If you want to check the luxury quotient of a hotel you must check its toilet. The Ebony Suite of London’s May Fair hotel has raised the bar for luxury hotels by installing the king of toilets. It takes care of practically everything. You neither have to bother about a cold seat or even toilet tissue or even a separate bidet. It is the most hygienic as you don’t need to touch anything that has been touched by others. You don’t even need to close the lid after use. These are the world’s most luxurious toilets that are motorized and programmable and cost £25,000 for a pair that the May Fair Hotel has fit in its premium suite. It is viable when you consider the tariff of the Ebony Suite which is £2,000 a night.
The toilet called Toto Washlet is designed in Japan and can be called state of the art toilet as cutting edge technology has been used to make it a performing toilet. However its performance may make some of us uncomfortable. The lid lifts automatically as you enter the bathroom. There is a remote control unit, similar to those that are used for televisions, that tells you the temperature of the seat and the pressure of the cleansing jet and if it is set to squirt ‘rear’ or ‘front’. Of course you can reset all functions according to your preference and requirement.
The major difference between a standard toilet and the Toto is that at the end a six-inch plastic wand starts protruding from the back of the pan. It is adjustable and stops at a user determined position near the middle of the pan. And then it squirts an oscillating stream of warm water upwards at a pressure that you can program and control. The experience will obviously take some getting used to. Finally the on-board drier blows warm air upwards to dry you up before you leave. Toto in the meantime flushes on its own. If the deposit is less the toilet selects an eco flush of 3 liters as against a full flush of 6 liters.
As you leave the toilet shuts its lid and a power deodorizer is activated to neutralize and freshen up the bathroom. The way the toilet performs it seems unnecessary but is still rather impressive. The Japanese are good at automating any process and they have done it with a toilet too. They have been using this kind of a system in Japan for long but the system is only being introduced in Europe now. The initial indications are positive. The Ebony Suite at the May Fair Hotel has seen guests like Bob Dylan, Michael Jackson and Cheryl Cole and they all seem to have approved of the Toto. The trend is sure to catch on in Europe, particularly after the elite celebrity guests have approved of it. It is a matter of getting used to it and finally it undoubtedly more hygienic that the traditional toilets. Guest relations manager John Igoe confirms the fact with all the authority at his command.
