It’s funny how some minor things about hotels can change on a widespread basis, without most people noticing. This is totally not important, though I do find it to be interesting.
In this post:
Why hotels often have phones next to the toilet
At least historically, you may have noticed that there’s almost always a phone right next to the toilet at upscale and luxury hotels. Now, cleanliness concerns aside, one would probably assume that this is a safety feature, perhaps since people are most likely to slip and fall in the bathroom, so it’s useful to have a phone nearby.
While that might indirectly be the reason that hotels have had this feature, the actual reason is a little more nuanced than that. Historically — at least going back a decade or so — hotels did this with an ulterior motive.
Specifically, AAA has its hotel “Diamond” ratings, and in order to get a four Diamond or above rating, one of the requirements was to have a phone in the bathroom. So hotels offered this feature so that they could check that box, in order to get that rating.
This AAA requirement was quietly dropped, and you’ll notice it
In the past several years, it’s much rarer to find phones in hotel bathrooms, especially at newly built hotels. For some reason, this “clicked” for me during a recent hotel stay. After all, you wouldn’t really think of a phone next to the toilet unless you actually needed it, so it’s easy to not put much thought into it.
But for whatever reason, it’s something I recently processed while photographing a hotel toilet (as one does!). “Hey, there’s no phone anymore, I wonder what happened.”
So I looked it up, and as it turns out, AAA completely dropped the bathroom phone requirement from its ratings system. I’m trying to figure out when exactly this change happened. Best I can tell, it was with the 2018 standards update that AAA eliminated this requirement, as that was largely intended to reflect updates in technology. Prior to that, the last major update to AAA Diamond requirements was all the way back in 2003, so that’s quite a long gap.
Now that I go back and look at all the pictures I’ve taken, I notice a majority of luxury properties in recent years don’t have these, and I just haven’t noticed. It seems logical enough for AAA to drop this, especially since we live in an era where most people have a smartphone that they can use in an emergency.
For those curious, you can find AAA’s current Diamond rating guidelines here.
Bottom line
Up until 2018 or so, upscale and luxury hotels pretty consistently had phones in the bathrooms. While one could argue that was for safety, the ulterior was certainly to be able to get a AAA four Diamond rating. However, those guidelines were updated over time, and it’s no longer necessary for hotels to have phones in the bathroom in order to get any sort of a rating.
I recognize that I might be the only person who finds this interesting, so I’m sorry/you’re welcome.
Am I the only one who is just now processing the lack of phones in hotel bathrooms?
I always wondered... assumed it was for the kind of people who also take the newspaper to read while on the loo. Never made sense to me haha
ok, if it is for emergencies, why is it always right next to the toilet - definitely mounted at the height to be convenient to be used while seating...
I knew it had something to do with the stars/diamond ratings. But I also heard that, as in important percentage of heart attacks happens while using the toilet. It was more a safety requirement than a luxury convenience.
I've always thought it was so that if reception calls, you can answer without having to rush to the room butt naked...
More seriously, in France until recently there was also a requirement for upscale hotels to have a phone available at the reception. I think that was dropped on the grounds that everyone has a mobile phone now.
This is exactly the kind of niche content that keeps me coming to OMAT. <3
I had wondered about this - thanks for doing the research! By the way, it seems AAA is a tired brand bordering on irrelevance - families don’t drive cross-country anymore. They fly. AAA was great for trip planning and advice pre-Internet / GPS, but no more.
Can still get good hotel discounts with them
Love this nuance!
Recently came across a 5 star hotel in Tenerife with them. It was ridiculous though as it was actually obstructing access to the toilet paper.
In this case it actually brought down their standards, and the review/feedback reflected this.
At least foe me this has solved the riddle why so many US hotels and chains had this feature.
But another riddle still stands, why have this requirement at all?
I thought it’s because everyone takes their cellphone with them to the bog and that makes the landline redundant.
My favourite chain, Peninsula, still has telephones in the bathrooms of its new hotels. And not just one, but at least three. My last suite in London had four. For me, telephones in the bathroom are simply part of a good hotel, which is why I don't like the trend of leaving them out.
I maintain — passionately — that the bathroom telephone is not ridiculous. It is civilisation. It is order. It is the thin, elegant line between luxury travel and absolute chaos.
When a hotel phone rings, it is never casual. No one has ever phoned a hotel guest simply to ask, “How’s your evening going?” No. It is always something operational and time-sensitive, such as:
room service discreetly announcing that my chips, chicken tenders...
I maintain — passionately — that the bathroom telephone is not ridiculous. It is civilisation. It is order. It is the thin, elegant line between luxury travel and absolute chaos.
When a hotel phone rings, it is never casual. No one has ever phoned a hotel guest simply to ask, “How’s your evening going?” No. It is always something operational and time-sensitive, such as:
room service discreetly announcing that my chips, chicken tenders and entirely unnecessary truffle aioli have arrived and are losing temperature by the second,
the concierge informing me that my driver is downstairs — twenty minutes ahead of schedule and behaving like punctuality is a personal religion,
housekeeping confirming whether I intentionally pressed Do Not Disturb with such enthusiasm that it registered as a diplomatic message,
security notifying me that my luggage — the luggage Heathrow swore was “on the same flight” — has finally rolled in four days later looking traumatised,
or the spa whispering, with the politeness of a hostage negotiator, that my treatment begins in three minutes and asking whether I still intend to “be polished, detoxified, or reborn.”
These are not optional queries. They are hotel-life events.
Now, if I am mid-toothbrushing, moisturising, or attempting a post-shower existential stare at myself in the mirror, I am not about to sprint across the suite like a slippery, confused woodland animal — clutching a towel and my dignity in equal measure — just to answer a distant phone.
No.
I shall answer the bathroom phone as intended — seated, composed, and mildly smug — and simply say:
“Two minutes, please… and do allow me to put my bathrobe on before you enter and discover me in my natural, unrequested state.”
And finally, to those hyperventilating at the thought of a phone near a toilet: calm yourselves. Answering a call indoors does not instantly transform one into Patient Zero of a new pandemic. Some of us possess coordination, hygiene, and functioning prefrontal cortexes. One washes one’s hands before picking up the receiver. It is basic civilisation — not an Olympic event.
In conclusion:
If you enjoy chaotic naked dashes across your suite — good for you.
The rest of us will continue living life as intended:
washed, unhurried, and reachable.
I totally disagree. Most hotels call me soon after check-into make sure that I’m OK with the Room they gave me.
@Gregg
Even more reason not to be rushed into leaving the bathroom!
Makes sense.
And beautifully expressed!
So in the summer of 2000, I was staying at the posh hotel in Venice, Italy. It also had a telephone in the bathroom. I found it to be pretty cool.
At Okura and Prince Gallery in Tokyo, on my most recent stay, each hotel room had a phone in the toilet area.
The Okura also had tv by the tub.
This is so funny you should write about this as I just noticed this yesterday at the hotel I was staying. Thought about it and realized that more and more hotels were going without the phone in the bathroom. Made me wonder why.
The past two hotels I've stayed in didn't have ANY phones in the room at all.
Got to get out of those Best Westerns!
Almost 50 years ago a buddy and I checked into a hotel paid for by the company we were job interviewing with. This was a more upscale hotel than either of us had stayed at previously. We were shocked to find a phone in the bathroom. After a fair amount of laughter, we had to have a "john" to "john" phone call between our rooms. When we returned back to our university, our friends couldn't believe it. Who knew such things existed?
Lol, I remember staying at hotels as a kid and being shocked how some of the really nice ones had TVs in the bathrooms. I loved it! I could watch cartoons while in the shower!
My strict parents didn't let me though (they would confiscate the remote), so I didn't get to live that fantasy until I went off to college lol.
Almost 50 years ago a buddy and I checked into a hotel paid for by the company we were job interviewing with. This was a more upscale hotel than either of us had stayed at previously. We were shocked to find a phone in the bathroom. After a fair amount of laughter, we had to have a "john" to "john" phone call between our rooms. When we returned back to our university, our friends couldn't believe it. Who knew such things existed?
Fun fact - in order to get that 5th Diamond - AAA used to require each room have their own Fax machine. That didn’t need to be in the Bathroom though ;-)
hey how do I need to call for toilet paper now ;-)
It's the Tim Dunn phone.
You use it to talk shit.
When I was younger this was one of my informal “tests” of the quality of a hotel, with luxury hotels expected to have 3 phones - Bedside, desk and bathroom. I thought that the bathroom phone meant that you could always pick up a call from the front desk, even while on the toilet. With the advent of mobile smartphones, landlines have increasingly become obsolete, which makes the need for multiple landline phones in a room unnecessary.
My parents built their dream home in 1988. Every loo had a phone. I was a distracted teen then so I don't recall the rationale. Convenience, I suppose?
Of course, the truly nice hotels still have bidets.
Few years ago me and my friend checked into a hotel in Antwerp and after he used the bathroom, he found out that the door handle didn't work from the inside. If a solo traveller got that room and didn't take their own phone into the bathroom, the bathroom phone would be their last resort.
It's a neat feature and I assume not that expensive?
Until today, I never thought of the hygiene issues arising from having a phone right next to a toilet :s
I thought those phones were to make calls to the front desk when you run out of toilet paper. This problem was solved by keeping an extra roll in the bathroom.
And there was me thinking it was so you could order room service, just as you were making more room…
Bathroom phones used to be really useful when i got room service calls in middle of my me time.