In 2023, when Dutch artist Florentijn Hofman’s inflatable giant yellow rubber duck returned to Victoria Harbour (this time as a pair, in the artwork Double Duck ), the Mandarin Oriental, Hong Kong hotel took advantage of its bird’s eye view of the installation by posting on Instagram an image of a guest room with the hotel’s own rubber ducks in the foreground. Now a new duck has joined the MO flock. “And our duck has a name – Douglas,” she says.
The first rubber ducks were made in the 1880s, although not as we know them today – the cheery yellow versions we recognise now were born in the 1940s. Julie Hastings, a recently retired marketing director of Northern Ireland’s Hastings Hotels, which has its own duck toy, summed up their appeal. “I read that a rubber duck in your bath can relieve the tensions and stresses of everyday life.
“I thought that the fun factor of finding a rubber duck in the bathroom would bring a smile to guests, and we encourage them to take the ducks home,” she said. Hastings, also known as Lady Duck, has created more than 100 toy versions for the luxury hotel chain, including Rory “Quack” Ilroy, modelled on Northern Irish golfer Rory McIlroy, and a duck in honour of the fantasy series Game of Thrones , partly filmed in the country. Accent Inns, in Canada, also has toy ducks in many varieties, including a saxophone player, a snorkeller and one in hair rollers.
Britain’s Apex Hotels has a different duck design for every property.