Since pay restrooms have been banned since the 1970s, Americans have become accustomed to free public restrooms wherever they travel. However, depending on the town or city, free-use bathrooms may not always be plentiful or well-maintained.
Enterprising developers and entrepreneurs are trying to solve this problem in a variety of ways, rather than domestic political momentum in the United States to build more and better public restrooms. In addition to maps that track the location of public restrooms, startups like Throne are deploying high-tech, self-cleaning, self-contained portable restrooms that can be booked through a mobile app.
But what about opening up the many existing business-owned bathrooms?
Flush, a new company launched at CES 2024, wants to do just that—rent out restrooms to customers in cafes, restaurants, hotels, and other high-traffic areas. USC computer science graduate Elle Szabo founded Flush after a frustrating experience trying to find a public restroom while taking diuretic medication.
“I’ll never forget the day I went out to have a nice dinner and we all piled into the car to hang out in Pasadena, knowing there wouldn’t be open bathrooms there,” Szabo told TechCrunch in an email interview. “We drove for a few minutes and I had to force the car to stop at the nearest building – in this case, it was a hospital! If taking this drug is a problem for me, I wonder how many It’s a problem for other people too.”
Basically, Flush is a two-sided marketplace for bathrooms. Business owners can rent out their bathrooms for up to $10, and users can find and reserve available bathrooms through Flush’s web app. Flush plans to charge (but does not yet charge) a booking fee.
To prevent guests from soiling bathrooms, Flush has a built-in rating system that providers see when approving bathroom reservations. (One hopes there are measures in place to prevent abuse; Saab didn’t say.) Flush is also exploring some form of insurance that would indemnify the business if a guest causes damage, such as a major plumbing issue.
Image Source: rinse
“By using Flush, a coffee shop or café can create an additional revenue stream without increasing overhead costs,” Szabo said. “In addition to increasing revenue streams, Flush provides a unique way to attract new customers without any additional marketing.”
Szabo is so enthusiastic about the idea that Flush could one day “solve people’s bathroom distribution problems.” But aside from buying coffee out of politeness, I don’t believe the average person would be willing to pay $5 to use the bathroom, even in an emergency.
For someone who didn’t grow up in a country where paying to use the bathroom is the norm, this will be a tough mental adjustment. Even Europeans might balk – pay toilets in countries like Italy tend to be much cheaper (around a euro or so) than Flush’s current requirements.
Now, to be fair, in some cases (such as diaper changes), I can imagine customers being able to justify the cost of Flush, especially if there aren’t any other viable options nearby. Szabo envisions businesses creating exclusive entrances to Flush that would allow customers to bypass lines and pay a fee (think of a busy bar or club), which would certainly have some appeal.
But the idea of renting bathrooms has been tried before, without great success.
Good2Go, much like Flush, once partnered with local businesses to rent out bathrooms, charging a subscription fee and splitting it with the owners. Despite landing high-profile early customers like Peet’s Coffee and raising $7 million in seed funding, Good2Go (which also worked with businesses to renovate bathrooms) eventually pivoted to selling universal access control technology after the economics didn’t work out.
Another bathroom rental service, Restspace, is still active. But it charges per minute of use (e.g. $15 for 15 minutes), which may be a more profitable business model than Flush.
Even if Flush, launched in Pittsburgh, where Szabo is based, catches on, I think companies will ultimately have a hard time dealing with the logistics of figuring out who buys access to which bathroom and which customer is next in line. queue. Flush is considering purchasing smart locks to allow users to self-service, but Szabo has not yet committed to the idea.
The big picture in the room is the harm a platform like Flush can do to those who can’t afford to pay.
Image Source: rinse
Some may argue that building and maintaining more public restrooms is the responsibility of government rather than business—and I don’t disagree. But given that there appears to be little appetite for such infrastructure spending, privately owned bathrooms have become an important resource for homeless people who would otherwise be forced to urinate or defecate in the streets.
But Saab doesn’t think so.
“Homelessness is a growing problem, and some providers are concerned that homeless people may damage or soil bathrooms,” she said. “Flush provides a way into a clean, reliable bathroom…Airbnb is so successful because it provides something we all need—a shelter from the elements—and Flush is doing the same for bathrooms. thing.”
Flush is run and coded by Szabo himself and is currently being launched. The company is signing up businesses and lining up investors (hence the media tour at CES) and plans to hire an employee this year.
