irked tf outta me during my stay cause how I’m hot AND cold at the same time in this shower? 🙄”

“and they’re hella cold! I don’t want a breeze while I’m in the shower”

“I hate it because I’m always so cold. Let me guess this was a man’s idea…..”

“can’t even enjoy my shower cause I’m halfway freezing 🙄”

The other recurring complaint was water ending up outside the shower. Depending on the showerhead and glass position, water can reach the bathroom floor, leaving guests dealing with puddles.

And then there’s the question of how you’re expected to turn on the shower.

Another Problem: Getting the Water Running Without Getting Soaked

Several travelers described showers where the controls were behind the fixed glass panel, making it hard to adjust the temperature before stepping under the water.

“And how I’m I supposed to turn it on and not get my hair wet”

Yes, not everyone wants to wash their hair every time they shower, so this type of bathroom can be an issue. There are also people who want to let the water warm up before getting inside – something that becomes impossible with the design mentioned.

Another commenter described hotel bathrooms in Europe and the UK where a similar glass panel was installed above a bathtub, creating a different problem:

“In EU/UK, the glass is about that size but you have to climb into a tub that is 3ft high with nothing to hold on to. Sometimes the glass dividers swing in and out. You have to hold on to dear life getting out of those deep slippery tubs on to a completely wet floor. Why can’t they just use a full curtain?”

One person who claimed to have worked at a Marriott front desk said this was an extremely familiar complaint.

“Working front desk for Marriott, this was the #1 complaint I always got 🤣”

Another Traveler Had the Same Question About Hotel Showers

Raeon isn’t the first person to question why hotel showers are designed this way. In May 2025, a woman posted in Reddit’s travel community about hotel showers with controls positioned behind fixed glass panels. She was frustrated that she couldn’t comfortably turn on the water and adjust the temperature without reaching into the shower or getting wet.

The discussion drew thousands of reactions, and people began sharing their own hotel bathroom complaints.

One commenter asked a question that would sound familiar to anyone who watched Raeon’s video:

“What’s with the showers that only have half a glass wall and no door? Water gets everywhere, I have to mop up after so I don’t feel like a jerk leaving a puddle on the floor, and I get cold! Makes no sense.”

Another was more direct:

“No open showers. They are cold. I want a door on my shower.”

Other people were frustrated by shower controls that made it difficult to adjust the water pressure and temperature independently.

“I recently stayed at a hotel in the USA and the shower only had one knob and it was used to control both the amount of water and the temperature. So you could choose a slow cold stream, or a hot jet. You wanted a cold jet, or a slow hot stream? Out of luck.”

Interestingly, one traveler described a solution they’d encountered in Nordic hotels. The fixed glass panels had small openings positioned so guests could reach the controls without entering the shower.

“I have stayed in multiple Nordic hotels where there is a hole in the glass to pop your hand in and turn on the shower! I wasn’t sure what the hole was for but it was placed in a way that allowed me to do that so I can only assume that was the intention. Loved it.”

Apparently, at least some bathroom designers have considered that people might want to turn on the water before standing underneath it.

The Complaints Didn’t Stop at Showers

As the discussions continued, travelers started listing other hotel bathroom features they found irritating. Some complained about sinks with no space for toiletries, others about the absence of soap dishes, and a few mentioned toilets positioned too close to walls or doors.

“Can’t forget those bathroom sinks with nowhere to set your toiletries – love those! 🙃”

“Another pet peeve is when there’s a bar of soap next to the sink but no soap dish. So I’m supposed to just leave a wet bar of soap on the counter? I usually use a cup for the soap. WTH??”

One frequent business traveler had accumulated an entire list of bathroom design choices they disliked, including rain showers, open bathrooms, frosted glass, motion-sensor lights and sliding barn doors.

But another complaint was particularly personal: the lack of privacy when someone needs to use the toilet.

One traveler expressed it in the most direct way possible:

“Please stop using transparent glass walls for bathrooms too my wife doesn’t need to roll over in bed and see me taking a dump thanks”

Another described a hotel in Germany where the bathroom wasn’t separated from the room by a conventional wall or door at all.

“I stayed in a German hotel where there wasn’t any form of wall or door. Just a sort of floor to ceiling island thing but open walkway all round it.”

“They proudly called it their ‘open concept’. I can’t begin to understand how that was ever signed off.”

And this particular complaint reminded me of two experiences we’ve had ourselves.

My Husband Once Called Me From a Hotel Just to Show Me the Bathroom

ID 471282682 ©Olesya Kuzina | Dreamstime.com 

A few years ago, my husband was away on a business trip when he video-called me from his hotel room.

He wasn’t calling to show me a spectacular view, an unusually luxurious room or something interesting he’d discovered in the city. He wanted to show me the bathroom.

The room had glass walls or windows separating the bathroom from the sleeping area. He hadn’t expected that arrangement, and the design was unusual enough that he immediately wanted me to see it.

I still remember him turning the camera toward the bathroom while we talked.

At the time, I thought it was an interesting, somewhat strange hotel design. Later, we encountered something similar during a family road trip, and that experience made me appreciate one small detail that can completely change how comfortable such a room feels.

We Had a Glass Bathroom in a Four-Star Hotel, Too. But There Was an Important Difference

Two years ago, my husband, our son and I drove to Munich. We stayed overnight at a four-star hotel in Romania on the way there and booked the same hotel for another night on the way back.

The bathroom had a substantial glass section separating it from the sleeping area.

For a family sharing one hotel room, that could have been awkward. Our son was traveling with us, and we certainly didn’t want everyone to be visible while using the bathroom.

Fortunately, the hotel had installed a large fabric drape on the bedroom side of the glass.

The drape wasn’t inside the bathroom, like a shower curtain. It was outside, on the bedroom side, and covered the entire glass section.

We could leave it open when nobody was using the bathroom, allowing the room to feel more spacious. Whenever someone needed privacy, we simply closed it.

We couldn’t see through the glass at all once the curtain was closed. Everyone was comfortable, and we had no reason to complain about the arrangement.

We stayed in the same hotel again on the return journey, and I’d have no problem booking it again.

That experience made me wonder why more hotels with glass bathrooms don’t offer something similar. The glass can remain part of the design, but guests should have some control over how much privacy they get.

Nearly 69,000 Hotel Reviews Reveal Who Is Most Concerned About Bathroom Privacy

Hotel bathroom privacy isn’t just something travelers complain about on social media.

Researchers analyzed 68,936 reviews written by American travelers staying at hotels in Paris, Rome, Barcelona, Amsterdam and Istanbul. The reviews covered 2006 through 2016, and the study examined how guests discussed privacy during their stays.

Among the room-related concepts associated with privacy concerns, bathrooms accounted for 17%, followed by showers at 8%, doors at 6% and beds at 5%.

The research also found differences depending on who was sharing the hotel room.

Travelers staying with friends expressed the greatest privacy concerns, followed by those staying with family. Couples and business travelers showed lower levels of concern.

I can understand that difference. A couple might be perfectly comfortable with a bathroom that’s partially visible from the bed. Two friends sharing a twin room may feel very differently, and families traveling with teenagers or adult children need privacy too.

You can book a room with enough beds for everyone and still discover that the bathroom layout makes sharing it uncomfortable.

Some Hotel Bathrooms Have Frosted Glass, but That Doesn’t Always Solve the Problem

Frosted glass can look reassuring in hotel photographs. It obscures details, allows light through and may give the bathroom a more contemporary appearance.

However, it doesn’t necessarily prevent someone outside from seeing a person’s silhouette, particularly when the bathroom is brightly lit.

Sadie Lowell, a traveler who became increasingly frustrated with hotel bathroom privacy, demonstrated this problem at the Alexander Hotel in Noordwijk aan Zee, in the Netherlands.

She stood behind the frosted glass bathroom door to show just how much of her outline remained visible. Her demonstration drew more than 234,000 views by the time the Daily Dot covered it in October 2025.

And visibility isn’t the only issue. Turning on the light inside a glass-walled bathroom during the night can illuminate part of the bedroom, potentially waking someone who’s sleeping.

Sliding doors and barn-style doors create other concerns. Some don’t close tightly, others leave gaps around the edges, and certain designs don’t provide locks.

A door might block the direct view of the toilet while offering relatively little protection from sound, light or smells.

One Woman Became So Frustrated That She Started Tracking Hotel Bathroom Doors

Sadie Lowell’s dissatisfaction with hotel bathrooms eventually turned into a project called Bring Back Doors.

One experience that contributed to her decision happened during a trip to London with her father. They’d booked a room with twin beds, but when they arrived, they discovered that the bathroom didn’t have a conventional door.

She remembered the experience long after leaving the hotel, so Lowell began researching hotel bathroom layouts and created a crowdsourced database to help travelers know what kind of privacy to expect before booking.

The project identifies different bathroom arrangements, including rooms with no doors, glass walls, glass doors, sliding panels, slatted doors and barn-style doors.

It also provides information about hotels with conventional bathroom doors.

By February 2026, reports about the project indicated that she’d identified more than 1,000 hotels worldwide with doorless or otherwise inadequate bathroom privacy arrangements.

The database isn’t a representative survey of hotels worldwide, so those figures don’t establish how common each design is. Still, the fact that someone created a dedicated resource for this issue, and that travelers are contributing information to it, says plenty about how frustrated some guests have become.

Lowell has also used TikTok to show specific examples, including bathrooms in which the door or glass partition provides far less privacy than travelers might expect.

More Than 12,000 People Upvoted Another Complaint About Hotel Bathrooms

In December 2025, another Reddit discussion asked why Hilton and Marriott properties were using bathroom designs involving frosted glass, barn-style doors and partial shower enclosures. The discussion received more than 12,000 upvotes when I checked it.

People described waking their partners when they turned on bathroom lights, struggling with sliding doors that didn’t fully close, dealing with water outside showers and feeling uncomfortable using bathrooms with little separation from the sleeping area.

A separate discussion in Marriott’s Reddit community in August 2026 raised questions about bathroom doors that don’t lock and frosted glass arrangements.

Family travel came up repeatedly, as did the problem of sharing a room with someone who isn’t your romantic partner.

In Raeon’s TikTok comments, viewers had already brought up barn doors as another design they disliked.

“The barn doors on the bathrooms too. Hate it!”

One commenter said previous experiences had changed the way they researched hotels:

“While we are at it, NO BaRN doors! Gave me a freaking door. I’ve had so many bad experiences that before I book a hotel i research all the photos of the bathrooms and read reviews like a psycho. None of this”

Clearly, some travelers are no longer assuming that a hotel bathroom will have the privacy features they expect.

Why Are Hotels Installing Bathrooms With Glass Walls and Unusual Doors?

There are several reasons these designs have become popular.

Transparent and translucent partitions can make smaller rooms appear larger, allow more natural light to reach the bathroom and create a more open interior.

Cornell University’s Interior Archetypes Research and Teaching Project has documented a hotel design approach known as “Naked,” in which the traditional separation between the sleeping area and bathroom is reduced or removed.

Some examples place bathtubs directly in bedrooms. Others use glass partitions that expose large portions of the bathroom, sometimes including the toilet.

Space and construction costs can also influence hotel design decisions. Traditional hinged doors require clearance, installation and maintenance. Sliding panels or alternative partitions may fit different room layouts and design budgets.

In January 2026, the debate attracted attention from major publications examining why hotels were moving away from conventional bathroom doors and why guests were objecting.

Some travelers have speculated that partially open showers are intended to encourage shorter showers and reduce water consumption.

One commenter on Raeon’s video even claimed to have attended a meeting with a hotel company where such a design was discussed as a way to reduce costs and encourage guests to spend less time showering. That individual claim wasn’t supported by evidence, however, and shouldn’t be treated as confirmation of the industry’s intentions.

Whatever the reasons behind individual designs, hotels can end up with bathrooms that look impressive in photographs but prove inconvenient for the people using them.

I Now Check Hotel Bathroom Photos Before Booking

I’ve always paid attention to the practical details of hotel rooms, especially when we’re traveling as a family.

When we travel by car, parking matters. I also check the location, air conditioning, breakfast options and room category. And after reading about some rather unpleasant hotel-room discoveries, I pay attention to recent guest photographs and reviews as well.

Bathroom privacy is now another thing I look for.

I check whether the room has an actual bathroom door, whether glass separates the bathroom from the bedroom and whether the photographs suggest that someone using the toilet might be visible.

I also look for pictures uploaded by previous guests. Those can reveal details missing from the professionally photographed room gallery.

Searching reviews for terms such as “bathroom,” “door,” “glass,” “privacy” and “shower” can help identify potential problems. It’s one of the details worth considering when booking a hotel, especially when several people are sharing a room.

Once we arrive, I also make a point of checking the hotel room before unpacking everything. It’s easier to raise a problem immediately than discover it late at night.

I’ve covered other real hotel privacy concerns that also made me more attentive to the arrangements inside a room.

But I wouldn’t automatically reject a hotel because it has a glass-walled bathroom.

Our experience in Romania shows that such designs can work well when guests can control their privacy. A large curtain may not be the solution every hotel wants, but that one detail made all the difference for us.

Hotel Guests Are Asking for Something Many Thought They Already Had

Raeon’s video began with one man standing fully dressed in a hotel shower, showing how little protection a partial glass panel offered from cold air and splashing water.

The reactions quickly revealed that many travelers shared his frustration. Some were tired of freezing while showering, some couldn’t understand why the controls were so awkwardly positioned, and others wanted hotels to reconsider bathroom doors and glass walls.

It’s also worth remembering that hotel guests don’t all travel in the same circumstances. A design that suits someone staying alone may be uncomfortable for friends sharing a room, a family with teenage children or colleagues traveling together.

My husband and I have seen glass bathrooms that surprised us, and we’ve stayed in one where a simple curtain solved the privacy problem completely. I’d happily return to that hotel.

As for the other designs, I can see why people have started checking bathroom photographs so carefully before booking. The last thing anyone wants is to discover that a room that looked wonderful online doesn’t provide the privacy they expected.

And when it’s time to leave, I already include the bathroom in my hotel checkout routine. Paying closer attention to it before booking is becoming just as important.

Sources and Videos

Original Videos

1. Raeon’s hotel shower demonstration (@raeonartez)

 

@raeonartezI don’t ever wanna take a shower is this again 🙄♬ original sound – RAEON

 

2. Bring Back Bathroom Doors (@bring_back_doors)

 

@bring_back_doors Hotel Name 👇👇👇 W Bellevue Bellevue, Washington, USA I swear, I’m not reposting hotels. It’s just that these hotels are using the same awful designs across their brands. I can’t stand that hotels are doing this, and that we are somehow just allowing it? It’s made even worse by the fact that this seems to be a goal for some chains, like the W, which supposedly offer 4 star accommodations with 1 star privacy. Find hotels with proper doors, visit BringBackDoors.com Photo submitted by @jennaezarik Submit your own bad hotels by sending me a DM with the hotel name, location, and door type (none, glass, or sliding). If you have a photo I’ll (try to) post it, but either way it will be added to the website. #hotel #bathroom #hoteldesignfail ♬ original sound – Bring Back Bathroom Doors

  

Original Discussions and Reporting

• BoardingArea – Marriott shower door complaint
• Reddit – Who designs the stupid showers at hotels?
• Fox News – Hotel shower design complaints, June 2025
• Reddit – Hilton and Marriott bathroom design discussion, December 2025
• Reddit – Marriott bathroom doors discussion, August 2026
• Daily Dot – Bring Back Doors and the frosted glass bathroom demonstration
• Bring Back Doors – Hotel bathroom privacy database
• Bring Back Doors – The story behind the project
• Better Homes & Gardens – Reporting on hotel bathrooms and Bring Back Doors
• The Wall Street Journal – Hotels and the disappearing bathroom door
• The Guardian – The bathroom door scandal, January 2026

Research

• International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management – Research analyzing privacy concerns in 68,936 hotel reviews
• Cornell University – Interior Archetypes Research and Teaching Project: Naked