Towel art is one of those hotel room mysteries that simultaneously delights and confuses. We also reckon it’s an underappreciated art. I mean, it’s unclear where it originated, not to mention why or how the idea came about (although our money is on that age-old tea towel chicken trick). Some suggest it’s inspired by the Japanese art of origami, while others reckon it started on cruise ships, with workers going through hours upon hours of training to perfect these fluffy creations.
Whatever the backstory, you can’t argue with the fact that some of the creations are pretty incredible, especially when you know that members of staff have hundreds, sometimes thousands of rooms to get through.
We’ve seen some pretty quirky ones over the years – particularly in the Caribbean – and personally every time I see one I can’t help but capture it on camera, feeling an unstoppable need to immortalise its unique design before I can happily deconstruct it and take a shower. So without further ado, here are a few of our team favourites, taken across the Dominican Republic, Mexico, Cuba and an Indonesian gem: Bali.
