An important message for businesses reopening after COVID-19

Interiors

From feasibility study to installation of the furnishings, Michael Gaertner Architects can assist you every step of the way to the successful completion of your project. Our specialty is rehabilitation and renovation and we have special expertise in historic rehabilitation using the Investment Tax Credit. This Tax Credit is available for certified historic projects and can equal 20% of the construction cost - often more depending on the incentives offered by local and state governments.

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Click here to see some of our hospitality projects

Maximize Your Capital Expenditures

Maximize the return on every capital improvement dollar. We assist you in identifying the estimated revenues as well as the expenses of a proposed development. Every dollar spent in a renovation needs to be reflected in a corresponding increase in income. We analyze your market, current business and projected increases in occupancy and rate after renovations. Whether you are repositioning a property, reflagging or simply replacing due to wear and tear. Michael Gaertner Architects can help you get the best return on every dollar spent. The largest single furniture item in each room is (drum roll) the bedspread! What do yours say about your property, and in five years how many times will they have been laundered and what will they look like? In analyzing your rooms and comparing them to the market, we pay attention to detail and consumer expectations, operations, and costs to get the highest return.

Excellent design is more than just architecture and interior design, it is tailoring a project to fit a particular market. We have learned to consider the market, fashion and design trends, economic trends, construction trends, consumer confidence, and brand segmentation by individual markets, regions and rate segments. We help yu develop your hospitality concept design to maximize real estate value and return, according to trends and identified development patterns in the area.

Program Design

Many good architects or designers do not have operational knowledge of hotels or experience in renovation. Such a lack will usually create difficulties for the operator. Renovation of an operating hotel is a specialized task requiring special precautions to minimize guest complaints and at the same time not impeding construction progress. We develop schedules and phasing plans that balance construction costs, revenues, and operations.

Working in stages, or sequencing, raises costs. Because the hotel will be in use during the renovation, some of the construction work will be interrupted, raising labor costs. The complexity of the construction process jumps and additional training is needed for construction workers who may not have the "people skills" necessary for even the briefest guest encounter. Sequencing can also prolong the construction schedule, raising management and accounting costs. We have found that an informed, experienced contractor, willing to push construction crews to maximum productivity, working extended hours for a short duration, will be more efficient and cost effective than one working standard schedules. We like to see schedules of 14 hour days, six days/week with breaks of a week or two at the completion of each block of rooms.

The increased costs of sequencing are balanced against quick turnover of completed rooms and placing rooms back in service as quickly as possible. Depending on the extent of the renovations, we have found that, on average, the best contractors can renovate a block of rooms at a rate of one/day. In other words, if a block of 45 rooms is released to the contractor, they should be back in service in 45 days. Suitable block sizes will range from 30-75 rooms depending on the size of the property, configuration of the floors, and other factors.

After considering physical constraints, operations must be designed to minimize staff downtime or even layoffs. If 25% of the room inventory is out of service for construction, with corresponding decreases in food & beverage sales, there may need to be a reduction in staffing levels. By working with the General Manager and other key staff, we determine the correct percentage of rooms to renovate to minimize the impact on sales.

Extensive and detailed space planning can be done to ensure optimum use of space. Review of operator requirements by Michael Gaertner Architects enable owners to objectively decide whether requests should or should not be entertained, hence bringing the cost of the property to the best possible ratio.

For example : an operators request for very wide corridors and large kitchens. In a few instances such request may be warranted, in most cases it is not justified as every cubic foot of sapce adds to the total cost of the project. A difference of 6 inches width over the combined length of back of the house corridors can increase costs disproportionate to the benefit. When renoating a property, it is absolutely critical that every dimension be defined and minimized as much as possible without compromising performance.

Hotel Renovation Services

Hotel Renovation Services or assistance are provided by Michael Gaertner Architects in these areas:

  • Feasibility Study, Master Planning, Capital Planning, Phasing Plan
  • Competition surveys and analysis
  • Market niche recommendations (positioning)
  • Advise on customer surveys and focus groups
  • Development of Concepts in Relation to Market
  • Space Planning Program and Architectural Design
  • Interior Design
  • Kitchen and Laundry Planning
  • Strategic Marketing
  • Budgeting and Capital planning

Contact us for a free initial consultation.

(409)-762-0500