Building a hotel may start and end with the overnight experience for guests, but a hotel is so much more than the individual rooms that are allocated to and furnished for your guest’s comfort.
Now, more than ever before, hotels have taken on a new lease of life as event venues, communal spaces for meetings, and cafes and eateries for those in a rush or seeking a sit down meal. They can be creative, memorable, and entirely innovative depending on how you approach the design and build process and require constant and consistent focus on how the end result will be used by staff and admired by guests.
In this blog post, we’re considering some of the key things when it comes to designing and constructing a new hotel – from structural details to the finer details, furnishings, and decorative elements.
But first, the finances.
The importance of financial planning
People often think that the timeline comes first, but without an idea of how much budget you have to play with you cannot hope to secure the right workers and contractors to bring your project and ideas to life.
Establishing the construction loans that you can build and working out how much budget to assign to each stage of the construction process is what will enable you to create a realistic timeline – thus framing and influencing your marketing strategy, launch plans, and eventual income from the hotel.
Creating a timeline
Once the finances are under control, it’s time to create a timeline for completion. This should be created with some leeway, making allowances for bad weather and potential hold-ups within the supply chain – however, for the most part sticking to your schedule is key to ensuring that the project runs smoothly.
Ideally, you should look to specify and identify lots of small milestones to conquer and overcome as the project progresses, rather than simply focussing on the big structural achievements. Discuss the deadlines with the relevant team members and contractors, and make sure that you get regular updates and progress reports so that you are well informed and aware of any potential hold-ups along the way.
Assembling your workforce
Unless you have endless hours and a very loose deadline, the chances are that you will not be able to do everything by yourself – if for no other reason than because the scale of a hotel construction project is magnanimous. As such, a main thing to focus on and consider is the best workforce for the job – ideally bringing in contractors with specialisms in different areas including plumbing, building, roofing, insulation, and joinery for a clean interior finish.
As part of the tender and selection process, you will often find that the cheapest contractor is not always the best option for you and your project – with importance focus points being their attitude to your timeline, the quality of their work, and their ability to deliver what they promise.
Consider the end goal throughout
The best hotels are those which are built from the ground up, with constant focus on and reflection of the end goal. That means knowing the kind of hotel and guest experience you are looking to create and using that as the end goal for what you want to achieve and build.
Consider things like navigation and layout, structural features, memorable facilities, and the little details that will lift your hotel business above the competition – using décor and joinery to fill in the gaps and bring these structural components to life as part and parcel of the end product.
The earlier you can establish what it is you want to build, the better and more cohesive the entire project will be.
Monitor the project from day one to completion
The best projects, both for business owners and for the contractors working on them, are those which are built on good communication and regular updates. Make sure that you stay on top of site conditions, are aware of what’s going on at all times, and engage high quality security services to keep equipment and the site itself safe at all times.
Building a hotel from the ground up is no easy process – however, with the right care and attention to detail, and by uniting the top contractors in each specific area of the process, an innovative and creative business opportunity could be just a few months away.
For more information on the construction process and how we can help you build the hotel of your dreams, get in touch with our team directly.