1. Know the Brand. Be the Brand. Execute the Brand Standards.
For most hotel renovation projects today, brand guidelines remain key to keeping the renovation process in line with goals, standards, and expectations for all properties across the brand family. As we’ve developed into Roedel Companies over nearly five decades, we’ve learned how to efficiently and effectively integrate these brand standards into every renovation project - and that has made all the difference in getting projects completed to our established plans. 

The brand you partner with on any renovation project provides a brand-specific set of guidelines, referred to as Property Improvement Plan (PIP), but they do not always provide everything required. Your renovated team must build a scope of work and budget to account for all aspects of the PIP. These guidelines will guide your renovation decisions, and will serve as the basis for your design choices, available resources, and overall performance goals for the finished project both immediately upon opening and for decades afterward.

2. Build for the Customers of Today. And of Tomorrow.
A hotel renovation is a major project, and the work you put in today should encompass your brand goals to appeal to the guests and customers of today, tomorrow, and well into the future. In many cases, these forward-thinking improvements will follow industry standards and prevailing trends. For instance:

• Fitness rooms were hardly par-for-course for hotel design or renovations a few decades ago. Now they’re ubiquitous, and can even be the deciding factor for a guest looking for an inviting property at which to stay.

• Today’s guests have come to expect Wi-Fi throughout a property, tomorrow’s guests may look for nothing short of the high-speed access, in-room device connectivity, and seamless reservation or ordering systems that the hotels of the future may not be able to survive without.

In addition, it takes a trained eye for customer service to sometimes spot those key, if not immediately obvious, needed improvements. Renovations teams should take time to engage in “social listening.” That is, exploring everything from online review sites, to social media, to physical feedback forms to determine where guests find the most to complain about, and what simple steps can be taken to alleviate these issues.

3. Great Success starts with a Great Team.
Every renovation process moves at the speed and efficiency of those leading the charge, meaning those guiding your renovation process should be well-suited for the job at hand. In the process of building your renovation team, it’s always a good idea to think smart and choose those best suited to bring your project to the finish line with maximum communication, accountability, and professionalism.

When taking on a renovation project, you’ll likely rely on a few key members for your renovation team:

• The property owner: Whether owned by a brand, a private individual, or a group of investors, the owner maintains a crucial role in not only initiating the renovation process, but keeping it in line with their goals and vision for what the property should look like when all is said and done.

• The project manager: A project manager will oversee virtually every aspect of the process by incorporating viewpoints from the brand, the renovation specialists, and the construction team on the ground. Often selected to represent the owner or the property management team, this individual will be among your most informed, most relied-upon, and most critical team members from a day-today operations standpoint.

• The On-Site Supervisor - This individual will maintain order and efficiency during the renovation process, overseeing the construction work and keeping the project manager and GM informed of any setbacks, holdups, or key successes along the way.

• The general manager: This individual is key to ensuring operations can continue unabated during the renovation process without drastically affecting the customer experience. As an on-the-ground team member with intimate knowledge of guest expectations, the GM will provide key insight into the most-needed steps in the renovation process. Keeping your GM fully-informed of progress and benchmarks along the way is critical for overall success and avoiding setbacks.

• The architect: This individual (if required for the scope of work) will offer critical expertise on construction, design, and renovation plans based on the existing structure and on plans for added elements.

• The interior designer: This team, often approved directly by the brand, will submit 100% design and final specification book to the brand for final approval before work begins, and will control procurement for features like furniture, fixtures, and other aesthetic elements per brand guidelines.

• The brand ambassador: This individual is generally only needed for soft-brand projects with a tight focus on consistency. Because the brand will issue a PIP upon a hotel sale or when time or quality inspection scores trigger a renovation, this individual can be needed to employ a finely-honed eye for brand clarity and the brand vision to keep all aspects of the renovation in line with accepted standards. From high-level decision making to the finest details of design, your brand ambassador may be key to maintaining the brand voice across the project.

4. Communication is Key. Make sure yours is Clear
If there’s one universal truth to any complex renovation, refurbishing, or construction project, it’s that clear, reliable communication is absolutely vital to maintaining forward progress.

• Generally, the team member most in-touch with the communication process will be the project’s general manager, who will need to maintain daily communication with the on-site supervisor. These individuals will bring the most on-the-ground knowledge to the day-to-day operations.

• The project manager should initiate weekly meetings with the entire team, sharing key successes and next steps to best direct weekly progress on both a long- and short-term scale. Acting as a liaison between the brand ambassador, owner, and renovations specialist, the project manager will be able to offer key insights and directives to the on-site supervisor to most efficiently order and execute renovations plans to keep the project on-budget and hitting key progress benchmarks.

• A responsibility matrix can help keep everyone on-track and accountable for their specific deliverables. Each team member is assigned agreed-upon tasks, from the scope of work, throughout the entire project.

5. The Best Laid Plans start Early and Think Broadly.
Failure to plan often leads to a failure to launch - and when it comes to a hotel renovation, each day of delay represents profit loss, reputation damage, and overall loss of morale. By planning intelligently and setting achievable benchmarks with actionable goals, you can set your renovation progress up for success and keep those unexpected holdups from sinking your timeline. 

In our experience, it’s always best to plan your project for completion right around the start of the busy season - meaning it’s always best to plan the bulk of your renovation and construction work for your area’s slowest period of the year.

For some properties, the renovation project may involve a complete redesign, closing off every room and public area of the hotel for a full work over prior to a grand opening. For projects taking renovations one step at a time, or those planning to remain open during the renovation process, the need to maintain a prime guest experience is paramount. That means sectioning off renovation progress to one floor at a time and keeping current guests safely away from the work zone.

The best projects should define progress basic benchmarks as early as possible, and work to hit each of those benchmarks along the way straight through to completion by holding specific team members accountable for their specific goals. And because no project is without its unexpected surprises, it’s key to build in flexibility for those minor things you may not be able to plan for.

6. Plan for Flexibility. But Execute with Precision. 
In a perfect world, every renovation project would progress smoothly and run into no issues along the way. In some cases, this may in fact be the case. But in our experience, the mark of a true professional is not just the ability to plan for all contingencies, but to seamlessly adapt to surprises without getting off-track. That’s why we recommend all renovation teams build in time, budget, and the mental fortitude to meet those surprises from the very beginning.

In order to account for surprises that may arise during the construction project itself–including, potentially, the discovery of mold behind an old wall, a found leak in aging plumbing, or needed updates to match today’s building codes–it’s often best to rely on a renovation specialist who can envision and predict all parts of the process from start to finish.

Every day behind schedule represents lost revenue, and that’s why we build in a strategically- calculated timeframe for the unexpected, and maintain weekly communication between the project manager and other key team members to quickly identify and remedy any problems before they impact the project’s completion.

7. Develop Key Relationships with Locals and Municipal Officials.
As with any major construction or renovation project, a hotel renovation carries importance that extends beyond the just the four walls of the building itself. From construction permits, to food and beverage permits, to environmental concerns, to engagement with local businesses, your hotel renovation project will have far-reaching effects in both the local economy and in the culture of your local area.

Many projects - especially historical hotel renovations - will carry a special importance in the eyes of neighbors and nearby residents and officials, and having them on your side is critical to keeping everything running smoothly. It’s always a smart choice to get to know these individuals and to become an active voice in community discussions before, during, and after the renovation process has begun. That way, you can read the feelings of locals, get to know those who will be granting you various permits and permissions, and respond seamlessly to any issues or concerns that may make themselves known along the way.

8. Focus Forward. Even on the Final Steps.
Even as the busy parts of the renovation process begin to wind down and those final finishing touches atert to make their way from planning to execution, it can still be easy to overlook some key elements that will set your progress back unnecessarily.

Key resources that can often get pushed to the back burner include:

• Occupational permits;

• Certificates of registration;

• Plans for sales and meals taxes;

• Swimming pool permits;

• Certificates of inspection (elevator, balcony, fire protection, etc.); and

• Permits for Operation (food and beverage, housekeeping, laundry, etc.)

Although easy to leave to the side while larger, more pressing construction and renovation issues are top-of-mind, these are the resources that can take a significant amount of time to secure and finalize. Don’t let your revenue suffer for lack of planning - plan to secure and finalize these assets early and confirm their processes long before you plan on fully reopening.

9. Get the Word Out with a Smart PR Boost.
The biggest mistake a renovation team can make - even after all the effort of bringing a hotel up-to-code, on-track for opening, and up-to-date for today’s (and tomorrow’s) guests - is to open the doors after all the work is done only to discover nobody at the door, ready to stay and enjoy. This is why keeping a robust PR strategy in the forefront of your planning is absolutely critical, and why you should keep the community excited and anticipating the finished project from day one.

For some projects, this will be easier than for others. For historic hotel renovations, for instance, the community may be eagerly awaiting the reopening of a historic local landmark. For others, however, the renovation of a local hotel may not be quite as much of a draw. In either instance, it’s important to keep the excitement up and get the word out - and how you do that may just depend on the area.

Keeping positive reputations with local community leaders is one strong strategy for keeping excitement up around the project, especially if the renovation promises to bring new jobs, new dining and lodging opportunities, and new culture to an area. Connecting with local press outlets, travel writers, and social media influencers is also a smart strategy for drumming up excitement and keeping folks engaged with the brand and the property right up to opening day.

https://expertise.roedelcompanies.com/hotel-renovation-ebook/

David Roedel is the business development officer and a member of the company’s executive team. He is responsible for new hotel development, acquisitions and the sales effort required to meet or exceed the annual plans for ROK Builders and RGH Hospitality. In addition, he oversees Roedel Companies brand marketing, and public relations. David reports to the executive team.