At the Mio Buenos Aires hotel, the bathtubs are works of art: Argentine Mario Dasso personally selects only the most beautiful pieces of calden wood (naturally felled by fire) and carves them into luxurious, oversize soaking tubs.
The coolest bathtubs give guests a sense of their own private in-room spa and look nothing like that old shower-tub combo you may have left back home. Nothing screams “I got away from it all” quite like slipping into a bubble bath—in a basin polished to a sparkle by anyone but you—and admiring a gorgeous view.
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The glass-bottomed bathtubs at Six Senses Laamu in the Maldives treat you to an intimate look at hawksbill turtles, lolly fish, and—if you’re lucky—dolphins. In California, savvy road-trippers pull over from Highway 1 at Big Sur Cabin, a one-bedroom with a private outdoor courtyard. Twin claw-foot tubs await, surrounded by a wood-burning fire pit, Adirondack chairs, and a redwood picket fence fringed by cacti, ferns, and forget-me-nots.
Some hoteliers have gotten increasingly creative, embracing the trend of bathtubs exposed to the room and even introducing cool bathtubs that appear to levitate above the ground. Yet at the same time, some brands, especially those focused on business travelers, are avoiding the tub altogether. The percentage of tubs planned for new builds in the pipeline for Holiday Inn, part of the InterContinental Hotels group, is between 45 and 55 percent, down from 95 percent 10 years ago.
Even if hotel bathtubs become the exception rather than the rule, the appeal remains deeply and culturally rooted. Tubs date back more than 5,000 years and are historically steeped in ritual—the act of bathing is not only healthy for the body but is considered spiritual by many religions and cultures. If anything, travelers may come to value the hotel bathtub as even more of a coveted amenity than it is today.
Want to make a splash? These high-design tubs are ready for you.
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GoldenEye Hotel & Resort, Jamaica
Once the home of Ian Fleming, who wrote all 14 James Bond novels here, the GoldenEye draws celebrities like Jay-Z and Beyoncé. The three-bedroom Fleming Villa is the one to book, for its outdoor bathing pavilion. The claw-foot, cast-iron tub (with a single-touch pop-up drain) sits on a raised wooden platform surrounded by an Indonesian-inspired garden of edible plants and trees: almond, pomegranate, naseberry, and June plum. Your private butler will draw a rosemary- and mint-scented bubble bath upon request.
Mio Buenos Aires, Argentina
Argentine artist Mario Dasso hand-carved each bathtub from a single piece of native calden wood, using trees already felled by natural occurrence, like a fire. The hotel shows off his handiwork by making the tubs a central fixture of the Deluxe rooms, Junior Suites, and Mio Suites. Each rests on a marbled platform, completely open to the rest of the guest room. Miobuenosaires.com.
Glen Oaks, Big Sur, California
At Glen Oaks, a collection of refined-meets-rustic accommodations, our vote goes to Big Sur Cabin for its private outdoor courtyard off the bedroom. You’ll find twin claw-foot tubs by San Francisco designer Steve Justrich, a wood-burning fire pit, Adirondack chairs, and a redwood picket fence fringed by cacti, ferns, and forget-me-nots. Lather up with handmade Vermont soap, and listen to the Big Sur River rushing nearby.
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