The towel hanger problem

We just got back from a trip, and something small - but surprisingly persistent - kept nagging at me.

Towels.

More specifically: where do you put them in a hotel room?

We were in a hotel room designed for four people. Not an accidental party of four. Not a last-minute pullout-bed kind of situation. A room meant for four people. And yet… there were maybe one or two hangers for towels. Total.

We’d shower.

Towels were damp.

And then what?

Where do they dry?

Over the corner of a chair?

On the side of the sink?

On the floor, inevitably?

It’s such a small thing. But it says so much.

The same goes for storage space. You have luggage, clothes, maybe a toiletry bag or two ... and nowhere to put any of it. A single luggage rack (if you’re lucky), barely a shelf in sight, and hangers that seem mostly ornamental. Which makes me wonder: who designed these rooms?

Have they ever stayed in them?

Taken a shower and tried to hang up a wet towel?

Tried to open two suitcases at once without turning the room into a game of Twister?

It reminds me of a truth we often forget in product design and service development: use your own product. Or - at the very least - talk to the people who do.

Except…

just talking to your users?

Not as simple as it sounds.

Surveys? They’re okay. But they don’t always dig deep. They rely on people remembering the tiny annoyances ... and let’s be honest, most of us don’t pause to mentally bookmark our towel frustrations. We deal with it, move on, forget.

You need to find where the friction lives. The little irks, the invisible “ugh” moments. And that takes more than a checkbox. It takes thoughtful conversations, real-life observations, and sometimes, guided user testing. Not in a lab. In their actual context.

And when you do talk to users, make sure it’s not just the ones who already love what you do. Include your ambassadors, yes. But also those who don’t rave about you. The ones who are lukewarm, skeptical, maybe even annoyed. Because they’ll show you where the cracks are. And that’s where the opportunity lives.