Inject style, save space

Bathroom priorities for 2011

"Hotels are looking to save space in (their rooms)," says Michael Goffstein of Gatco, a bathware manufacturer that was a vendor at the American Hotel & Lodging Association's annual conference in New York last week.

Some new bath products in vogue this season:

• Double towel bars and rings are in demand this season as they encourage guests to use towels longer. "They're combining things," Goffstein says.
• Hotels are also building more shelves on bathroom walls to place toiletry items that otherwise would be displayed on the counter.
• Stainless corner shower shelves replacing the ones made of stone as the latter tends to break more easily with repeated use. The metal shelves have grooves with holes that allow soapy water to drip through.
• Hotels are also looking to inject style and design into the most mundane of products, Goffstein says. Because commercial grade shower grab bars - for avoiding slip and fall in the shower - can be unattractive, Gatco and others are pitching chrome versions.

"More hotels have to be handicapped capable," Goffstein says. "They want to be more decorative."

Extra toilet papers hiding in the back of the commode at upscale hotel bathrooms can also be an unappealing sight. So Gatco is selling vertical scrolls that can store toilet papers more discreetly and in a manner more appropriate for top-end hotels such as the Venetian in Las Vegas, the company says.

Natural stone for bathroom tiles is coming back. While the prices of marble and other natural stones had been cost prohibitive, new marbles from China are nearly the same price as the faux stone slabs from Europe, said Brooke Pearsall, managing director of design, HVScompass, Washington, D.C.

Also, some of the natural stone tiles are sized larger, 18 inches by 18 inches, for example, instead of 12 inches by 12 inches. Since there might be only three or four grouts in a bathroom, it makes bathrooms feel bigger, Pearsall said.

Natural is in for countertops, too. Some hotels are using a crystallized glass finish, a hard stone with natural stone chips, rather than granite.

When the natural stone cost is too high, many hotels are choosing high-end porcelain tiles from Europe and Spain. "Some have a grey or metallic wash or finish to them, which is going into contemporary products," said Mendy Huddleston, senior associate with ForrestPerkins, Dallas, Texas.

Contemporary hotels also are trying more glass tiles, behind lavatories and in showers. "It depends on the type of glass, whether it has a gloss or matte finish," Huddleston said. "In a shower, it might start looking kind of bad after awhile.

Vanity Style

Vanity finishes are going upscale with custom millwork and darker stains.

"Veneers are being upgraded. Veneers that we're seeing used more are a rift-cut Oak, a nice gloss ... and dark staining in general," said Mendy Huddleston, senior associate, ForrestPerkins.