A hotel general manager keeping a property open through a refurbishment needs six things from the designer: a phasing plan written with the operations team around the trading calendar, not handed to it; fixed noisy hours and a physical separation of the work zone that the front desk can describe to a guest; a prototype room built on a live floor so the process is tested before 200 rooms depend on it; furniture, fixtures and equipment finished and inspected before each block closes, delivered per block, so nothing is stored in the hotel; a fire safety impairment plan agreed with the operator’s fire adviser; and a finished room that rests its guests, because the review scores after the works are the general manager’s, not the designer’s. This page sets out each one and where the detail lives.
What does the phasing plan have to contain?
Blocks the building can isolate, a floor, a wing or the rooms on one service riser, sharing a lift lobby and a corridor so one set of hoardings serves them. A buffer of unsold rooms above and below the block during demolition, because impact noise travels through the slab. A sequence that starts in the softest trading period and keeps the peak dates and the conference calendar untouched. Rooms taken from each category in proportion so reservations is never without a suite or an accessible room. And an agreed rule for what happens when a block is withdrawn at short notice, because that moves the whole programme. SHAPE Australia’s refurbishment of 323 rooms and corridors at RACV Royal Pines took 39 weeks in stages while the resort traded, which is the public Australian benchmark for what a staged programme delivers. The full method is in How Do You Renovate a Hotel Without Closing It?.
How do we keep noise and dust away from guests?
AS/NZS 2107 recommends design sound levels of 30 to 35 dB(A) in hotel sleeping rooms, and the National Construction Code’s Part F7 requires the corridor wall to achieve Rw 50 but the door only Rw 30, so a corridor under construction is heard inside every room along it. The practical rules: noisy hours fixed with the operator and published to guests; solid hoardings with sealed doors at the block boundary, not dust sheets; negative-pressure extraction in the work zone; a dedicated or programmed lift with protected linings and a fixed delivery window; and new door seals and drop seals on the sold rooms nearest the block, which the hotel keeps after the works as one of its best acoustic upgrades.
Why build the prototype room on a live floor?
Because it tests the process as well as the design: the protected route, the delivery slot, the noisy-hours rule, the snagging routine and the front desk’s script, all on one room before the first block closes. The owner and operator walk in, open the drawers, run the taps and sign it off, and every later room is built to it. The prototype is also the gate to manufacturing, so its date sets the programme. How it fits the sign-off sequence is in How Do You Keep Design Control When One Team Designs and Manufactures the FF&E?.
Where does the furniture go on a hotel that stays open?
Nowhere in the hotel. Deliveries are made per block, in the agreed window, through the protected route, and installed within days. That is only possible if the furniture, fixtures and equipment were finished and inspected before the block closed, which is why the manufacturing programme and the phasing are one document on our projects. Boxareno, Cocoplum’s manufacturing arm, produces the fixed joinery, loose furniture and complete FF&E in its own ISO-certified factory and inspects each batch against the approved prototype before it ships.
What happens to fire safety while walls are open?
The building stays occupied, so its fire safety systems must keep protecting the people in it. Fire and Rescue NSW’s guideline on fire safety during construction work uses a fire impairment notice to record any system that is isolated and the alternative measures in place, with isolated systems reinstated as soon as the works allow. The fire engineer and the operator’s fire safety adviser belong in the phasing plan from the start: detection and suppression in the work zone isolated and covered, egress routes for sold rooms kept clear of materials, hot-works permits daily, and the block returned to full protection before it returns to inventory.
What do guests and staff need to be told?
Guests accept works they were told about and resent works they discover. Tell them at booking, at check-in and in the room, state the noisy hours, and give the front desk a room-move and rate policy it can apply on the spot. Brief housekeeping and engineering on the block boundaries, the protected route and who to call when a hoarding door is left open. Review guest comments weekly during the programme and change the noisy hours if the comments say so.
What must the finished room do for the guest?
Let them sleep. Robbins, Grandner, Knowlden and Severt (2020), surveying 600 regular hotel travellers, found a noisy air conditioner, uncomfortable linens and pillows, and noise from outside the room were the strongest predictors of poor sleep; Mao, Yang and Wang (2018) found mattress, pillows, temperature, noise and light mattered most. Those are the items a general manager hears about in reviews, and they are decided in the brief: the in-room unit’s noise and cycling, the corridor door seal, blackout tested at bed height, bedside light at 2700K or below, and no standby indicators glowing at the pillow. The evidence and the specification are in What Makes Guests Sleep Better in a Hotel Room?; how we measure review scores and rate against the property’s own baseline after opening is on the neuroarchitecture strategy page.
What Cocoplum and Boxareno deliver for a general manager
- A phasing plan written with the operations team, with noisy hours, buffer rooms, delivery windows and a withdrawn-block rule.
- A prototype room on a live floor, signed off by owner and operator, before manufacturing starts.
- FF&E delivered and installed per block, inspected before shipment, nothing stored in the hotel.
- A fire impairment plan agreed with the operator’s fire adviser, and a guest and staff communication kit.
- A room specified to rest its guests, and a measurement plan for the review scores afterwards.
- A free starting point: the Hotel Performance Risk Audit, 18 criteria including light, acoustics and sensory load.
Cocoplum Design Studio is based in Hunters Hill, Sydney, and delivers turnkey hotel interior packages Australia-wide. Studio founder Ozge Fettahlioglu is a neuroarchitect, a lecturer at Western Sydney University, a member of the Academy of Neuroscience for Architecture, a NeuroAU graduate and the author of Designing for Health and Wealth (2026). Contact the studio to talk through a phasing plan.
Frequently asked questions
How many rooms should come out of inventory at once during a refurbishment?
A block the building can isolate: a floor, a wing or the rooms on one service riser, sharing a lift lobby and a corridor so one set of hoardings serves it, with rooms taken from each category in proportion so every room type stays on sale. SHAPE Australia refurbished 323 rooms at RACV Royal Pines in 39 weeks while the resort traded.
How do we stop construction noise reaching guests?
Fixed noisy hours published to guests, solid hoardings with sealed doors, negative-pressure dust extraction, a dedicated or programmed lift, and a buffer of unsold rooms above and below the block during demolition. AS/NZS 2107 recommends 30 to 35 dB(A) in hotel sleeping rooms, which shows how little tolerance there is.
Why should the prototype room be built on a live floor?
It tests the process as well as the design: the protected route, the delivery slot, the noisy-hours rule, the snagging routine and the front desk’s script, on one room before the first block closes. The owner and operator sign it off and every later room is built to it.
Where is the furniture stored while the hotel trades?
Nowhere in the hotel. It is delivered per block through the protected route and installed within days, which is only possible if it was finished and inspected before the block closed. Cocoplum’s manufacturing arm Boxareno inspects each batch against the approved prototype before it ships.
What should guests be told about the works?
Everything, early: at booking, at check-in and in the room, with the noisy hours stated and a room-move and rate policy the front desk can apply on the spot. Guests accept works they were told about and resent works they discover.