Cintas Canada is looking for the best place to go when you really have to go.
The company is running Canada’s Best Restroom contest for the seventh straight year and is looking for nominations for the country’s best porcelain palace.
The winning restroom receives $2,500 in facility services from Cintas Canada which, among its services, provides restroom cleaning and supplies.
Previous winners in Canada have obtained media coverage from outlets such as CTV News and the National Post.
The contest started in the U.S. 15 years ago as something that was “fun and quirky,” said John Engel, Cincinnati-based director of North American marketing for Cintas.
But its launch was also a way to show how important it is for customers to have “an exceptional restroom experience,” he said. “It’s super critical that businesses have clean restrooms, noting a study that found 95% of customers won’t return to a restroom that’s not clean. “We felt that the contest was a way for us to link up restroom hygiene and good business practices.”
On average, there are 60 entries per year in Canada and the contest is open to all public restrooms. Anyone can submit a brief description of a favourite restroom along with a high-resolution image by Aug. 26.
A judging panel will narrow down submissions to the top five finalists, which will be revealed on Sept. 8. The contest will then be open to public voting through Oct. 6.
Last year’s Canadian finalists received more than 4,500 votes, with the renovated 1000 Islands Duty Free Shop in Lansdowne, Ont. winning for its wow factor and attention to detail. “You walk into it and you would think you’re in a really upscale hotel,” Engel says.
In 2014, the Shaw Club Hotel & Spa in Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ont. won for features including a modern glass infinity sink and glass door technology that turn the stall doors from clear to opaque with the turn of the lock.
Victorian style semi-flush mount chandeliers helped Valleyview Shell Super Station in Northern Alberta earn the top spot in 2013. Expectations for gas station restrooms are usually that “you walk in and it’s absolutely disgusting.” But “Valleyview has an absolutely beautiful restroom.”
Engel has seen more than half of the winning loos and contestants over the years. “Maybe that makes me weird – being the one who’s always ducking into restrooms to check them out.”
Mulberry Marketing Communications in Chicago is handling public relations for the contest.
