HOTEL DESIGN GUEST-ROOM FLOORS

and support spaces on the lower floors may be

Guest-room planning objectives
Siting and orientation
l Site the guest-room structure to be visible from the road.
l Orient guest rooms to enhance views.
l Assess the relative visual impact and construction cost of various guest-room
configurations.
l Position the guest-room structure to limit its structural impact on the ballroom
and other major public spaces.
l Consider solar gain; generally north-south exposures are preferable to east-west
exposures.
Floor layout
l Organize the plan so that the guest rooms occupy at least 70 percent of gross
floor area.
. Locate elevators and stairs at interior locations to use the maximum possible
length of outside wall for guest rooms.
l Develop the corridor plan to facilitate guest and staff circulation.
l Place the elevator lobby in the middle third of the structure.
l Place the service elevator, linen storage, and vending in a central location.
l Plan corridor width at a minimum of 5’ 0” (1.5 m), but consider the option of
5’ 6” (1.65 m).
l Design guest bathrooms back-to-back for plumbing economies.
l Locate handicap-access guest rooms on lower floors and near elevators.
taking into account constraints and opportuni-
ties of a particular site, may initially select a
double-loaded corridor configuration (i.e., one
with rooms on either side), a compact vertical
tower, or a spacious atrium structure-each with
its myriad variations. Low-rise properties gener-
ally are planned using a double-loaded corridor
and may be shaped into an L,
a T, a U, or a +, among other configurations.
High-rise buildings may follow those patterns;
they can be terraced into pyramid-like forms; or
they can adjoin a large lobby space so that some
of the rooms look into the hotel’s interior. The
tower plan, in which the guest rooms surround a
central core, can be practically any shape, al-
though rectangular or circular are most common.
Early atrium configurations, such as that of John
Portman’s Hyatt Regency Atlanta, were designed
on a basic rectangular plan. More recent projects
have taken on numerous, complex shapes. The
various configurations are illustrated throughout
Photograph on this article.
previous page:
The most appropriate configuration for the
Hotel Rey Juan Carlos I,
Barcelona, Spain. guest rooms depends largely on the nature of the
This luxury hotel places its building site. In densely populated urban areas,
370 guest rooms in two
opposing wings separated
where land costs are high and the site may be
by a ICstory-high atrium. relatively small, the ideal arrangement of public
the most critical consideration. Two major plan-
ning requirements often dictate both the shape
and the placement of the guest-room structure
on urban sites. Those requirements are the pre-
ferred location of the public and service eleva-
tors and of the column-free ballroom. At resort
properties, on the other hand, the opposite is true:
the functional organization of the hotel’s elements
is secondary to the careful siting of the buildings
to minimize their impact on the site and to pro-
vide views of the surrounding landscape or beach.
Many resorts feature not a single building but,
instead, provide a number ofvilla structures that
greatly reduce the perceived scale of the project,
give the guest a greater connection to the site
and the recreational amenities, and enhance the
sense of privacy. At airport sites, height limita-
tions often dictate the choice of a specific plan-
one that packages the rooms into a relatively low
and spread-out structure.
While the choice of an architectural plan is a
function of a balanced consideration of site, en-
vironment, and program requirements, the ar-
chitect must realize that a particular configura-
tion will shape the economics of the project. Not
only does the type of plan drive budgetary is-
sues-including the cost of initial construction;
furniture, fixtures, and equipment (FF&E); and
ongoing energy and payroll expenses-but the
choice of a plan also influences the more subtle
aspects of guest satisfaction. The design that is
most economical to build, for instance, may not
provide the best (i.e., most profitable) design so-
lution. A relatively less efficient (and, thus, more
expensive) plan type may offer more variety in
room types than an efficient construction design,
as well as afford a more interesting spatial se-
quence, shorter walking distances, and other ad-
vantages that affect the guest’s perception of the
value of the hotel experience.
Analyzing Alternative Configurations
For an operator to realize profits, the design team
must maximize the percentage of floor area de-
voted to guest rooms and keep to a minimum
the amount of circulation and service space (e.g.,
service-elevator lobby, linen storage, vending, and
other minor support spaces). Although the ar-
chitect and developer must not ignore aesthetic
and functional issues, a simple comparison
among alternative plans of the percentage of space

78 Cornell Hotel and Restaurant Administration Quarterly AUGUST 2001

 GUEST-ROOM FLOORS HOTEL DESIGN

Guest-room floor analysis

Rooms Dimensions Guest-room Corridor area

Configuration per floor ft (m) percentage per room, ff (m2) Comments

Sing/e-loaded slab Varies by site 32 (10) x 65% 80 Vertical core usually not affected
size: 1Z-30+ available length (7.5) by room module.

Double-loaded slab Varies by site 60 (18) x 70% Economical length limited by exit-
size: available length stair placement to meet building
16-40+ code.

Offset slab Varies by site 80 (24) x 72% 50 Core is buried, creating less perim
size: available length (4.6) eter wall per room; more corridor
24-40+ because of elevator lobby.

Rectangular tower 16-24 110x110 65% 60 Planning issues focus on access to

(34 x 34) (5.6) corner rooms; fewer rooms per
floor make core layout difficult.

I I I

Circular tower 16-24 90-130 diameter 67% 45-65 High amounts of exterior wall per
(27-40) (4.2-6) room; difficult to plan guest
bathroom.

Triangular tower 24-30 Varies 64% 65-85 Central core inefficient due to
(6-7.9) shape; corner rooms easier to plan
than with square tower.

Atrium 24+ 90+ 62% 95 Open volume creates spectacular

(27) (8.8) space, open corridors, opportunity
for glass elevators; requires careful
engineering for HVAC and smoke
evacuation.

Each guest-room floor configuration has certain characteristics that For example, the table shows that the offset double-loaded slab is
affect its potential efficiency. This table shows the basic building the most efficient in terms of guest-room-area percentage and that
dimensions, the usual percentage of floor area devoted to guest the atrium configuration is the least economical, largely because of
rooms, and the amount of area per room needed for corridors. the high amount of corridor area required per room.

AUGUST 2001 Cornell Hotel and Restaurant Administration Quarterly 79

HOTEL DESIGN GUEST-ROOM FLOORS

allocated to guest rooms versus non-revenue-

producing space can suggest a set of efficient so-
Slab configurations lutions. The major alternatives among plan types
are described in Exhibit 2 (on the previous page).
Our analysis of hundreds of different guest-
room floor plans shows that some patterns yield
more cost-effective solutions than others. The
choice of one configuration over another can
Single-loaded slab
mean a savings of 20 percent in gross floor area
of the guest-room structure and of nearly 15 per-
cent in the total building. For example, the three
principal plan alternatives-the double-loaded
slab, the rectangular tower, and the atrium-
when designed with identical guest rooms of 350
net sq. ft. (32.5 m2), yield final designs that vary
from about 470 to 580 gross sq. ft. (44 to 54 m’)
per room.
Double-loaded slab Our study also indicates the effect of subse-
quent minor decisions on the efficiency of the
plan-pairing two guest rooms back-to-back, for
example, or choosing a double- or single-loaded
corridor, grouping public and service elevators,
and planning efficient access to end or corner
rooms. Because guest rooms account for so much
total hotel area, the architect should establish a
series of quantitative benchmarks for the efficient
design of the guest-room floors. For example, one
Double-loaded slab approach is to set a goal of the median guest-
room percentage figure, say, 70 percent for the
double-loaded slab. In that case, if the gross area
isn’t more than 1.42 (the reciprocal of the .70
figure) x the net area, then the plan is relatively
efficient.
The relative efficiency of typical hotel floors
can be compared most directly by calculating the
percentage of the total floor area devoted to guest
Double-loaded slab
rooms. This varies from below 60 percent in an
inefficient atrium plan to more than 75 percent
in the most tightly designed double-loaded slab.
Clearly, the higher this percentage, the lower the
set slab
construction cost per room. In turn, a relatively
low construction cost offers the developer a range
of options: build additional guest rooms, pro-
vide larger guest rooms for the same capital in-
vestment, improve the quality of the furnishings
or of particular building systems, expand other
functional areas such as meeting space or recre-
ational facilities, or lower the construction cost
Single-loaded plans (top), while more costly, are sometimes necessary for and project budget.
narrow sites or to take advantage of views. Double-loaded plans (center)
The following sections describe the planning
show paired back-to-back bathrooms and offer the most-efficient options for
elevator cores, exit stairs, and servrce functions. Offset-slab plans (bottom) decisions that have the most influence on creat-
offer efficiency of interior core as well as more variety in the facades. ing an economical plan for each of the basic guest-

80 Cornell Hotel and Restaurant Administration Quarterly AUGUST 2001


room configurations. In some plans, the key fac-
tor is the number of rooms per floor, while in
others the driving factor is the location of the
elevator core or the shape of the building. In gen-
eral, the most efficient configurations to con-
struct and operate are those where circulation
space is kept to a minimum-either the double-
loaded corridor slab or the compact center-core
tower.
Slab Configuration
The slab configuration includes those plans that
are primarily horizontal, including both single-
and double-loaded corridor schemes (as shown
in Exhibit 3). The few planning variables are con-
cerned primarily with the building’s shape
(straight, L-shaped, or other), the layout of the
core, and the position of the fire stairs. The ar-
chitect must consider the following issues relat-
ing to a slab pattern.
l Corridor loading. Given site conditions,
are any single-loaded rooms appropriate?
l Shape. Which particular shape (e.g.,
straight, L, courtyard) best meets site and
building constraints?
l Core location. Should the public and the
service cores be combined or separated, and
where in the tower should they be
positioned?
l Core layout. What is the best way to orga-
nize public and service elevators, linen stor-
age, vending, and other support areas?
l Stair location. How can the exit stairs best
be integrated into the plan?
The high degree of efficiency found in the
slab plan arises primarily from double-loaded
corridors. Single-loaded schemes, in contrast, re-
quire 5- to 8-percent-more floor area for the same
number of rooms. Therefore, one should em-
ploy a single-loaded design only where external
factors militate, such as a narrow site dimension
or the availability of spectacular views in one
direction.
While slab plans constitute the most efficient
design category, various approaches can never-
theless further tighten the layout. Configurations
that bury the elevator and service cores in inte-
rior corners, for instance, accomplish this task.
They reduce the non-guest-room area, reduce the
building perimeter, and increase the opportuni-
ties for creating architecturally interesting build-
ings. The offset-slab plan, for example, is espe-
AUGUST 2001
GUEST-ROOM FLOORS 1 HOTEL DESIGN
cially economical because the public and service
elevator cores share one area and, in addition,
they do not displace any guest rooms from the
building perimeter. The knuckle configuration,
which bends at angles, creates the potential for
interestingly shaped elevator lobbies, provides
compact service areas, and breaks up the slabs
long corridors.
The core design is complicated by the need to
connect the public elevators to the lobby and the
service elevators to the housekeeping and other
back-of-house areas. This often necessitates two
distinct core areas at some distance from each
other, although in many hotels those areas are
located side by side. One common design is to
position the elevator core in the middle third of
a floor to reduce walking distances to the far-
thest rooms. Most often the vertical core is fully
integrated into the body of the tower, but the
designer may occasionally add the core to the end
of a compact room block or extend it out from
the face of the fa$ade.
The hotel’s core design is complicated
by the need to connect the public
elevators to the lobby and the service
elevators to back-of-house areas.
The final layout of the core is another factor
that determines a plan’s efficiency. In most slab-
plan hotels, the vertical cores require space equiva-
lent to two to four guest-room modules. One goal
is to keep the core to a minimum, and the plan’s
efficiency improves when the core displaces the
smallest number of guest-room bays. Our com-
parison of many projects shows that the vertical
core displaces fewer guest-room bays when the
service areas are located behind the public eleva-
tors than when those areas are beside or at some
distance from the public elevators. Many of the
more efficient configurations also feature a dis-
tinct elevator lobby. Such a foyer space helps to
isolate nearby guest rooms from the noise and
congestion of people waiting for the elevator.
Also, plans that incorporate an elevator lobby gen-
Cornell Hotel and Restaurant Administration Quarterly 81
HOTEL DESIGN GUEST-ROOM FLOORS

erally have fewer awkwardly shaped rooms,

thereby providing a more uniform guest-room
Tower configurations design.
Building codes generally require emergency-
exit stairs to be located at opposite ends of the
building. Each such stair tower might simply re-
place the last guest room on the corridor. But,
instead, the architect may be able to integrate
the stairs within the building, as part of an eleva-
tor core, at an “inside corner” where the build-
ing turns, or within the usual bathroom zone of
a guest-room bay (where the bathroom is part of
an oversized room or suite). Careful placement
Prnwheel Cros
of the stairs provides one more opportunity to
create a more efficient overall plan by reducing
gross floor area, compared with simply attaching
the stair tower to the end of the building.
One factor that limits the number of rooms
on the guest-room floor is the typical code re-
quirement for hotels with automatic sprinklers
that there be no more than (typically) 300 ft.
(91 m) between exit stairs. Therefore, another
goal in planning the repetitive guest-room floor
is to create a layout that does not require a third
fire stair. Experienced hotel architects have es-
Sauare iuare tablished techniques for maximizing the num-
ber of rooms per floor and manipulating the stairs
and corridors to increase the building’s overall
efficiency.

Circular Triangular
Pinwheel plan (top, left) accommodates all typical rooms but requrres
extra corridor. Cross-shape plan (top, right) reduces corridor but in-
creases building perimeter. Square towers of the type shown (center,
left) feature efficient circulation, back-to-back bathrooms, and suite
options at corners. The square tower (center, right) provides for the
most corner guest rooms and minimal circulation. Circular tower
(bottom, left) offers minimum area and perimeter but substantially
smaller bathrooms. Triangular tower (bottom, right) has a less-
efficient core, but added variety of room shape.
Tower Configuration
Tower plans are the second major category of
guest-room-floor layouts (as shown in Exhibit 4).
These generally comprise a central core sur-
rounded by a single-loaded corridor of guest
rooms. The tower’s exterior architectural treat-
ment can vary widely, depending on the geomet-
ric shape of the plan (e.g., square, cross-shaped,
circular, triangular). Tower plans exhibit differ-
ent characteristics than those of the slab, but tow-
ers still raise a similar series of questions for the
designer:
Number of rooms: How many guest rooms
economically fit a particular layout?;
Shape: Which shape is most efficient and
permits the desired mix of rooms?;
Corridor: How is hallway access to corner
rooms arranged?; and
Core layout: How are the elevators, linen
storage, and stairs organized?
Unlike the other plan configurations, selec-
tion of the tower shape creates specific limita-

82 Cornell Hotel and Restaurant Administration Quarterly AUGUST 2001

 GUEST-ROOM FLOORS HOTEL DESIGN

About This Book

With the growth in world travel in recent years, business and pleasure tant design issue for many resort properties. Succeeding chapters detail
travelers are demanding more diverse hotels, resorts, and leisure-rime the key design guidelines for the functional areas in hotels: the guest-
amenities around the globe. The accompanying article, “Planning the room floor (excerpted here); guest rooms and suites; lobby, food and
Guest-room Floor,” is excerpted from Hotel Design, Planning, and beverage, meeting, and recreational areas; and administration and back-
Development, published earlier this summer by W.W. Norton in the of-house areas. The Design Guide concludes with a discussion of spe-
United States and the Architectural Press in the United Kingdom. cial building - systems and construction methods important to the whole
A total revision of our 1985 book, Hotel Planning and De&h, the range of hotel properties.
new volume explores the latest trends
in hotel and resort architecture, estab- To develop a successful hotel, its princi-
lishes a wide range of planning and pals must be familiar with more than just
design criteria, and discusses key devel- the distinct variety of hotel types and the
opment issues. In addition to extensive design criteria outlined in Parts 1 and 2.
photographs and scores of plans and The developers must also be familiar with
checklists, the book features a three- the development process irself and how
part foreword by architect Gyo Obata, the many financial, operational, market-
designer Michael Bedner, and industry ing, and organizational objectives of an
consultant Bjorn Hanson, as well as owner and developer influence the
commentary from I.M. Pei, John C. project and its prospect for success (as
Portman, Jr., Robert A.M. Stern, Ian found in Part 3, the Development
Schrager, Robert E. Kastner, Valentine Guide). If those objectives are in balance
A. Lehr, and Howard J. Wolff. with demand for hotel facilities, with the
site’s capacity to support a hotel or resort,
The Book at a Glance and with the programmatic and design
Part 1, Hotel Types, reviews more decisions, the project can prosper.
than 50 different types of hotels now
flourishing in today’s increasingly cus- The chapters in this third section trace
tomized marketplace, where concepts the hotel-development process beginning
range from theme resorts to efficient with the initial concept of developing a
extended-stay properties, and from lodging property. The process includes a
high-fashion boutique hotels to flexible number of key steps: analyzing feasibility,
office suites. Separate chapters are de- assembling the development and design
voted to each of I2 major categories. team, establishing the building program,
For example, suburban hotels comprise and managing the budget, schedule, and
many design types, including airport the hotel opening. In addition, the team
hotels, office-park hotels, mall or uni- should understand the issues of hotel
versity hotels, roadside hotels, and country inns. Resorts encompass operation and how the planning and design decisions influence many
an ever-widening array as unique as the ecotourist retreat or vacation of the practical and technical aspects of running a hotel. This allows the
village is from the convention resort. Many owners update existing team to consider solutions that effectively reduce staff numbers or ac-
hotels, reinventing their ambiance through innovative renovations, commodate important life-safety or mechanical requirements.
restoration, additions, or adaptive reuse.
Finally, the book considers lodging’s future, including the prospect of
This section begins with an overview that traces the hotel’s evolution increasing numbers of focused niche-lodging types, broad socioeco-
and offers the latest forecasts of its future development. It also features nomic trends, or creative proposals for new resorts under the sea or in
an evolutionary-tree diagram of hotels, another theme threading outer space. The future is wide open. With truly collaborative partner-
rhrough these chapters. Each hotel type is clearly addressed in terms ships among developer, design team, and operator the industry should
of development considerations, planning and design options, social see a continued explosion of creative hotels and resorts in the twenty-
and cultural implications, and future trends. (Those trends are sum- first century-mA.R, R.H.I?, andL.A.
marized in the final chapter of the book.) A continuing theme is the
emphasis on strongly targeting specific market sectors, so that the Together the authors have many decades’ experience comprising three
hotel may better fulfill its function. For example, luxury resorts and long careers in hotel design and development. Before founding 9 Tek
Ltd., Walter A. Rutes was vice president and director of architecture at
super-luxury hotels need small, superb restaurants and health spas to
such major hotel companies as Inter-Continental, Sheraton, Ramada,
maintain their clientele.
and Holiday Corporation. At Cornell University, Richard H. Penner
teaches courses in hotel development, planning, and interior design.
Part 2, the Design Guide, focuses on the program, planning, and He also is the author of Conference Center Planning and Design.
design issues critical to creating a successful lodging property. This Lawrence Adams has specialized in hotel design and large-scale
section highlights the types of operational and financial decisions that developments at major architectural and planning firms including
affect and influence the architectural and interior design. The first HOK, William B. Tabler, S. Stuart Farnet, and Frank Williams and
chapter introduces site and master planning, perhaps the most impor- Associates.

AUGUST 2001 Cornell Hotel and Restaurant Administration Quarterly 83

HOTEL DESIGN GUEST-ROOM FLOORS

tions on the number of rooms per floor. For the

most part, towers can accommodate between 16
Atrium configurations and 24 rooms, depending on the guest-room di-
mensions, the number of floors, and the opti-
mum core size. With only 16 rooms, the core
would barely be large enough for two or three
elevators, two egress stairs, and minimum
amounts of storage. On the other hand, designs
with more than 24 rooms become so inflated and
the core so large that the layout becomes highly
inefficient.
The efficiency of most guest-room configura-
tions improves as the number of rooms on a floor
increases, with little or no expansion in the core
or building-service areas. With the tower plan,
the opposite is true. The analysis of a large sample
of hotel designs shows that, surprisingly, the fewer
the number of rooms per floor, the more eff-
cient the layout. This is true because the core, by
necessity, must be extremely compact and, as a
result, the amount of corridor area is kept to a
bare minimum. Ineffrcient layouts, on the other
hand, often result from adding rooms and from
extending single-loaded corridors into each of the
building corners.
The shape of the tower has a direct effect on
the structure’s appearance and perceived scale.
The efftciency of the plan is also a direct result of
the shape, because of the critical nature of the
corridor access to the corner rooms in the rect-
angular towers and the design of the wedge-
shaped guest room and bathroom in the circular
towers. Those plans that minimize the amount
of circulation and, in addition, create unusual
corner rooms exemplify the best in both archi-
tectural planning and interior layout.
For circular tower plans, the measures of effi-
ciency are judged by the layout of the room, in
addition to the core design. Typically, the perim-
eter of the wedge-shaped guest rooms is about
16 ft. (4.9 m), whereas the corridor dimension
may be less than 8 ft. (2.4 m), thus challenging
the designer’s skill to plan the bathroom, entry
vestibule, and closet.
While the design of the core in both rectan-
gular and circular towers is less critical than the
Typical atrium (top) features scenic elevators and single-loaded balcony corri- arrangement of guest rooms, certain specific is-
dors. Hybrid atrium plan (bottom) combines visual excitement of atrium sues have to be resolved. Generally, the core is
space with more efficient double-loaded slab extension (as found in the Hyatt
centrally located, and the vertical elements are
Regency Dallas, designed by Welton Becket Associates).
tightly grouped. Small hotels (i.e., those with only
I6 rooms per floor) usually do not feature an

84 Cornell Hotel and Restaurant Administration Quarterly AUGUST 2001


elevator lobby, and the guests in rooms opposite
the elevators must tolerate noise from guests wait-
ing for the elevator. In a few cases, the core is
split into two parts, creating roughly an H-
shaped circulation zone, effectively providing an
elevator lobby on each floor. The two fire stairs
can be efficiently arranged in a scissors configu-
ration (if permitted by code) to conserve space.
In tower plans with 24 or more rooms per
floor, the central core becomes excessively large.
Some hotel architects introduce a series of multi-
story “sky lobbies” to make this space a positive
feature, or add conference rooms on every guest
floor. The efficient design of hotel towers requires
the simultaneous study of the core and an imagi-
native layout to meet the demand for ultra-high-
rise mixed-use structures.
Atrium Configuration
Atriums constitute the third major category of
guest-room floor plans (see Exhibit 5). As we
mentioned above, the present-day atrium design
was introduced by architect John Portman for
the Hyatt Regency Atlanta in 1967. The atrium
prototype had been used successfully late in the
nineteenth century in both Denver’s Brown Pal-
ace (still in operation) and San Francisco’s first
Palace Hotel, which was destroyed in the 1906
earthquake and fire. By far the least efficient of
the plans we are highlighting here, the generic
atrium configuration has the guest rooms ar-
ranged along single-loaded corridors, much
like open balconies overlooking the lobby space.
The following issues must be addressed by the
architect:
Shape: What configuration of rooms best
fits the site and can be integrated with both
public and back-of-house area needs?;
Guest-room location: Should any guest
rooms look into the lobby?;
Public elevators: How are scenic or
standard elevators best arranged?;
Corridor: How can the amount of
single-loaded corridor space effectively
be reduced?; and
Service core and stairs: Where are service
areas best located and integrated into the
building design?
Practically all atrium hotels feature glass-en-
closed elevators that provide the guest with an
ever-changing perspective of the lobby activity,
AUGUST 2001
GUEST-ROOM FLOORS HOTEL DESIGN
as well as add animation to the space itself. In
some cases, scenic elevators are placed opposite
conventional ones, creating two distinct experi-
ences for the guest. The location of the service
elevators, housekeeping-support functions, and
emergency-exit stairs, while needing to be inte-
grated into the plan, are not particularly critical
to the efficiency of the guest-room floor.
In addition to the open lobby, each atrium
hotel is distinguished by the plan of the guest-
room floors. While the basic prototype is square,
many of the recent atrium designs are irregularly
shaped to respond to various site constraints. This
sculpting of the building contributes to creating
The efficiency of most guest-room
configurations improves as the
number of rooms on a floor increases.
a distinctive image for the hotel, which is a pri-
mary goal in selecting the atrium configuration.
Recognizing the atrium’s inefficiency, archi-
tects have sought ways to gain the prestige ben-
efits of the atrium while increasing its efficiency.
One technique that has been successful in sev-
eral hotels is to combine a central atrium with
extended double-loaded wings, as was done at
the Hyatt Regency hotels in Cambridge (Massa-
chusetts) and Dallas. This approach effectively
draws together the architectural excitement of the
atrium space (on a smaller and more personal
scale than in the large hotels) with the desirable
economies of the double-loaded plan. However,
many developers and architects believe that the
atrium design has become a cliche-and also rec-
ognize its tremendous cost premium-and seek
other means to create a memorable building and
guest experience.
Defining the Guest-room and Suite
Program
After the architect establishes the conceptual de-
sign, including a basic configuration for the guest-
Cornell Hotel and Restaurant Administration Quarterly 85
HOTEL DESIGN GUEST-ROOM FLOORS

Typical guest-room program for a 300-room hotel

Room type Commtsnts
King 350 (32.5) 120 1 120 42,000 (3,900) -

Double-double 160 -
Parlor 350 (32.5) 6 1 6 2,100 (195) jet-bare connects to K and DD
-,*,:.“;,;.,,).
“:, ._“I~-’ Z,,“G‘:
Hospitality suite f.:; ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~;~:~ Kitchen; connects to K and DD
Conference suite 700 (65) 4 2 a 2,600 (260) Boardroom; connects to K and DD
;; ‘ .‘ ..:; ;. ; .*;. ,a,*. ,“/3.,
Deluxe suite .~~~~?~~:~~~~~~~~,’ 3 9 ~~~~~,~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Connects to K and DD
.:..
Presidential suite 1,400 (130) 1 4 4 1,400 (130) Connects to dedicated K and DD
C o n c i e r g e club ,~‘~j~~~~~~~~,~. 0 ;_ :.;,,, )* / ,‘~< -.:’ -~:~~
; I ~.~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ .:, fnctode pantry, conference room
,_ ,:-.-“*:, .<‘,.’ ;:
Totals: 300 321 113,050 (10,500)

* Unit area and total net area given in ft* (m*)

room floors, the team needs to refine and modify
the earlier thumbnail guest-room program to fit
the architectural concept-or shape the build-
ing to accommodate the nuances of the program.
The room mix is based on the initial market study
and, more important, on the advice and experi-
ence of the hotel-operating company. The guest-
room program defines the typical room module
(key dimensions and bathroom configuration),
the mix of room furnishings (e.g., single king bed,
two double beds), and the variety of suites. The
proposed room mix is intended to reflect the es-
timated demand from the individual business,
group, and leisure market segments.
Design development of the guest-room floors
to meet the specific requirements of the program
is among the earliest steps in refining the con-
ceptual design. The design team studies a wide
range of possible modifications, including chang-
ing the width of the guest-room module, the
number of bays per floor, the location and lay-
out of the elevator and service cores, and the ar-
rangement of suites. To avoid misunderstandings,
the following definitions should be used:
Key: A separate, rentable unit;
l During the development phases, feasibility
Guest-room bay: The typical guest-room
l consultants project revenues and expenses, occu-
module;
lStructural bay: The dimension between
two structural columns, typically equal
to the width of one or two guest rooms; and
lSuite: Combination of living room and
one or more bedrooms.
Generally, a hotel’s management thinks in
terms of keys, or the total number of individual
guest-room units available for sale. A suite con-
taining a living room that connects to two bed-
rooms totals three keys if the parlor has a full
bathroom and convertible sofa and the bedrooms
can be locked off. But the same arrangement is
only two keys if the living room cannot function
as a room on its own and must be sold with one
bedroom. Large suites often are described in terms
of the equivalent number of guest-room bays so
that a hotelier may refer to a four-bay suite con-
taining a two-bay living room and two connect-
ing bedrooms. Architects, on the other hand, of-
ten refer to the individual rooms and to structural
bays, the former being the basis of the contract
documents and the latter a chief component of
cost estimates for the guest-room portion of the
hotel.
pancy percentages, and average room rates based

86 Cornell Hotel and Restaurant Administration Quarterly AUGUST 2001


Guest-room-mix analysis
e m
8
The guest-room-floor plans above illustrate the procedure for analyzing
the architectural planning and room layout for a hypothetical hotel. The
plans show the typical floor and suite floor, the latter with five different
room types-not unusual, as the standard room bay is modified to fit
around elevators, stairs, or support areas. The number of different
room types is increased further by handicap-accessible rooms and by
various suites. The following discussion describes the necessary steps
including key plans for each floor, labeled with room shape, bed type,
room number, and connecting doors, and a comprehensive tally of the
guest-room mix.
l Architectural shape: Identify each room of a different shape or con-
figuration (primarily different dimensions or bathroom layout) and
assign it a number. Different room types are identified by a Roman
numeral in the top half of the circular code in each room. Room I is the
most typical; room II is similar but has a different configuration at the
entry vestibule; room III is the corner guest room with a wider bay and
different bathroom; room IV is a two-bay conference suite (only one
key); and room V is a two-bay living room that connects to two stan-
dard guest rooms.
l Bed type: Label each room by its bed type (king, queen, double-
double, twin, king-studio, parlor, handicap-accessible) and place a
simple abbreviation (e.g., K, Cl, DO) on the plan. Note that the standard
room type may be furnished in a variety of ways.
AUGUST 2001
GUEST-ROOM FLOORS HOTEL DESIGN
K
l Connecting rooms: Mark interconnecting rooms with an open circle,
for example between rooms 15 and 17. Operating companies seek a
specific number of connecting pairs of particular types (for example,
half the pairs connect K to DD).
l Suites: Position all suites, combinations of a living room and one or
more adjoining bedrooms, within the typical room configuration. Two
suites are shown in the example: a conference suite in the corner that
connects to a standard double-double room, and a VIP suite that con-
nects to two bedrooms. The VIP suite also counts as a key, or rentable
unit, because it has a full bathroom and a convertible sofa. Often, the
suites are grouped together on the top guest-room floors.
l Room numbers: Assign room numbers to the bays to meet the man-
agement company’s eventual operating requirements. Doing this in
schematic design greatly aids communication among the various design
professionals and reduces later confusion if the operator were to modify
the room numbers. Determine room numbers to simplify directional and
destination signs; maintain corresponding numbers on different floors.
l Key and bay analysis: Develop a summary table to tally the number of
rentable ‘keys’ and room modules for each floor by architectural shape
or bed type. The table next to each plan cross-references the number of
room types (I-V) and the bed types for each floor. Frequently, a larger
chart is developed for the entire hotel showing the stacking of typical
and suite floors and providing totals of the number of rooms for each
type.
Cornell Hotel and Restaurant Administration Quarterly 87

Walter A. Flutes
(not pictured). FAIA, is
chair of 9 Tek Ltd., a
hotel-design consulting
firm (TekSLtd@aol.com).
98 Cr)rrlell HoleI anti Restaurant Aclmrnrstratron Quarterly
on the number and type of guest-room keys. In Exhibit 7 illustrates one typical approach for
addition, both parking requirements and zoning documenting the guest-room mix. The technique
ordinances (used to control project size and den- presented here forces the architect or interior de-
sity) are usually based on the key count. How- signer to make a number of conscious decisions:
ever, clarification is essential to avoid possible Architectural shape: Categorize each
misunderstandings and delays. Exhibit 6 illus- room by its shape or conftguration;
trates an example of a typical guest-room and suite Bed type: Label each room by its bed
program and the use of the terms “key” and “bay.” type;
Connecting rooms: Indicate adjoining
lk~cumenting the Guest-room Mix guest rooms;
Throughout the late design phases the architect Suite locations: Position and label any
and other design-team members continually suites;
modify details of the guest-room structure, in Guest-room numbers: Assign final
response to the owner’s or operator’s input, or as room numbers; and
the result of changes in the public and service Key and bay analysis: Develop and
areas on the lower floors. But often changes in maintain a summary table of keys and
the guest rooms occur when the designs are bays by architectural shape or bed type.
fleshed out for the building’s mechanical and elec- Documenting the room count confers a num-
trical distribution systems, elevator cores, or stair ber of advantages. To begin with, the design team
towers. Because it is important that the team be can test the schematic design against the major
able to keep an accurate count of the total bays element in the space program-the required
and keys, the architect or interior designer should number of guest rooms-and initiate any neces-
prepare and regularly update a guest-room-mix sary changes at the earliest point in the concep-
analysis. tual design. Second, the documentation estab-
lishes a format that allows the designers readily
to analyze the guest-room mix and maintain a
precise record of the guest-room count through
the later design phases. Third, details of the re-
petitive guest-room block can be considered at a
relatively early phase. For example, the architect
can study possible pairing of rooms to increase
the number of back-to-back bathrooms and to
establish a repetitive pattern of setbacks at the
guest-room doors. Finally, the interior designer
can identify any potential problems, such as odd-
shaped rooms, that might not easily accommo-
date the necessary furnishings and amenities. In
addition, other members of the team can offer
better input when changes to the guest-room
tower are fully documented through the differ-
Richard H. Penner, MS.,
ent design phases. For instance, the engineering
A teacher of hotel design
is a professor of property- at New York University, consultants can review the major systems in the
asset management at the Lawrence Adams is an guest-room tower-the elevators, HVAC, and
Cornell University School architect in New York City
of Hotel Administration (lawadams@aol.com). communications systems, for example-in the
(rhpZ@cornell.edu). same context as the rest of the design team.
AUGUST 2001