Are these coed? Has anyone had a problem <BR>or an wierd experience with this concept? <BR> <BR>Is it private or can multiple people use <BR>it simultaniously? <BR> <BR>I just want to know what to expect since <BR>I am not used to this.

Well, I broached this subject once a few months ago, and got laughed almost off the forum. But it has been our experience that first class accomodations are not always available (off the beaten track and away from possible american motel look alikes). Therefore, one must sometimes accept this if you are going to go off the beaten track...and take what is available. NO, they are not coed. There are bathrooms in the halls, (at either end of the hotel floor, most likely) and they are clean, and adequate. (with locks on the doors). The etiquette is to leave it as clean as you entered it and not to hog the available hot water. No big deal...just not what we are used to. But certainly in no way chancy or indecent.

It's very much like sharing a bath with other people in your house--it's just not like having a "master bath" in the "master bedroom suite." To clarify what Julie wrote: yes, they are co-ed--men and women will use the same bathroom. It's a private bath; lock the door. Wipe the sink and tub when you're finished, etc. Just like mom taught....

Common situation: toilet is a separate room (usually pretty teeny); the shower/bathtub is in another room (usually pretty good sized, but not always). I really never thought about the etiquette, but if the toilet on my floor is occupado, I go up/dowstairs to another one. Ditto the shower or tub. We use wetwipes to clean up before and after.

How well I remember my first trip to Paris in 1975: we had booked at a hotel my trusty guidebook (no names here, but it was Frommer's!) had described as "popular with the ladies." The guidebook had further assured me that I need not pay a higher rate to get an in-room bath, I could just summon the maid to show me the hall bath, which would be, in all likelihood, much nicer than in any individual room. <BR> <BR>Ha! The maid, when summoned, assured us that no hall bath existed--and my boy friend spoke great French, so I don't think that the problem was a linguistic one. Well, the $9 room we had had only a sink, so we sprang $6 more for a larger room with its own shower. I'm afraid I caved after that, and always have gotten a room with its own bath.

Rooms without bath almost always have a sink in the room (only exception in my experience was a private home). The bath down the hall may be complete (toilet/shower) in one room or in two. 90% of the time they are very clean and just like a bathroom in a private home. In some cases, the bath down the hall is preferable to a tiny one attached to the room - easier for 2 people sharing a small room. A bath down the hall is definitely nicer than one of those very small prefabricated bath units with the shower above the toilet that you sometimes get in an inexpensive room.