I.

BASIC THEORIES OF HOTEL PLANNING

Before planning and designing a hotel, the designer should know how the hotel works or operates because one of the aims of a
hotel business is to satisfy the clients and customers. By this aim, the owner will get a right and satisfactory financial return. The basic
theories of hotel planning should be considered.

1. Hotel Economics

The economy of a hotel projects leads us to the third dichotomy that the architect should be aware of at every stage of the planning
phase. The economics of the project focuses on the construction and furnishing costs. These costs, together with the cost of the land,
represent the amount of money to be invested. These are the basis on which the hotelier makes his financial profits.

A rule of thumb that a notable hotel architect designed many years ago still seems to be a sound rule. We must keep in mind that
when we talk about a room, we are talking figuratively, knowing that the cost of a room would also bear its proportional share of all
other parts of the structure, such as the hotel lobby, dining rooms, bars, corridors, offices, laundry, kitchens and all other facilities. It
becomes obvious that the architect or the designer should know approximately what kind of hotel his client wants in terms of cost per
room per night in order to determine an approximate budget for the hotel costs.

Another fact, which does not really influence the planning of the hotel, but which the architect should be aware of, is that the cost of
pre-opening is considerable. This cost is part of original investment and should be charged to cost per room or to the appropriate place.

The second part of the financial consideration in the design of a hotel is the operating expenses. We now know what it costs to
build the hotel, and so a kind of preliminary budget is possible. The architect may not know what it costs to run the hotel, but he should
understand all aspects of the hotel operation and develop his plan to achieve maximum economies in the hotel operation such as
working hours spent by hotel personnel.

Before a hotel will start its operation to the public, there are certain personnel who are employed. These employees include a
manager, a chief chef, an advertising or a public relations firm, a controller, and an engineer who will be operating the mechanical
equipment of the hotel. These personnel are found on project construction site and their salaries are part of preopening costs. Other
costs that are considered as preopening expenses are stationery and other supplies for personnel needs before the hotel opening,
costs allotted for opening ceremonies and parties, training of the personnel that will facilitate and work, furnishings for the hotel like the
actual beds, dresses, chairs, tables, floor coverings, special lighting fixture and decorations in hotel public spaces, kitchen and bars
equipment, housekeeping necessary items, amenities for the personnel, and other group of items which will include the glassware,
china, silver, pots and pans, linens, pillows and uniforms for employees. When we summarize the costs of all pre-opening expenses
with all the items listed above, we increase the actual construction cost by 50-70 percent. All of these will not influence the budget for
construction, but it would be wise for an architect designing a hotel to be aware of these additional expenses.

2. Back of the House

Although rarely seen by a guest, the back of the house is the most critical part in planning. Control and efficiency are two important
objectives considered in planning of it. Hotel guests must not see the receiving of the foodstuffs, housekeeping supplies and other
delivered items. This should be done at a covered loading dock so that deliveries can be made regardless of the weather conditions.
 The receiving and checking of shipments and sending of items to its proper rooms or destinations must be controlled strictly by the
receiving department which is located near or directly the loading dock. There are two directions that tight control must be followed.
First, it is not unusual for material to be delivered, and within a short time after it has been left uncontrolled on the dock, management
can determine that this material has disappeared or that parts of the delivery have gone astray. Second, the receiving department must
make sure that shipments or deliveries should be sent directly to its destinations without being lost on its way. Another important item in
the control area is the movement of the garbage out to be picked up by garbage trucks. The receiving office should have the space for
the garbage so that it can be seen directly.

The architect must design a good plan of back of the house which has an effective circulation patterns so that this area of the
project will work out accordingly and the supply and delivery flow will be managed and controlled tightly by the security. The architect
must also have a good planning for the flow of personnel into and out of the hotel because the entrance and exit of the employees must
be in tight control and it is highly desirable if it is in the same place with the receiving area. Also, the architect must do plan that can
lessen the travel time of the employees to their locker rooms. Their travel time to their work stations and service elevators should also
be lessen through an effective planning.

(Flow diagram of service

area)

a. La
un
dr
y

Facilities

A good and enough-sized space is required for a hotel laundry that does its own uniforms and flatworks because laundry
machines and stacks will be put in these facilities. If the laundry is done out of the hotel by a laundry service, items such as towels
require a relatively small space for washing and drying, as only washing machines and fluff dryers are required, together with a folding
and stacking area for clean towels. Larger hotels have their own cleaning department for dry cleaning and pressing of garments like
woolens. The cleaning and valet services are adjacent or part of laundry area and controlled by laundry manager.

b. Housekeeping Department
This is controlled by the chief housekeeper and has assistant floor housekeepers. The porters will deliver the guests’ needs to the
service areas of the guest-room floors. The hotel storage area is the housekeeper’s area. The architect should know how many rooms
a maid can make up during her daily tour of duty.

c. Food and Beverage Service

The architect should be aware with the whole operation of food preparation inside the hotel but it’s not architect’s job to plan a
kitchen because kitchen engineers do this kind of work. If the kitchen engineer and the architect would work and discuss together, the
work would be better.

The food and beverage services have a dry storage or liquor storage, a room with a big lock. There should have a refrigerator
box of the proper temperature, work spaces, cutting boards and sinks for the storage and preparation of the vegetables, and these
should not be in the kitchen area. Cold-storage boxes are also needed for the storing of dairy products, also, a space needed for fish
preparation. Ceiling rails should be provided to transport butchered meat and fowl if the hotel does its own butchering but if not, only a
storage place is needed. The bakery shop should be separated from the kitchen facilities. It should have its own refrigerator boxes and
equipment. The bakery should be adjacent to the main food service area to avoid losing of supply.

The kitchen
work starts in the
preparation area and
the prepared goods
are now brought to its
specific areas. The
rough coking area is
one of specific areas
where the bulk food
will be prepared, and
then will be moved
into the finished cooking area. This area is the sauce and gravies preparation take place. Waiters will pick up the finished orders at the
long serving tables. Other side of these tables is the garde manger section where vegetables and fruits are prepared. There will also be
an area for self-service by the waiters who will pick up and deliver items to the dining area. Hotels may have coffee shop and it is
desirable to place it backed up to the kitchen because this will be easier to deliver orders from the main kitchen.

After cleaning the table in a dining area, the dishes and utensils will be deposited in the dishwashing area where it is placed
close to dining area and isolated from cooking and serving area. The kitchen has also a service bar for the preparation of drinks, a
glass-enclosed chef’s office for a complete visual control, a room service area where room service rolling tables are placed and
adjacent to tire cooking and garde manger area and service elevators, a tire banquet area if the hotel will only have small banquet, but
a separate banquet kitchen is necessary of the hotel has a large banquet area.

An ideal kitchen have a floor material that is an easy-to-clean; walls that area made of ceramic tiles; ceilings that are made of
metal with acoustics batts or ceramic-treated acoustical material for noise control; standard hoods over all cooking area to avoid fire
accidents; toilets at some distance away so that employees will not have to go back to their locker rooms; kitchen doors that are
strategically placed and oriented so that the diners won’t see and hear what’s happening in the kitchen; employees cafeteria that is
near the locker rooms and adjacent to the main kitchen.

If the architect together with the kitchen engineer will plan the food and beverage services well, these areas will function
effectively and efficiently not only for the hotel owner but also for the users of all areas.

d. Mechanical Spaces

The various heating and cooling equipment and all the tanks and pumps to keep all the mechanical systems in operation are
located in the mechanical room or the boiler. Mechanical room has different areas such as carpentry shop, upholstery shop, locksmith
area, storage area. The size and shape of each mechanical room should meet the requirements for all the item comforts offered by a
modern hotel. The mechanical room should be supervised by the engineer whose office is near on it and on mechanical repair shop.

3. Front of the House

This will be another face of the hotel. The front of the house consists of every area visited by the guest; lobbies, dining rooms,
lounges, passenger lifts, corridors, hotel rooms etc. These areas must be managed and planned with one thought in mind: the
convenience of the guests and their continued appreciation.

a. Guest Registration

The registration area and the elevators must be immediately visible from the main entrance, there should only have one. The
size of the hotel matters to the size of the registration desk. The small hotels have simplest form of registration, but the larger hotels
have electronically controlled equipment and systems to record information easier and faster and inform maid on the floor to
accompany a new guest.

b. Advance Reservation

Automatic electric equipment that indicates the name, date of arrival, length of stay anticipated and type of accommodation
requested. A reservation room is necessary in a hotel where reservation clerk will take care of all room requests. This should be
adjacent to the reservation desk so that the reservation clerk can go back and forth if there are guest inquiries.

c. Mail and Keys

A hotel should have areas to keep the room keys and hotel mails. For small hotel, these areas should be directly accessible
for registration clerk, therefore, the areas for room keys and mails are behind the registration desk; while, for larger hotel, the separate
area and separate personnel for handling keys and for handling all incoming mail for the guests are placed beside the registration desk.
The architect should know how to plan a tight control registration area to make sure that a key is only given to registered guest and
should know how to plan a unit that the mail is placed into distinctive mail slot by the mail clerk from behind.

d. Cashier

Cashier’s counter can be placed next to the registration desk or in the front desk adjacent to the main registration desk. Large
hotels with convention centers have separate desks for registration and cashier to avoid confusion and congestion. Hotels also have
bookkeeping but in small hotels, cashiers handle most of it while in larger hotels there will be a complete bookkeeping department that
is near the front desk cashiers so that it will be easier for the cashier and clerk to contact or communicate with each other if there will
have any questions or clarifications about the guest’s bill. A small closed room near the cashier is usually provided to store the
valuables of the guests. This room has a pass-through window where the guest can hand over and watch his valuables that are
deposited properly in the safe deposit box or vault.

e. Administrative Area

The administration of a hotel is determined by its size. A small hotel has a manager’s office who has a secretary in the same
room. It has two doors, one faces the public lobby and the other door is the door to the front desk. A larger hotel has a large space for,
managers’ offices, assistant managers’ offices. a reception office that will serve as a buffer between the public and the managers
includes the food and beverage manager and the banquet manager. There will be also an office for the convention manager and
assistants.

It should be understood that this part of the front of the house should work with the back of the house. It is important to
remember that accessibility to the public is the most important to operate a hotel. Therefore, this area should be planned accordingly
and smoothly because the administrative area will grow and will become complex.

f. Restaurant Facilities

Small hotels have minimum feeding facilities like a coffee shop restaurant that is more easy or unhurried dining area through
proper décor and atmosphere. Coffee shop and the restaurant in small hotels are made movable so that it will be used during the
breakfast-hour rush, will serve meals for customers who are in a hurry and will cater more customers because tables and seats will be
arranged properly. In larger hotels, fast service coffee shop and easier and more unhurried restaurant are provided. There will also be a
cocktail lounge adjacent to the dining room to let guests wait and meet their friends or other guests; a fixed or portable bar arrangement
for large convention and banquet facilities in the foyer areas to fill the pauses between meeting and seminars.

Hotels can also install rooftop restaurants to have a good view of the city and offer limited menus that will minimize large and
expensive facilities because a very small kitchen will do. The architect must understand that this design will cause elevator traffic and
larger-sized stairs is required. Supper clubs or night clubs can also be found in larger hotels. There will be an attendant stage lighting,
dressing rooms and an orchestra room. These will be placed adjacent to the main kitchen.

If it is impossible to operate all these facilities that require a kitchen, several kitchens that is on horizontal core will do so that
the vertical distribution of food from the preparation areas, which would probably be at the lower level, is possible. The important thing
to remember when designing these spaces is that the décor needs to be developed to attract hotel guests to eat in the hotel instead of
in other specialty restaurants outside.

g. Lobbies

Public lobby must be in every hotel even if it is a small or a large hotel. The number of guest rooms and the hotel type that is on the
architect’s drawing boards will matter to the size of the lobby. The bigger the hotel, the bigger the lobby. This area should be plan
carefully because the hotel lobby sets the hotel mood. This area will create the first and last impression by the guests. Therefore,
interior designer should think carefully the furnishings, finishing materials, color, décor and lighting on this area so that it would create
the right atmosphere regardless of whether the hotel is large or small, moderately priced or expensive, and in a city or a resort.

h. Elevators

Elevators should be located from the main entrance of the hotel or from the registration area so that these will be immediately visible.
These should also be placed centrally so that it will have a minimum distance to the guest rooms. Never place the elevators at the end
of a long corridor. These should be designed properly by the designer just like the hotel lobby because these will serve as the
transitional points from lobby to guestroom floor. Aside from the guest elevators, there will also be service elevators which are separate
and apart from the public elevators.

i. Guest-floor Corridors

Elevator foyer should be a large open space or wider than the corridor. There shouldn’t have guest rooms facing the elevators
to avoid disturbing the guests inside the rooms. The foyer should be distinguished from the corridor by décor and lighting. It would be
considerate to have certain items like a small bench or a seat for the guests who are waiting in the foyer, a full-length mirror for them to
have a chance to look themselves before going down to the main floor lobby, and a good-sized ash receiver.

Guest-floor corridors will serve as transitional spaces between public spaces and guest rooms. Sometimes, if the hotel or its
configurations are larger, the corridors are longer. The architect should plan some kind of interruption in corridor to prevent the guest
from feeling that his approach to his room was an endless path. Interruption can be through a change in size or a change in direction. It
would be better to have another foyer if a corridor turns at any angles so that the guest can have a pause or second breath before
continuing to his room. To make more interesting and less stretched out, the lighting should be planned carefully. A pleasant device is
illuminating the alcove areas because it makes the room numbers visible and it gives the guest a feeling of comfort to know that nobody
can hide in the alcove door

The design of the guest-room door is also an important thing in the corridor. It is least desirable to have a flush panel door for
a guestroom, but it is the least expensive. If only a flush door is used, it may be useful to use a strong color or the use of natural wood
finishes. If possible, some form of decoration at the door will give the arriving guest a sense of hospitality. Another thing to remember is
that the guest must be able to identify his room number and that a room number could be an attractive decorative complement in this
area. The lower part of the wall could be designed as a dado made from a shock- resistant material or marked with a contrasting color
or wall cover because this portion will be brutally abused by banging with trolleys or luggage.

j. Guest Rooms

Guest room is the prime product that a hotel has to offer. The size of it the fist must be considered. The length and width of
the room are determined by the amount of furniture that will be put inside and the degree of luxury the hotel operator wants. It is a fact
that the luxury of space is expensive in view of the construction costs. Nevertheless, it is the space that conveys a sense of luxury and
it would be better to design rooms that are sized not for the actual furniture requirements but for the sheer luxury of space where the
operator has a goal of high-priced market.

There are various types of rooms in a hotel or motel. Twin-bedded room is the most common. Single occupancy room and
studio rooms or suites are the other types. Bed sizes must also be included in design consideration. It could be a single bed, a full-
sized bed, a queen-sized bed, or a king-sized bed. The room size will vary depending on these bed types. It may be well if there is a
view out of the window because it is an enjoyable experience for a guest sitting on a great spot of the room.

A guest bathroom should have a combination of tub-shower, a lavatory and a water closet.

k. Guest-floor Service Space

Service area should be in every guestroom floor. This is where the linen is stored, and where maids’ carts are kept. There is
also have porter’s closet for cleaning supplies. The service elevators must be open out to this area so that the hotel activities would not
be seen and heard by the guests. Toilet facilities can be also be placed in service areas to avoid using the guestroom’s toilet if the
guest in nowhere to be found inside.

l. Banquet Facilities

Small hotels have only a number of meeting rooms while larger hotels have full banqueting and convention facility. It is good
that the architect is aware of the requirements for these facilities. A meeting room, conventions or large banquets will vary in size.
These will be arranged in a straight line so that the room separating walls can be made movable to accommodate different number of
people and these will be operated by hand or by motor. The banquet should have its own door to the adjacent kitchen to enable waiters
to come and go. The architect should plan these facilities carefully to arrange the walls so that these will not obstruct the concept made
by moving walls. Walls should also be carefully studied to be have a sound isolation