Restroom cleanliness is not just about hygiene, it can negatively affect your guest and staff experience and diminish your reputation. In fact, in a recent survey, 84 per cent of people said they have a negative impression of a business with an unclean or unpleasant restroom, and 52 per cent said that they would not return to a business after a negative restroom experience.

Recently, Bradley Company explored public restrooms as part of its Healthy Handwashing Survey, examining restroom habits and what users are looking for from businesses and cleaners. Here are some of the concerns and complaints expressed, and improvements that people are looking for when they visit a public restroom.

Restroom availability

Visitors are concerned with availability. The survey found that 86 per cent of adults think it would be valuable for restrooms in high-traffic locations to have a display showing how many stalls are available, so they can decide if they’d like to stop by that specific restroom or continue to one that’s less crowded. Systems like this are already in place in many airport bathrooms to save time and help eliminate the frustration of searching for an open stall or waiting in a long line.

While not everyone is interested or able to add this type of system to their restrooms, one way to address increased availability is to ensure that restrooms are consistently clean and stocked so that when they are empty, they are fully functioning. Technology like sensors, traffic counters, and inventory monitoring can help businesses manage labour to ensure that every available stall is ready for the next user.

Stall privacy

Privacy is also a concern, with 72 per cent of people responding that public restroom stalls don’t provide enough “personal space” protection. 53 per cent would like the gaps around the stall door and where the stalls come together to be eliminated and 45 per cent want doors that extend right down to the floor. Also, 44 per cent would like to see an indicator on the stall door that shows whether it’s occupied or not, to avoid needing to bend down and looking for feet to determine if someone is using the stall. Finally, 30 per cent say they’d appreciate some sort of sound suppression, such as music playing, to help improve privacy in a public restroom.

These are all changes that can be implemented over time for a better user experience.

Amenities

In terms of valuable amenities, respondents would like to see shelves or hooks to hang personal items, a restroom attendant to keep the space clean, and stocked and larger stalls.

80 per cent also think it’s important for public restrooms to have touchless fixtures, 75 per cent believe touch-free technology improves their overall experience in a restroom, and 65 per cent say they’re more likely to return to a store or business that has touchless fixtures.

For businesses planning to upgrade their restroom operations, the top three requests for touchless operation are toilet flushers, soap dispensers, and faucets. Along with upping the visitor experience, these upgrades may also help better manage inventory, save water, and improve labour distribution.

User experience is an important part of attending to public restrooms, so paying attention to this part of your business may help your reputation and leave visitors wanting to return.

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