Eleven companies compared on facts each publishes about itself: base, stated manufacturing location, years stated, scope, named hotel projects, certifications and prototype rooms. No ranking, nothing on quality or price. Boxareno is included and its interest declared. Read on 10 September 2026.
Author: Ozge Fettahlioglu
Ozge Fettahlioglu is a neuroarchitect and the founder of Cocoplum Design Studio and Boxareno. She designs hotel and residential interiors on the evidence of how people respond to space, from the brief through to furniture, fixtures and equipment manufactured in-house. She lectures at Western Sydney University, is a Board Director of Biophilic Cities Australia Inc., a member of the Academy of Neuroscience for Architecture and a graduate of the NeuroAU neuroarchitecture program, and is the author of Designing for Health and Wealth.
What Do You Keep and What Do You Replace in a Hotel Refurbishment?
Replace what will reach the end of its life before the next planned entry into the room, what fails a compliance check and what guests notice; keep what still has life and will not force a second entry. The cost of re-entry decides it. Working ranges: soft goods 5 to 7 years, casegoods 7 to 10, bathrooms about 10, services 20 to 25, beside the ATO’s published effective lives.
How Do You Renovate a Hotel Without Closing It?
Rooms come out of inventory in blocks, a floor or a wing at a time; the work zone is sealed for noise, dust, fire safety and access; noisy work keeps fixed hours. What decides whether it works is how much of the FF&E is finished before the first floor closes, and how the fire and acoustic systems are managed while walls are open.
How Long Does a Hotel Refurbishment Take?
A guest room refurbishment at an operating hotel runs at the rate rooms can be handed back, not at the rate trades can work. The public Australian benchmark is 323 rooms in 39 weeks at RACV Royal Pines. The stages, what governs each one, and why FF&E procurement sets the date.
How Much Does It Cost to Refurbish a Hotel Room in Australia?
There is no single cost per room, because every published figure answers a different question. What an owner can use is the structure of the cost. From a 103-key interior package we priced in March 2026: guest rooms were 62 per cent of the FF&E, public areas 32 per cent, and within the room fixed joinery was half the money. Here is how the number is built, what it leaves out, and how to budget from it.
How Do You Keep Design Control When One Team Designs and Manufactures the FF&E?
A single design-and-manufacture contract can keep an independent check on quality and price. Here is how Cocoplum builds it in: open-book pricing against comparison quotes, a prototype room signed off by your own quantity surveyor, standards evidence per item, warranties and spare parts, and five sign-off gates.
The Most Sustainable Hotel Interior Is Not Necessarily the One With the Most Sustainable Finishes
Sustainable hotel refurbishment begins before the finish schedule. Decide what still deserves another life, what has become a liability and what can be adapted.
What’s a Good Design Style for High End Hospitality?
There’s no single style that defines luxury hospitality, quiet luxury, biophilic design, Art Deco and Japandi can all work, or all fail. Here’s what actually makes a five-star space feel luxurious, memorable and true to place.
Designing for Health and Wealth Named “Outstanding Books for the Year” at the 2026 Living Now Book Awards
Designing for Health and Wealth by Ozge Fettahlioglu has been awarded the Living Now Book Awards’ “Outstanding Books for the Year” distinction, a special recognition reserved for a curated selection of exceptional books chosen for their quality, contribution and impact.
MEDIA RELEASE | Nature Takes Centre Stage: Cocoplum and Biophilic Cities Australia to Design Melbourne Build 2026 VIP Lounge
MEDIA RELEASE | Nature Takes Centre Stage: Cocoplum and Biophilic Cities Australia to Design Melbourne Build 2026 VIP Lounge Cocoplum | Neuroarchitecture, Biophilic Design and Interiors invites Australian design brands to showcase sustainable innovations to 20,000+ industry leaders; EOIs close 30 July 2026. This is a media release. Cocoplum | Neuroarchitecture, Biophilic Design and Interiors,… Continue reading MEDIA RELEASE | Nature Takes Centre Stage: Cocoplum and Biophilic Cities Australia to Design Melbourne Build 2026 VIP Lounge