This month, our Luxe Lavs look at the world’s best hotel bathrooms is all about what’s new and different. Contributors Angela Fairhurst and Natalie Compagno found four hotel bathrooms with the latest and wackiest design evolutions.
This month, we made it our quest to find Luxe Lavs that are breaking the mold. We found four new designs for showers, tubs and sinks with elements that we had never seen before.
A Bathtub of Glass
We’ve seen glass showers, glass doors and even glass sinks, but when we ventured to London to the newly opened 80-room South Place Hotel, we found a glass bathtub with a peek-a view in Suite 610. The hotel is the first from restaurateurs D&D London and designed by Sir Terence Conran. The large, 1292-sq foot suite is situated at the top of the 6-story hotel, has floor-to-ceiling windows and an open floor plan that leads to the slate and marble bathroom. The main feature of the bathroom is the impressive glass bath by Moma Design Chaise Longue Vitr Bathtub in Corian…with generous-sized James Heeley toiletries in St Clement’s fragrance, what more does one need? Well, there’s a splashproof flatscreen built into the marble wall opposite the bath; a Bang & Olufsen sound system; soft and fluffy white towels, robes and slippers as well as a heated towel rack.
Shower on Display
Not for the modest at heart, we found the shower in the middle of the room at Puerto Rico’s Olive Boutique Hotel. This original idea is the brainchild of owner Fernando Davila. Separated only by the sink and the bed, the shower is all half-inch tempered clear glass, but when the hot water is turned on it converts into a steam “room.” The rain shower/four-jet horizontal spray fixture is made in Spain by a brand called SPA and are oil-rubbed bronze to give an antique feel to it. The floor and the bench inside the shower are lined with Turkish white octagonal marble. With L’Occitane products from Provence, they fit well into the Mediterranean-themed hotel.
Tub of Wood
The Estancia Vik Jose Ignacio in Uruguay combines many moods and eras while remaining true to its surroundings. Spanish-colonial architecture greets guests outside. Indoors is a kaleidoscope of modern art, eco-furniture, marble statues, graffiti, exposed beams and fiber optic embellishment. The bathrooms are rustic yet elegant. The over sized and luxurious tubs, fashioned from the local beech wood trees and handmade by local artisans, have become signature to the property. We love that the owners give 25 percent of the proceeds of the $12,500 tubs to provide local schoolchildren with much-needed funds and materials. The simplicity of the wooden walls, wooden bath and small wooden stool make this a favorite of ours. Clean steel fixtures complete the aesthetic. Add H2O and enjoy the geometric patterns of the natural wood surroundings.
Two Tubs, Twice the Fun
Forget to weling off after your bath at Kokopelli’s Cave, a unique Bed and Breakfast located near the Four Corners USA in New Mexico. Instead, climb the wooden ladder to the open window and let the clean desert breeze dry your skin. This hotel is one-of-a-kind to say the least. Carved into 65 million-year-old Ojo Alamo Sandstone, the hotel has a 360-degree view of cross bedding, petrified and carbonized wood, plant fragments and various river current direction indicators deposited in ancient river channels. Although the entire hotel is inside a cave, it is comfortable with Southwestern-style furniture and all the amenities guests could need. In the bedroom, there is a stone tub. In addition, a waterfall shower cascades off a natural-stone wall set with wooden vigas that fills a cozy hot tub in the actual bathroom. Two tubs, twice the fun.
