Comment by nunez

I usually stay 50+ nights/year at hotels all across the value spectrum and haven't thought about this until now! Proper bathroom doors _are_ hard to come by.

"There has to be a safety/design reason for this," I thought. And, sure enough, there is: https://old.reddit.com/r/hotels/comments/1gmearh/hotel_desig...

TL;DR: Sliding doors are an easier way to keep hotel rooms up to code long-term than doors that need to be refitted/redesigned if the room changes.

To me, what's more annoying than sliding bathroom doors (which honestly haven't bothered me that much, though I usually travel alone) are:

1) Sliding shower doors that are ill-fitted and don't close properly, and

2) Bathrooms without proper ventilation (though I learned why vent fans are uncommon in hotels in the US: https://old.reddit.com/r/CasualConversation/comments/18z9sd0...)