The hotel bathrobe has transcended its utilitarian function

For Instagramming guests, white terrycloth just won't cut it anymore

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The hotel bathrobe is something of a meta garment, worn mostly for its sheer hotel-yness.

Sure, it can dry and warm, but mostly they're extracted from wardrobes for the pure indulgence of lying around the room in them, tossing kernels of $15 salted caramel popcorn into your mouth.

Hotels have finally cottoned onto this (sorry), and are putting real thought into them.

“It’s no longer just about putting the hotel logo on a floppy, loosefitting white robe,” Greg Eubanks, vice president of hospitality at Standard Textile, which makes robes for chains like Marriott and Hilton, told The Washington Post.

"For years, we sold robes that were about operational efficiency,” Eubanks said. “These days, guests want to feel special - sexy, even - in their robes.”

This is why you'll see more variation in the robes now, which will often be coloured grey or made from lighter material or have cropped sleeves. Kimpton Hotels has been stocking rooms with leopard, giraffe and zebra-print robes for a while now and will soon incorporate a dozen more patterns.

Referencing the inevitable fate of many hotel robes, an anonymous executive added to the Post: "We know customers are pleased because so many of our robes walk away."