Hotel showers

We have an enclosed cubicle so water can’t go anywhere except in the shower pan, but many new shower units have a glass panel that imho - based upon experience - doesn’t stop water escaping onto the floor. Especially if someone - most likely me - is unused to the controls and water spurts suddenly in an unintended direction 😳

My son has one of the newfangle showers. I lean in and try to get the thing working before stepping in. To me it's progress gone mad.

@Franbern, Premier Inn are usually very good about these things. We stayed in a premier inn in Manchester when there was a rowdy hen party booked in. Was so much noise that we couldn’t sleep, we complained to the front desk the next morning and the member of staff apologised saying several other guests had also complained and that we would get a full refund for our one night stay.
We were very impressed.

I had one a few years ago where the entire set-up was old-fashioned looking, which was lovely, but it seemed to have worked on one line .... like instead of having one for hot and one for cold, they were both together.

I was totally unable to shower as the hot was scorching and the cold was freezing so I couldn't even have a cold shower!

I asked at reception and was basically told ''that's how it is here'' so each morning I had to drive to a 24/7 truck stop station and use the public showers!

I asked for a reduction in my payment to the hotel room for not being able to use the shower and was abruptly told NO!

I never ever went back! I contacted their Head Office but they never replied!

Another one, at a Premier Inn, the hotel and room were lovely and it was a glorious power shower, I loved it but sadly the plug hole drain part was blocked, it was a wet room type of shower unit with plastic curtains around and the water was thick on the floor and over the front part of the carpet at the front!

After dressing I shot down to reception where the lady was absolutely brilliant, I even offered to pay for the part of the carpet that was damaged! She immediacy got someone in there and I was told they won't charge me as it wasn't my fault, apparently that one had a history of blocking! They even moved me into another room and presented me with a little pack of After Eights!

Have told this shower story before, but worth repeating here. This was in my guest bathroom. Had this all re-fitted when I first moved in. There is a double shower over the bath (monsoon and hand held). I never used this as I have my en-suite shower cubicle

However, when I was having my kitchen re-fitted, I was sorting out stuff to go to charity shop which would include my rubbish bin. This was a tall white one and the only way to wash the inside was to stand it in the bath and use the hand shower on it, which I did. Would say it was then early evening and I was pretty tired (getting my excuse in straight away).
Finished cleaning this, and just needed to leave it in bath to drain away, tried to turn off shower - nothing happened, turned it other way, nothing happened, concerned about wasting all the hot water, started to panic and in doing so dropped the shower head and it landed spray upwards, soaking me and bathroom floor.

By this time, I was in a real state - telephoned my Son in Law who lived nearby and, bless him ,he did come straight round to me, arriving me to find me soaking wet, in tears and shower over/in bath running as hot and fast as ever. I sobbed to him that I was trying to get hold of plumber and I doubted if he could do anything. He walked into bathroom and then came straight back out saying calmly 'all done'.!!!!

Turned out I had only been using the control which changed shower head, and not the one that turned the water on and off and heat controlled!!!!

Bet he dined out on that Mother in Law story for a long time.

Last holiday found us with a shower that never got beyond freezing and no plug for the sink! We called the owner out twice to no avail as the shower did not improve and neither of the taps she supplied fitted. There were several other issues, such as front door popping open unless chained and various other safety issues in the garden. We left a discreet note about all this but got no response. Although it was very clean and convenient we won't be going back.

Oh yes.........after numerous drenching situations and floor washing I am now very cautious in any other shower than our own

But to me the picture instructions are so hard to understand I always end up with it cold and have to shout for help
Feel such a wuss I m sure my daughter thinks I have early onset dementia

My mother was always baffled by modern and/or foreign toilet flushes and hand basins. She never had a shower, always bathed.

I have had the shower problem, though, too. Sometimes they are just stuff and hard to turn - especially with wet and soapy hands!

Not possible with fixed screens.

Nice to have a laugh to start the day!
I don't often stay in hotels but was forced to recently. I tried to figure out the shower controls before using it, and ended up drenched. Would it be too much to ask for the establishment to place instructions on the wall?

David49

Join the club we make sure we figure it out before we get in, all part of the adventure of travel

You put your arm through the curtain or door, divert the shower away if you can and change the controls so that it’s running hot BEFORE you strip off and get in.

Every time I stay somewhere I have to get my daughter to show me how to work the shower I get in a terrible muddle ( even sometimes after she’s shown me )
I thought it was just me so comforting to find others are the same
Mine at home is so unsophisticated just turn it on, hot or cold

Correction combi boiler

Ha ha we have a combo boiler so our shower can run and run without going cold.
It also has a pretty easy control, a central lever you pull out towards you and move to the left to get warmer and to the right to go cold. There is also a knob you push in or pull out depending upon whether you want the monsoon shower head or hand held smaller head. I always explain this to visitors and all of them manage perfectly.
Surely hotels can put an idiot proof diagram on the bathroom wall.

Not a hotel shower tale but….
We have a rainfall type shower with a handheld head on a riser rail. There is just a sheet of glass, no door.
When our granddaughter came to visit I gave an extensive tutorial. I know how far the water will spray so I could turn the lower head on and demonstrate the temperature control.
All was well until “shower time”. She went for a shower before DH’s bedtime, and as time passed (15 mins) I was sent to ask if she was OK. 15mins later she emerged!
Mum has a very small hot water tank so the water goes cold, ours is instantly heated so infinite! She “just took the opportunity”. Moral, remember to tell them how you turn the shower off as well as on.

Oh this is me! I usually send DH to work out the controls as I'm as blind as a bat without glasses/contact lenses.
On one occasion we were staying in a Travel Lodge on the M6 overnight to break up a long journey. Mr CJ was already showered and dressed and as I stepped into the shower and turned it on a very loud alarm went off. What on earth had I done? As I leapt out of the shower, terrified, Mr CJ burst through the door saying it was a fire alarm. He grabbed our, still sleeping, young daughter and I quickly pulled on just enough clothes to cover my modesty!. When we got outside it was discovered someone had burnt the toast but we all had to wait until the fire brigade arrived and checked everything before we were allowed back in - about half an hour! Fortunately it wasn't raining.

I always have this problem. By the time I’ve sorted out which lever to press or turn I’ve been drenched in cold water. The controls should be accessible on entering the shower, ie not under the actual shower. Every one is different and my poor pea brain can’t cope! 🚿

Another very comforting thread. It's not just me then!!

David49

Join the club we make sure we figure it out before we get in, all part of the adventure of travel

But how do you figure it out without getting soaked in the process?
I try to look at the controls before getting in but usually can only fiddle with them whilst directly under the shower, which means things can and frequently do go wrong.

Join the club we make sure we figure it out before we get in, all part of the adventure of travel

Stayed in a hotel recently where the shower attachment just kept falling on my head. Wasn’t best pleased.
Another bugbear is notices by taps warning you of Very Hot Water, which invariably turns out to be stone cold.

I've recently stayed in a hotel where the controls worked either for the bath or the shower. There was no mixer tap and I was there for ages shivering trying to balance the water temperature which was a choice of being scalded or frozen.

Ferry23 when my friend told me her story, we both could hardly speak for laughing. I would view a similar shower with great trepidation and prefer a bath. Less to go wrong. Fingers crossed.

And me 🤣