Ever used a 14 karat gold toilet in Hong Kong? Or stepped inside a giant egg shaped stall in a London restaurant, to relieve yourself?

Hoteliers - retailers and nightclub owners are increasingly building a new amenity into their blueprints and budgets -- over-the-top lavatories for guests and patrons.

Concierge.com, the online destination for inspired travel, today announced its list of the most noteworthy bathrooms in the world.

"One really creative way to attract attention for your hotel or nightclub is to build an amazing bathroom," said Peter J. Frank, editor-in-chief of Epicurious.com. "An entertaining, creative restroom becomes a conversation piece for a new property and developers recognize the power of this amenity to separate them from the pack."


Concierge.com pored over hundreds of tips to compile their list of the world's most unusual and noteworthy restrooms, which can be viewed by visiting http://www.concierge.com/ideas/styledesign/tour/detail?id=1457, or summarized below:

Sofitel Queenstown men's room -- Queenstown, New Zealand
Life-sized photographs of female voyeurs watch as patrons use the urinals

The John Michael Kohler Arts Center -- Sheboygan, Wisconsin
Kohler Arts Center commissioned six American artists to each create their own beautiful bathroom

Dolce & Gabbana Gold -- Milan, Italy
D&G's Milan restaurant's bathrooms are outfitted in floor to ceiling gold bamboo and enormous gold mirrors, not to mention Goldfinger playing on a loop in each stall

Bar 89 -- New York
SoHo bar and restaurant's peek-a-boo stalls are clear until you lock them, when they fog up for privacy

Chung Yo department store -- Taichung City, Taiwan
16-floor department store has 14 themed restrooms, including basketball bathroom complete with a hoop, and a beer bathroom with frosty green beers lining the walls

R-Bar -- Brighton, UK
Giant, glossy-lipped, mouth-shaped urinals cause a stir at this gay bar

Swisshorn Gold Palace -- Hong Kong
It was a $50 million project to create this jewelry showroom bathroom using three tons of gold

Sketch -- London
Eight large egg-shaped bathrooms sit at the top of a sweeping staircase at this restaurant and bar

The NaRa Family Shopping Mall -- Nara, Japan
State-of-the-art stalls each have a self-cleaning wand to wash you off, a jet of hot air to dry you and a noise-machine to drown out sound for those with stage fright

Reinabruja -- Madrid, Spain
Constantly changing colors and pulsing, flashing lights bounce off reflective pillars and wavering walls to keep the party going in this nightclub bathroom

Galleria Emi Fontana Art Installation -- Touring, Next location TBD
Touring art installation titled Don't Miss a Sec looks like a mirrored silver box, but inside the bathroom patrons can see out to the rest of the world

Jade on 36 Bar -- Shanghai, China
Inspired by a Chinese jade jewel box, two steel cylindrical stalls slide open to reveal floor-to-ceiling neon tubes and sci-fi fixtures