2 Alberta finalists for Canada's best restroom represent different levels of luxury

The Westview RV Park in Wetaskawin and the Hawthorne dining room in the Fairmont Palliser are two of five finalists in Canada's Best Restroom contest.

They are in vastly different settings, but for both bathrooms, it's all about the appropriate level of luxury.

Carol Crick is the co-owner of the Westview RV Park in Wetaskawin. Crick, her husband and her in-laws bought the RV park a little over a year ago, and she says renovating the outdated concrete bathroom "your typical scary campground bathroom" was job No. 1.

"Absolutely. That was our first thing that we needed to do," she told the Calgary Eyeopener. "Now it's just beautiful. It takes people's breath away, actually. They don't expect it at all."

The gleaming bathrooms provide a touch of comfort and luxury that most campers are not expecting. And Crick says that can help draw business.

"People see our website and they pick it because of the bathrooms. It's clean and comfortable, and that just transpires what they would see throughout the whole park," she said. "And it shows our work ethic and the pride that we have in it. It's kind of a drawing card, not just the fact they can go camping, but they can go tenting and they're comfortable here."

Meanwhile, in the Hawthorne dining room in the Fairmont Palliser hotel in downtown Calgary, customers expect some serious luxury.

To that end, the bathroom has just gone through a full renovation. And the Fairmont never holds back. Special touches include a custom line of curated soaps and lotions, oversized floral wallpaper and soft rose-coloured lighting.

Eraj Jayawickreme, the executive chef and director of food and beverage for the Fairmont Palliser, says no detail was overlooked.

"We wanted to focus on a space that was complementary to the dining room, and give it a little softness overall compared to the masculinity of the dining room itself," he said. "And you know there were many hours spent on picking out wallpapers and lighting colours,but I think we got it right with the final product."

Jayawickreme says the Palliser clienteleappreciate those extra touches like the curated soaps, which he calls a farm-to-washroom program.

"We curated our lotions and soaps with a local provider where we grow botanicals in the summer, and will have a fall, a winter and a summer line of soap and lotions," he said. "We kind of really wanted to work on things that made it very comfortable for anyone that was in the washroom with, you know, soft rose lighting, and it was night and day transformation."

The Palliser restroom also offers a gender neutral space. Jayawickreme says the bathroom is an important part of the hospitality in any restaurant.

"It's a reflection of your whole operation, and having a clean washroom reflects, you know, the kitchen, the bar everything," he said. "So it is an extension of what we offer in our hospitality, right down to going to the washroom."

For Crick, it's about a more basic level of comfort.

"I think we're a little bit of the underdog, we're up against look at the Palliser, it's a castle."

Canada's Best Restrooms is an annual contest held by Cintas Canada, to highlight deserving public washrooms. Winners receive Cintas UltraClean restroom cleaning service and $2,500 in services from the restroom supply and cleaning company.

To vote, go to bestrestroom.com/cabetween now and Aug 14.

With files from the Calgary Eyeopener.