The Eight Stages of Hotel Renovation
IHotel renovations are costly and complex. Here are eight stages of renovation operators must manage on every project. Skip any stage and your cost, operational problems and renovation time will skyrocket.
Hotel Makeover invented turn-key renovations, and this is the process we follow on every project. Please note this process requires a lot of people but makes every project simpler, less expensive, with higher quality results. Because our scopes are larger than traditional partial providers, we can apply more people to your job and still charge less than other options. That’s because we can apply smaller markups on every element and put more of your money into the goods and services you buy. We can even provide important services you need FREE, such as design, brand submittals, integrated logistics, financial analysis and lifetime warranty administration.
The Budget Stage
Accurate budgeting is a critical first step to a successful renovation. The goal is not to detail exactly what you’re going to spend - but what you might spend. You must avoid “wishful thinking,” because you cannot “wish” renovation costs to meet your needs. Budgets require honesty and must include ALL expected costs. Also, gross estimates, such as cost per square foot or cost per room, are inaccurate. The only accurate budget is a bottom-up tally where every individual cost is identified, analyzed and summed to develop a total number.
When you have options, you should budget on the high side, because you cannot know every issue you will encounter in advance. You will certainly not have to spend your entire budget, but you can’t afford to run out of money. It is also important to understand that budgets are not “bids,” and bids are not budgets. Contractor and FF&E bids in the early stages are very inaccurate - and sometimes purposely inaccurate - until bidders are forced to be accurate in the Procurement Stage, below. Individual providers can only budget their portions of your project. Hotel Makeover provides everything so we can prepare the most fully integrated, detailed, honest and educated budgets in the world - FREE.
The Design Stage
Many people confuse “interior design” with “renovation design.” They are not the same. Interior Design identifies colors, furniture and, in some cases, space planning. It is basic in concept and often consists of parroted sections of Brand standards. Interior designers have no responsibility for your actual renovation, and their job ends when they print their drawings and specifications.
Renovation design is a far more sophisticated process that renovates your hotel “on paper,” before anything is ordered and any nail is hammered. It provides every element of interior design and also:
· Rectifies your budget to your available funds,
· Searches for problems that may not be apparent, and solves them so they won’t cost you money later.
· Defines the manufacture and construction of everything you intend to order to give you the highest value,
· Confirms the items and services you want are actually available,
· Negotiates PIP issues, changes and postponements,
· Develops extremely detailed bid specifications so all bidders bid on the quality levels YOU want - not what vendors want, and
· Determines in advance the least expensive, most efficient plan to construct and install your renovation.
Effective design will save you thousands, hundreds of thousands, or even millions of dollars on your renovation.
Hotel Makeover’s degreed, experienced and highly trained designers are the best in the business and will design your entire renovation so there will be no surprises later. We are the best hotel and renovation designers in the industry, and every designer spends months in the field learning how hotel renovations will actually work in your hotel.
Hotel Makeover is also the lowest priced hotel designer in the world. Subject to minimums, we charge just a 1% deposit to design your entire renovation! Then, we give it all back when you renovate - so your net cost will be ZERO!
The Procurement Stage
Procurement is the act of purchasing your FF&E and services exactly as specified in the Design Stage, at the best price. Expensive problems arise when manufacturers deliver early or late, and/or fail to deliver the required dimensions and/or quality. When done properly, Procurement closely integrates with Logistics.
At Hotel Makeover, our entire procurement process is provided in-house and completely integrates with Design, Logistics, Construction and Installation, so your entire team works side by side to daily manage all manufacturing activities together. When approved by your Franchisor, we will even directly manufacture your FF&E to your and your franchisor’s exact standards. Our products are almost always higher quality than you can purchase elsewhere. More importantly, we minimize problems, product issues and delays.
Best of all, Hotel Makeover manufactures and procures all of your FF&E and building materials at the industry's lowest prices, and savings often amount to hundreds of thousands of dollars. Don't believe us? Send us any price quote and see for yourself!
The Logistics Stage
Most hotel suppliers and purchasing agents just order the items and services you request and “hope” they deliver in a reasonable manner. They deal only in “boxes’ and leave the unpacking and installation to you. That is NOT effective logistics, and it results in unexpected costs to you. The better logistics system we apply is the active management of every product and service you order - not just the boxes they come in.
Thousands of components will go into your renovation, and they must all be manufactured, delivered, staged and installed at exactly the right time. When anything comes in the wrong order, your transportation, storage, construction and damage costs go way up!
Hotel Makeover provides the most technically managed logistics in the industry, and we coordinate every component of your renovation from specification through purchasing, manufacture, transport, construction, storage and installation.
Our process is modeled like an air traffic control system where we track every item every day, and measure progress against your pre-defined goals. That allows us to identify issues, delays and conflicts FAST, and resolve them before they become problems for you.
The Construction Stage
Construction comprises one-third to one-half of a typical renovation and causes two thirds of the problems. The most common issue is the lack of coordination between independent providers, and often cascades into finger pointing where everyone blames everyone else, and expensive change orders you must unexpectedly fund. Serious contributing factors are insufficient design, poorly defined work scopes, bid specs that weren’t properly developed, services were mistakenly or purposely underbid, and/or skills that were not properly vetted prior to the initiation of work. Additional causes can be poorly trained or insufficient crew staffing, or poor jobsite management.
Hotel Makeover eliminates all your construction problems because we integrate the entire process, employ our own crews, and provide 24 hour per day onsite project management. Every responsibility is ours - period. If problems arise we just fix them. Also, with more than 50 years of experience, we are the most technically proficient renovators on the planet. What that means to you is there's no project or project element too difficult for Hotel Makeover and no problem we can't solve.
The Installation Stage
Installation is the culmination of your physical renovation. However, it still requires management. The primary dangers of poorly managed installation are loss of FF&E due to theft, damage to FF&E, and damage to walls, carpets, thresholds, stairs, doors and jambs. Equally important dangers are disruption of your operation, unnecessary loss of room inventory, and overly expensive cost of labor.
Hotel Makeover is the most efficient and technically advanced renovator in the world. We inventory and monitor rooms electronically so everything is installed in order and nothing is left out. You can even track our progress LIVE 24 hours per day on your own personal project website.
The Marketing Stage
Renovations are marketing projects - NOT construction projects. You will waste your investment if you fail to market before, during and especially after your renovation. That also means your renovation must be carefully designed to attract clients and generate positive guest reviews. At your request, we’ll assist you to design all of your necessary in-house and online marketing materials.
The Warranty Stage
Everybody left and you have problems. What now? It’s bound to happen and, historically, suppliers have left owners to fight alone. However, Hotel Makeover never leaves you alone, and our role doesn’t end until your individual warranty terms end. Warranties are provided by manufacturers but we’ll administer them for you as long as they last. We’ll inspect problems, file all claims and fight for your legitimate rights for the full term of your warranties.