The Latest Luxury Travel Trend: Exhibitionist Showers

It sounds like an odd, Vegas-y gag: Put two people in a luxury hotel room, and while one reclines on the bed, another is showering mere feet away, enclosed by nothing but a sheet of glass. But, as any observant world traveler will tell you, the peekaboo shower is officially having a moment, joining outdoor showers and tubs nestled against windows as spots for exhibitionist bathers to let it all hang out. 1 Hotel Brooklyn Bridge, which opened this spring, has you bathing in full view of the bed. The Fletcher Hotel Amsterdam has a beam-me-up-Scotty-style shower tube in the middle of the room. And the Prince Gallery, Tokyo Kioicho, a Luxury Collection Hotel, which opened last year, features a massive glassed-in shower-bathtub combo visible to the rest of the space—and to the city below.

Why the new nudity? “Our goal was to create an environment that frames the hotel’s breathtaking views,” says Eva Longoria of Madrid’s Rockwell Group, the architecture firm that designed the Prince Gallery, Tokyo Kioicho, a Luxury Collection Hotel’s rooms. “The glass-enclosed shower brings this into the bathroom experience and draws the eye to the stunning skyline. Plus, bringing natural light into the bathroom creates a sense of a larger, more open space in both the sleeping area and bathroom.” Since the 250-room hotel is perched in the upper levels of a multiuse skyscraper, the views of Mount Fuji, the Imperial Palace, and Tokyo Tower are arguably worth taking in even mid-shampoo. (She also points out that, with the push of a button, the clear glass turns frosted, for demure guests.)

If you’re unsure if you’ll enjoy a show-off shower, don’t knock it until you try it (or perhaps we should say: those who bathe in glass showers . . . ). We found eight luxe, elegant spots that let you wash without the tethers of opaque walls. Just be sure to share your hotel room with someone who doesn’t mind, well, oversharing.

Royal Blues Hotel
This boutique 12-room property in Deerfield Beach, Florida, offers contemporary art and photography and high-tech bathrooms: Japanese-style bidet toilets come with digital controls and (yes) music, and the three-walled transparent showers are fully automated by Kohler remotes installed both inside and outside—so you can turn on the tap and set a digital temperature all before stepping in.

Marriott Hotel Al Forsan
In Abu Dhabi, this five-star retreat makes stripping down an elegant affair; the open shower abuts a large glass panel separating the bedroom from the bathroom.

Baccarat Hotel
This light-filled hotel, steps from New York’s Museum of Modern Art, splits the shower and the bedroom with a large glass window. There’s a sliding wall on the bed side that you can use to close things off—but why bother? As with the rest of the property, each room pays subtle tribute to 18th-century France, with bespoke pieces of Baccarat crystal woven into the design.

W Goa
The brand’s first hotel in India, situated on Vagator Beach, draws on the area’s mystical, offbeat vibes in its 160 guest rooms, villas, and chalets. The stunning bathroom sits behind a screen that can be lifted to make the space a wall-less living zone.

Pendry San Diego
A posh Gaslamp Quarter hotel that opened its doors this spring, the Pendry offers up totally see-through shower walls mere feet from the bed—although there’s a privacy curtain as well for those who are a bit more modest.

Tabacón Thermal Resort & Spa
Spread across 900 acres of verdant rainforest near Costa Rica’s Arenal Volcano, this hot springs escape has—unsurprisingly—luxe showers. The newly designed Orchid Rooms have glass-enclosed rain showers, and the water is naturally heated by magma inside the nearby volcano.

Pan Pacific Seattle Hotel
In this crisp hotel, set in Seattle’s dynamic South Lake Union neighborhood, the room setup can turn a quick business trip into something a bit scandalous: Sliding doors near the glass showers and soaking tubs open up to showcase incredible views of the city below—some look out onto the Space Needle.

The Cape, a Thompson Hotel
Famed Mexican architect Javier Sánchez designed this boutique resort in Los Cabos, and every single guest room features ocean views. That’s likely why the open layout gives you a direct view of the turquoise waters where the Gulf of California meets the Pacific—even while you’re inside the clear shower (or soaking in the gold-leaf bathtub).