Massport is looking to improve the experience for travelers at Boston’s Logan Airport, and one particular area is getting millions of dollars in attention right now: the restrooms.
On a recent visit to Logan’s international Terminal E, Massport Chief Executive Richard Davey told WBUR that travelers have long had complaints about the bathrooms.
“One of the top five pain points that we heard from our customers when I started two years ago was, ‘Hey, your bathrooms. You need to step up your game,’ ” he said.
Earlier this year, Massport began renovations. And now, Davey shows off the overhauled restrooms like a proud papa.
Upon entering the women’s restroom, the space feels sleek and modern and gleaming, under bright, but not harsh, lights. It has cool blue flooring, a slate-colored backsplash, and potted live orchids resting on the white counter tops.
The sinks feature motion-sensor faucets, with hand soap and hand dryer combos so visitors don’t have to wander around with wet hands. And there’s a separate counter space Davey calls a “refresh bar” that both the men and women’s renovated restrooms have.
“ This is just an area if you want to recompose yourself, comb your hair, whatever,” he said. “If you just need a minute to sort of primp or get ready for your flight.”
A focal point of the restrooms are the bathroom stalls: Long, wood-toned doors open outward — no awkward tight squeeze against the toilet to wrangle a suitcase into the stall. The partitions are nearly floor-length, for privacy.
Even the doors look fancy: Long handles flanked by a futuristic, thin sliver of light that shines green if the stall is vacant, and red if the door is locked.
Davey said he landed on the German-designed stalls after having four different types installed at Massport headquarters “and kind of played with them and looked at them and ultimately voted. And our team decided these were the best.”
It’s all part of an approximately $30 million project to overhaul 10 restrooms, eight of which were ready in time to welcome soccer fans traveling to Boston for the FIFA men’s World Cup tournament.
“We’re going to pause construction for a couple weeks, get through FIFA, and then start back up with some additional bathrooms this fall,” Davey said.
The newly renovated bathrooms can be found in terminals A, B and E. Eight have been completed so far. Twenty more bathrooms throughout the airport will get a similar treatment over the next two years, thanks in part to a $22 million grant from the Federal Aviation Administration.
Davey said the design for the restrooms consisted of a 54-point checklist, and while not all of the elements were incorporated, he said he and his team got “super granular” about the details. He was aiming for the restrooms to have “spa-like or fancy hotel” vibes: “That’s the look we were trying for.”
During the bathroom tour, a group of aviation professionals — one of them from the Transportation Security Administration — were gushing over the posh new restrooms.
They described them as “beautiful” with one man saying he was so blown away by the design, he took a selfie in the men’s restroom. He compared the restroom’s feel to being in Europe, to which Davey replied, “That’s what we were going for.”
In the meantime, Davey said he plans to keep a close watch on all of Logan’s restrooms. He’s such a stickler for cleanliness, he has bathroom satisfaction survey data sent directly to his office.
“I’m also probably a little obsessed with this,” he said, explaining that a dashboard shows his team how people are rating the restrooms. “If ‘needs service’ comes in, we’ll dispatch a team to get out to the restroom immediately.”
Davey said ultimately, it’s the little details that help ease travelers’ anxieties and improve their experience.
And for Logan’s 40 million-plus travelers on the go each year, he has one more upgrade he’s working on — a signature Logan airport scent for the restrooms.
“We’re in the process, deciding and smelling things,” he said. “I mean it’s kind of funny, but airports do this, hotels do this, casinos do this, high-end fashion sort of places do it as well.”
As for the bigger picture, Davey has his eye on the prize. Logan ranked 10th on a national customer satisfaction survey by the analytics company J.D. Power last year. Davey’s looking to crack the top five in the next three years.
This article was originally published on WBUR.org and shared via the New England News Collaborative.
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