Climbing Out -- Bathroom Blogfest 2011

 

I’m pleased to be participating in the sixth Bathroom Blogfest. 

The annual event, which now includes 
more than 30 bloggers who come from 
a variety of disciplines ranging from 
design to home furnishing to marketing 
and PR (that’s me), has looked at 
bathrooms from a number of perspectives.

This year’s theme is Climbing Out, 
which I take to mean looking beyond 
the traditional role of public bathrooms 
and how they can and do impact an 
organization’s image and its customer 
relations efforts.

Most decent restaurants seem to pay attention to their bathrooms.  
I’ve been to some places where the bathroom is more spectacular 
or homey than the décor of the eatery itself.  And I’ve also been 
turned off by restaurant bathrooms that are dark, dingy or just plain 
dirty and unkempt.  That’s not exactly someplace that will keep you 
in the mood for a great meal.

Retail stores seem to have a wide range of bathroom quality, but 
most seem to be clean and institutional.  The same can be said for 
bathrooms at major movie theater chains.  Nothing great, but clean 
and generic.   

Supermarkets seem to be another story.  Maybe the markets figure 
no one even needs to go while grocery shopping, but hey, nature 
calls anytime, anywhere.  Supermarkets rarely have a public 
bathroom, but instead send customers to the employee bathrooms.  
In many cases, those bathrooms are in the bowels of the store.  It’s 
not at all appetizing to see the backrooms of a supermarket, which 
are surprisingly unclean, in appearance at least.  

It would seem that any store, restaurant or other place that has 
customers or clients coming to visit would put some effort into 
having bathrooms that are, at the very least, clean.  And going the 
extra mile to have bathrooms that sparkle and dazzle reflect caring 
and concern for customers.
 

Climbing out of bare-bones bathrooms 
makes good sense for any business that 
has customers visiting.  It’s good customer 
relations, which translates to good business.

...

Here's info on all 33 Bathroom Bloggers this week.  
Be sure to check out their posts during the coming week by 
clicking here. 

 

 

Comments

[C.B. Whittemore]

Amen, David! Yes, it's definitely good business and good customer relations. Thanks for being part of Bathroom Blogfest 2011 and helping elevate the conversation about the need to climb out of humdrum experiences.

Best,
CB

[Chris Woelfel.]

Bathroom cleanliness is a direct reflection on a business. It's akin to a person's hygiene if you will - at home it's the one room everyone makes sure is clean before a guest walks in - it's puzzling why some businesses don't get it.

Choosing the right tiles for the floors and walls can make bathroom clean-up a breeze. A quality tile contractor can also make sure the right setting materials are used so that there aren't problems with mold, residue and water damage - Thanks for reminding everyone to clean it up!

[Jeanne Byington]

I agree with you: If a business doesn't care about a place many customers will visit, goodness knows what else they let slip that you don't want to think about.

Staff usually shares the restaurant bathrooms I've used...imagine how clean their hands are when they serve you if the soap dispenser doesn't work, there's only cold water in the sink and the place hasn't been scrubbed in a month. Yech.

For this reason I appreciate the letter grades restaurants and delis get in NYC.

[bathroom renovations perth]

Good business done in bathroom blog fest.Your blog is awesome and quite informative.Thanks for sharing.