A recent survey* carried out in France, Germany, Sweden and the UK demonstrates that for consumers the facilities in public toilets are extremely important, especially when it comes to the device for drying hands.
The washing of hands is considered mandatory, although 28% of users of public toilets do not like to dry their hands if they cannot find a ‘suitable’ hand drying device. Finding a ‘suitable’ hand drying system is one of the most important factors when considering hygiene. Almost all respondents (96%) agreed that paper towels provide the best standard of hygiene.
Managers of companies and restaurants do not normally question their customers, staff or visitors on what facilities they want in the premises' toilets. However, the perception of the venue is greatly influenced by these basic facilities. The Intermetra survey demonstrates that a washroom with the ‘right’ solution is highly appreciated by all and is seen as a ‘nice business card’: it helps build a positive view of the venue. When it comes to washing and drying hands, the majority of users have made it clear that they prefer tissue hand towels above any other system.
The new survey confirms that people are usually in a hurry; consequently they do not want to queue in front of a dispenser and want to leave the washroom feeling clean and dry.
The consumer survey by Intermetra on behalf of ETS** provides some very interesting insights. It was conducted among 2000 people, male and female, of all age ranges. The objective was to find out whether, why and how consumers wish to dry their hands after visiting toilets in public places.
Washing hands after a visit to a public toilet has become almost normal practice everywhere in Europe. The question is though: do we always dry our hands? Germans have reconfirmed their profile as being the most rigorous Europeans: 88% will always dry their hands, whatever drying system is available. More than a quarter (28%) of those questioned will look first to see if there is ‘a suitable hand drying system’ before deciding to dry their hands. Women feel more strongly about this than men, especially in Sweden (42% vs. 27%) and France (41% vs. 29%).
If the availability of the ‘right’ device is mandatory for almost a third of the users, when then is a hand drying system considered ‘suitable’?
Only 6% of all respondents attribute ‘the dry feel’ as the most important attribute of a hand drying device. The largest group, almost three quarters of all respondents (72%), put hygiene as the highest requirement on their list, whereas speed of drying is a priority for a much lower 22% of those interviewed.
Overall, hygiene is considered the most important factor for liking or disliking a drying device by almost all (95%) respondents.
Textile towels that have already been used by others (72%) are considered to be totally unacceptable as are unclean devices (59%).
Tissue hand towels are seen as giving the highest level of hygiene (96%). This is confirmed again when systems are chosen for use by children in schools.
As hygiene is seen as the most important condition, two thirds (68%) of the people believe that tissue hand towels dry their hands the
fastest. The driest feeling they achieve is from paper towels (50%).
Hot air dryers (30%) are considered to be more efficient than pull down textile towels (18%).
The bottom-line as to which system users prefer confirmed that 63%, when offered the choice, will put tissue hand towels first. Less than half this percentage (28%) opt for hot air dryers and 10% for textile towels. When looking at the first and second choices, paper towels lead with almost all (98%) of the respondents. Pull down textile towels are considered the least suitable.
*Intermetra, June 2008 - ‘Users preferences in hand drying systems’.
**ETS - European Tissue Symposium is a trade organisation representing the majority of tissue paper producers throughout Europe and about 90% of the total European tissue production.