Pulling the plug on bathtubs: Hotels are coming up with new bath options

Prasenjit Basu, a Calcutta High Court advocate and a frequent traveller, sometimes finds the bathtub in his hotel room to be oddly placed. In Delhi some weeks ago, Basu stayed in one of the best-known hotels in the city. Curiously, his suite had a bathtub on one side of the room with no curtain in between. “Everything was visible,” he says.
 
To his relief, several five-star hotels in India are doing away — or considering to do away — with the bathtub in favour of shower stalls. Stalls are considered more hygienic and use up far less space and water than an immersive session in a tub. They are also easier to clean, which means hotels need to spend less time and money on maintenance.

 
Basu is of the opinion that bathtubs, if at all they must be there, should be confined to a handful of rooms, such as honeymoon suites. “Bathtubs are mostly used by leisure travellers, who have time on their hands, or by foreign tourists.” Business travellers, who form the bulk of hotel users, don’t have that kind of time, he adds.
 

Kanchan Ray, vice-president-technology at software company Nagarro, agrees. “The cost of maintaining a bathtub is high and they are also difficult to repair if there is a problem,” Ray says. Sumanto Chattopadhyay, chairman and chief creative officer, Soho Square India, prefers the practicality of the shower stall. “I imagine this is the reality of most hotel guests, and hotels are saving money and space by catering to this preference,” he says.

 
Hotels have indeed caught on. The Tata Group-owned Taj Hotels has traditionally believed in indulging its guests at bath time. Some of its properties offer a service in which butlers draw up a bath for guests. Lately, though, some of the company’s hotels catering largely to business travellers have begun to flush out the tub. “Over the years, we have observed that business guests don’t really use bathtubs. So, some of our business hotels have started to phase them out,” the company said in an email.
 
ITC Hotels, another large chain, believes the bathtub is not critical for all its guests. “Every guest has a distinct preference. While some enjoy the vintage charm of a bathtub, others prefer the smart shower stalls,” says Dipak Haskar, CEO, ITC Hotels and WelcomHotels.

 
Haskar is more focused on the overall ablution experience for his guests. “The usage of showers over tubs opens up space, allowing hotels to redesign bathrooms innovatively,” he says. “The quality of the shower experience is one of the most important parameters for a guest and we endeavour to consistently better this through the use of improved technology that impacts water pressure, temperature, softness and other such related elements.”
 
There is good reason why hoteliers are concerned about their guests’ experience. With almost all significant international brands building a big portfolio of hotels in India, the race to acquire customers is hotting up. According to a Google-BCG report published last year, the domestic travel market is expected to grow at around 11.5 per cent per annum to reach $48 billion by 2020.

 
Also, the recent guidelines issued by the tourism ministry, which no longer make it mandatory for luxury hotels to have bathtubs, are influencing the move. The revised guidelines came into effect from January 19 this year. Earlier, it was compulsory for luxury hotels to have bathtubs.
 
“The bath experience has always been a big factor. However, with changing times, it is moving from being an indulgence in a bathtub with bath salts to a more active experience with focus on ease of use and digital temperature and pressure settings,” says Sharat Dhall, COO (B2C), Yatra.com. Luxury hotel bookings contribute a big chunk of Yatra’s overall revenues.

 
“Bathtub, as a culture, started in the 1970s and ’80s. What hotels are doing now is more practical,” says Manav Thadani, founder and chairman, Hotelivate, a hospitality consulting firm.
 
The changing preference is felt by interior designers as well. Sunit Kohli of K2India says the square footage of shower stalls has increased dramatically over the years. “Luxury hotels do an assessment of the number of people who go for long baths. And with fewer people opting for them, the change is taking place.”
 
Companies, too, are trying to adapt to the trend and come up with new bath options. “Showers have long dominated the domestic bath space since as they are easy to install and maintain,” says Manish Bhatia, president (Hindware) and CEO (EVOK Retail), HSIL (Hindustan Sanitaryware & Industries Ltd). “Now shower-only stalls have started gaining prominence in the hospitality sector, as hotels increasingly look for environment-friendly and water-saving options.”