Hotel Dressers Are Becoming Less Common For a Few Different Reasons

Hotel dressers are divisive, apparently. Some travelers swear by them, others don’t touch them at all. Either way, dressers are becoming less common in hotel rooms due to changing design trends and a general lack of space, and Conde Nast Traveler recently investigated the phenomenon.

“There’s a definite trend that I’ve seen in the industry,” Sonya Haffey, the vice president of design firm V Starr Interiors told the magazine. “I see it a lot more with the millennial-geared hotel brands and the new brands, the boutique hotels.” At this year’s NextGen hospitality design conference, she learned that 80 percent of hotel guests stay alone, and because they stay an average of just two nights, there’s really no need for them to unpack into a dresser.

At the same time that fewer people are using hotel dressers, hotels rooms are also becoming smaller and more minimal. “It’s really like shipbuilding,” Carolina Eguiguren, the design director at Quadrum Global, told Conde Nast Traveler. “You want to use all your corners. We have found that dressers and closets are not the most important, but bed sizes are. We prioritize a king bed over a dresser.”

Instead of dressers, hotels might offer storage solutions like open hanging rails, shelves, wardrobes, and hooks. These have the added benefit of being easier to clean so rooms can turn over to new guests more quickly. Plus, you’re less likely to leave belongings behind if you don’t have the opportunity to store them out of sight in the first place.

One more factor influencing the disappearance of dressers is that boutique hotels also want guests to come out of their rooms and spend time in common areas, like beautifully designed lobbies and bars. 

So, will you miss hotel dressers or barely notice they’re gone? Learn more about the disappearing dresser trend on Conde Nast Traveler.