Renovations & brand standards
Renovate without closing the doors.
Technology for property improvement plans, brand conversions and full renovations: what to keep, what the brand requires, and a phasing plan that keeps rooms and meeting space selling while the work happens.
Phasing plan: renovation of an open resort
The notes are the order the work happens in. Choose one to see where it takes place.
Phase Integration plans, designs and manages the technology side of hotel and resort renovations, property improvement plans (PIPs) and brand conversions: guestroom TVs and casting, Wi-Fi and the network behind it, meeting-room AV, signage, lighting controls, cellular coverage and security. We run the project the way a general contractor runs a job, around occupancy and the event calendar.
A renovation's technology scope is usually written by someone else: the brand's standards, a PIP with a deadline, an owner's capital plan. Our job is to turn those requirements into a design that fits the building that's actually there, keep what still works, and get the property through sign-off on time without taking more rooms off the market than it has to.
Brand standards, read for the building you have
Every brand publishes technology standards: which TVs and casting platform, how much Wi-Fi bandwidth each room gets, how the network is built, and what goes in the meeting space and the lobby. A PIP adds dates and a list of what has to change. Neither one knows what's already behind your walls.
We start by surveying the existing systems against the standard, line by line. The result is a clear list of what complies, what can be upgraded in place and what has to be replaced, priced and phased, so the owner sees the real scope before committing to it.
Guestroom TV and casting
An approved TV platform, screen size and casting
TV mounts, power and cabling at the wall, and whether existing TVs can be upgraded instead of replaced
Wi-Fi and bandwidth
Coverage and bandwidth for every room, often in tiers
Access point locations, the internet circuit, and whether the cabling to each room supports the new standard
Network infrastructure
Separate networks and a supported core
Equipment rooms, risers, and the power and cooling for a new core
Meeting space
Room types, displays and connections for events
Existing AV that can stay, and what visiting production companies need
Public spaces
Digital signage, music and lobby displays
Mounting, power and cabling behind the new finishes
Security
Camera coverage and door hardware
Existing cameras and recording, and readiness for mobile key
What the assessment gives the owner
- A line-by-line comparison with the brand standard
- What can stay, what can be upgraded and what must be replaced
- A budget for each item
- A phasing plan with the rooms out of service in each block
- The questions to settle with the brand before design
- A schedule built back from the PIP deadline
What a renovation needs
- A survey before the scope
- An on-site survey of the existing systems, so the scope is based on the building as it is, not on assumptions from old drawings.
- Reuse where it holds up
- Cabling, equipment rooms and devices that still meet the standard stay, and the budget goes where it changes the guest's experience.
- One technology scope
- TVs, Wi-Fi, controls, AV, signage and security in one scope and one schedule, instead of a separate vendor for each with gaps between them.
- A mock-up room
- One guestroom built to the new design and signed off by ownership, management and the brand before the rollout starts.
- Phasing around occupancy
- Rooms out of service in blocks the revenue team agrees to, and meeting space taken out only between bookings.
- Coordination with the contractor and designer
- Technology rough-in timed with demolition, ceilings and finishes, so no wall is opened twice.
- Long-lead equipment on the schedule
- TVs, LED and network equipment ordered to the schedule, so a late shipment doesn't hold a floor out of service.
- Brand sign-off planned in
- The brand's inspections and approvals on the schedule from day one, with the documents the brand will ask for ready in advance.
Renovating a property that stays open
- Survey, then scope
- We walk the property and compare it with the standard before a single item is priced, so the budget holds once the walls are open.
- Phased with the revenue team
- Room blocks and meeting-space downtime are agreed with the people selling the rooms, then built into the schedule.
- One team for every system
- Ownership, the management company, the brand, the designer and the contractor each touch the technology. We coordinate it all as one scope.
- Through sign-off and after
- We stay through the brand's inspection, then support the systems with help desk and maintenance after reopening.
The systems we bring
- Audio Visual TechnologyGuestroom TVs, meeting-room AV, LED and signage to brand standards
- Structured CablingSurveying existing cabling and replacing what won't carry the new systems
- Networking & Wi-FiWi-Fi and network upgrades that meet the brand's bandwidth standard
- LightingLighting controls in guestrooms and public spaces
- Cellular DASCell coverage upgrades across the property
- Security & Access ControlCameras, recording and readiness for mobile key
- Technical SupportHelp desk and maintenance after reopening
Frequently asked questions
- What is a hotel PIP?
- A property improvement plan is the list of upgrades a hotel brand requires, usually when a property changes brands, changes ownership or renews its franchise. It sets what has to change and by when, and technology is often a large part of it: TVs, Wi-Fi, the network, meeting space and signage.
- What technology do hotel brand standards cover?
- Typically the guestroom TV and casting platform, Wi-Fi coverage and bandwidth, network infrastructure, meeting-room technology, digital signage and music in public spaces, and security. Each brand publishes its own standards, and they change over time.
- Can existing hotel cabling be reused in a renovation?
- Often some of it can. A survey shows which runs still meet the new standard and which don't. Reusing what holds up saves money and time, and replacing what can't carry the new Wi-Fi or TV system avoids paying to open the same wall twice.
- How do you renovate a hotel without closing it?
- By phasing the work. Guest floors come out of service in blocks agreed with the revenue team, meeting space is worked on between bookings, and public spaces are done zone by zone with the noisy work overnight. Infrastructure goes first, so every floor after it connects to finished systems.
- How long does a hotel technology renovation take?
- It depends on the number of rooms, the size of each block and the PIP deadline. The schedule is built backwards from that deadline, with the survey, the mock-up room and long-lead equipment orders at the front, because those set the pace for everything after them.
- What is a hotel brand conversion?
- A conversion is when a hotel changes from one brand to another, or joins a brand for the first time. The new brand's standards and PIP apply, and the technology is often the most visible change: the TV platform, the Wi-Fi login and the signage.
Facing a PIP or planning a renovation?
Send us the brand's standards or the PIP and tell us about the property, and we’ll come back with what can stay, what has to change and a plan to get there on time.