This article offers the reader useful information about hotel room refurbishment and how a hotel owner chooses a style for the rooms.
Have you ever wondered about hotel room design and refurbishment? How often do they change the decor? Who decides on the new look? If you are looking for the answers to these questions and more, you’ve come to the right place, as this article delves behind the scenes of the hotel industry and takes a look at room refurbishment.
Global Chain Hotels
The Marriotts and Hiltons have a top team of interior designers at their head office and it is they who decide on all decor. They are given a brief and time to come up with a concept that identifies with the brand and finally, the blueprints are sent to GMs around the world, who must carry out the work to a timeline. While the General Manager is ultimately responsible for everything, he or she would not get to have a say in room decor. He would, however, have to ensure the contractors have everything they need.
Boutique Hotels
This is a very different organisation and the General Manager would probably play a role in choosing a style. He would approach the hotel renovation contractors Cyprus has and invite each to submit a bid for the contract. The board of directors may well be the body that decides on the design concept, depending on the scope and set-up of the business.
Hotel Chains
A domestic hotel chain in the US might have as many as 200 hotels in total and they have two choices when it comes to refurbishment; they can make decisions at the corporate management level or leave it to Regional Directors, who have 15-20 hotels under their care. The Regional Director might call a meeting for all GMs and they would discuss decor and other issues, or they might choose and inform the GMs of their choices. There would typically be a large refurbishment contractor on the books and they subcontract the work to each local area, which allows them to oversee a national project. A typical timeline would be 2 years when all outlets have been refurbished.
Family Owned Hotels
Of course, the active family members would choose a design concept, which would be in line with their brand. They would invite local refurbishment contractors to bid for the contract and make their decision over a couple of weeks. The GM would ask a manager to oversee the project and a contract would be signed by both parties, with financial penalties for late completion. This is normal with commercial refitting and refurbishment contracts; the client expects a lot and can be very demanding.
Furnishings
There are established luxury furnishing companies that have warehouses full of top-drawer furniture; we are not talking budget hotels here, a 5-star hotel might import furniture from Italy and would only entertain the best furniture and art. The standard of workmanship must be first class and great care is taken with fixtures and fittings, with incredible attention to detail.
Timeline
The average period between refurbishment is 18-24 months, depending on how busy they are and the hotel would not close for this project. The work would be organised to cause minimum disruption to the running of the business. If the business is very established, they might close for 2 weeks for a complete refit, but usually, they do not wish to cut off all revenue, even for a short time.
Now that you know more about how hotels refurbish, the next time you stay in a hotel, you can appreciate the decor.
