When my wife and I travel for pleasure, we prefer to stay at small boutique hotels. That is, of course, unless we’ve racked up so many points in the big hotel chains’ loyalty programs from our business travel that we can get a room for free.

While the big chains generally offer bland consistency from room to room and even from city to city, the charm of a boutique hotel is quite different. The wallpaper or floor covering in one room might well be different from another room on the same floor.

And, then we get to the plumbing. We’ve seen mismatched faucet handles on the same sink that go in different directions to turn the water on and off.

Showers are always an adventure because we never know what we’re going to experience when we turn, push in or pull out the shower valve. On a vacation to Northern California in early September, we stayed at a favorite bed-and-breakfast where the water temperature fluctuated from very warm to bracing, and back again, during our respective showers.

A few nights later, we revisited a boutique hotel on Nob Hill in San Francisco and experienced a showerhead manufactured prior to the advent of low-flow regulations. It turned out to be a guilty pleasure in these green-conscious times.

Stepping from the shower, and over a large puddle of water outside the shower stall, I noticed the same kind of laminated card I’ve seen frequently in big hotel chains’ bathrooms. The card encouraged me to conserve water by reusing my towel.

I commented earlier this year in my Publisher’s Note in PM Engineer magazine on the hospitality industry’s efforts to reduce water usage – and their laundry bills. Read my article here at PME’s site. In that column, I noted that hotels would not meet their green objectives until they communicated their intentions to their employees and trained them accordingly.

What I encountered in the bathroom in San Francisco was a different problem. There, the plumbing products and shower door were thwarting the hotel’s water conservation efforts.

I already mentioned the showerhead. As glorious as the experience it provided was, the showerhead needs to be replaced if the hotel truly wants to reduce its water use.

The puddle that had accumulated on the bathroom floor resulted from a faulty shower door that did not close properly, despite our best efforts. My wife employed the towels that we would have been happy to reuse after subsequent showers to mop up the mess. Perhaps the shower door could be repaired; more likely it needs to be replaced with a better designed, manufactured and installed product.

Moving to the sink, I came across another situation that I encounter frequently in hotels, big and small. The pop-up didn’t fit properly, so water drained from the basin when I tried to fill it.

Several years ago, a plumbing contractor passed along the water-saving tip of filling the basin before shaving. Rather than sluice my razor with running water, I try to clear the stubble by rinsing my razor in the basin. I’m surprised how frequently I’m not able to do this when traveling.

Hotels need to install and maintain properly designed and manufactured lavatory equipment if they are serious about saving water.