For the second 12 months in a row, an airport has gained the title of America’s Finest Restroom in a contest celebrating public restrooms that aren’t solely reliably clear but in addition have attraction, handy options or uncommon decor.
Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport (BWI) and its newly renovated, amenity-rich restrooms have claimed the throne within the 2023 America’s Finest Restroom contest. The airport was certainly one of 10 finalists chosen — and that is no small feat.
The annual Cintas-sponsored contest scours the land for restrooms with distinctive design components which can be clear, visually interesting, purposeful and modern. It then pits 10 of the very best toilet beauties towards one another in a public face-off.
BWI’s profitable restrooms are on concourses B, C and D. They’re brilliant and spacious, with home windows that present each pure mild and privateness.
Every set of restrooms consists of welcome options and facilities equivalent to touchless fixtures, full-height stalls and doorways, further house for stowing curler baggage, and pink and inexperienced mild occupancy indicators for the stalls. Sensors alert the custodial workers when provides must be refilled, and there are seating areas the place vacationers might wait for his or her companions.
The brand new restrooms at BWI even have digital entrance signage displaying present stall availability in addition to particular person lactation, adult-changing and family-assist rooms.
“We’re honored to be acknowledged by Cintas and contest voters for our dedication to offering a constructive passenger expertise and excellent amenities,” Ricky Smith, government director and CEO of BWI, stated in a statement. “Passengers rank restrooms as an airport’s primary amenity. That is why we work so arduous to offer inventive, clear and welcoming restrooms to make journey extra pleasant.”
Along with bragging rights and a coveted spot in America’s Finest Restroom Corridor of Fame, BWI’s first-place award comes with $2,500 price of services or products to assist preserve the profitable restrooms clear.
Past BWI, this 12 months’s finalists included public restrooms in a dive bar, a resort, a public relaxation space, eating places, a craft brewery, a ski resort and a lightship.
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Airports on a roll
Final 12 months, in a shock displaying, restrooms at two airports — Newark Liberty International Airport (EWR) and Tampa International Airport (TPA) — had been within the working. TPA took high honors for its first set of renovated restrooms that includes massive Florida-themed graphics and the airport’s “cockpit” idea that places a paper towel dispenser and trash receptacle inside attain of every sensor-activated sink and cleaning soap dispenser.
Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport (MSP) took first place in 2016 for the renovation of the primary set of restrooms in a deliberate 100-set makeover challenge that was set to be accomplished in 2025.
These restrooms embody ready areas and amenity nodes with flight data and emergency units, in addition to mosaic murals on the entrances and Minnesota-themed paintings.
Again in 2005, Fort Smith Regional Airport (FSM) in Fort Smith, Arkansas, took first place for its always-clean restrooms that featured “stunning décor,” dried flower preparations, automated bogs and sink taps, and different facilities.
You’ll be able to see all of the toilets which have landed within the Corridor of Fame here.
The 2023 finalists
BWI had some very worthy competitors among the many finalists within the 2023 America’s Finest Restroom contest.
The restrooms at Huntsville, Utah’s Snowbasin Resort — one of many oldest repeatedly working ski resorts within the nation — characteristic Italian Carrara marble, bronze and crystal chandeliers, non-public stalls, hand-painted partitions, and plush hand towels.
Framed portraits of rabbits cowl the partitions on the Rabbit Gap restaurant in Greenville, South Carolina. A rose backyard appears to develop from the ceiling, and snippets from an “Alice in Wonderland” audiobook play over a speaker.
On the New York Metropolis lightship Frying Pan — which was in-built 1929 and now has a spot on the Nationwide Register of Historic Locations — there’s naturally a nautical-themed restroom. This one has riveted sheet steel, shiny wooden, brilliant lighting fixtures above every stall and sink, and painted by hand footage of the historic ship.
