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who designs hotel motels

edwardh1 | Posted in Construction Techniques on March 15, 2004 05:30am

Are hotels motels designed by architechs working for the hotel chain or are they just kinda build by the local franchisee?
I stayed at a new Hilton garden inn last weekend.
nice place but
1. the tub was raised about 3 inches above the floor, causing an almost fall when you step out (unexpected)
2. the tub was a touch narrower than most with a big radius on the insides at the bottom, again fooling you by being different from any tub I have stepped into. (unexpected0
3. the lavatory faucet, an american standard brand made a shrieking noise when it was on, no matter the flow rate. anyone gets up at 6 am almost wakes everyone in the building. it had a good flow rate so its probably not a flow restrictor thing. and the howl noise came out of the faucet head, not the stop valves. all rooms seemed like that. My faucets at home are almost silent (kohler, moen, PF). same with the shower heads.

do the people who design these ever stay in them?

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  1. htra | Mar 15, 2004 05:42pm | #1

    I've worked on two large hotels for middle to upper class chains. Both times all things were spec'ed by hotel chain. You could make suggestions, but all changes had to be approved by them.

    However, these spec plans go through all sorts of changes adapting to site conditions. (this is where the local architect steps in). As with most things these days, the spec design is usually not so hot to begin with; throw in the changes for the site by an average architect and you have lots of little mishaps like you encountered.

    It's a high-pressure job. Zillions of little things as well as some whoppers like getting the HVAC to function, plus you are on the clock because once they decide to build a hotel they don't make any money until it's open.

    All I can say is, thank god for CAD in that type of situation.

    I would also add that, as usual, the mechanical side of the design gets it in the neck. Nobody wants to fool around getting the plumbing or air conditioning correct, and yet it bugs everyone who uses it. Go figure.

    1. edwardh1 | Mar 15, 2004 05:48pm | #2

      this hilton did have the ice machine in a seperate room with a door (good) but also had the usual 1/2 gap under the door and a new amana in the wall AC unit that sounded like a saturn 5 rocket. we left it off at night since it was so loud. who specs this stuff?

      1. htra | Mar 15, 2004 06:44pm | #3

        The gap under the door sounds like they are venting the rooms into the corridor. It's a real battle with conditioning the rooms, exhausting the bathrooms, whether or not to condition the corridor, conditioning the rest of the "house", etc.. It really depends on the location of the hotel as to what format the HVAC is going to take. I don't like the "vent under the door" type of situations because it creates a  huge noise problem. This is mostly done because there is *no* space between floors for a return system. Space gets amazingly tight for running systems and ductwork.

        It gets scary when you have, say, 150 rooms that are almost identical. The problem is if you screwup, you screwup 150 times, just not once.

        1. edwardh1 | Mar 15, 2004 10:25pm | #6

          I always thought the gap at the door was to be sure the door always closed and latched (no threshold to drag on)

      2. Remodeler | Mar 15, 2004 06:49pm | #4

        >a new amana in the wall AC unit that sounded like a saturn 5 rocket

        I have a small apartment building that I am remodeling and am planning on installing Amana 14,500 BTUH PTAC's (through the wall unit heat pump air conditioners).  I have not heard the new breed of PTAC's in operation.  Is this what you are referring to?  How bad the noise?  These will sit in a living room, low income neighborhood.

        Remodeler

        1. edwardh1 | Mar 15, 2004 10:24pm | #5

          are you talking about an all in one unit or are you talking about a mini split with the compressor somewhere else.

          Some of the thru the wall units are really loud. This Amana (it was new) thumped on with a loud click and really was loud - could not hear TV.

          You need to listen to some and choose the right one

          1. htra | Mar 16, 2004 07:52pm | #10

            I've only been around the GE "Zoneline" PTAC's. Seemed pretty quiet. GE also makes a "high humidity" Zoneline which is highly recommended if you're in the South.

          2. DanT | Mar 16, 2004 09:52pm | #11

            Worked as a maintenance super and trainer for a 70 hotel management company  in the 90s.  The gap under the door is to ensure the bathroom exaust fan has a source of exausting air.  They used to count on the air vent in the p-tac providing it but found that when the p-tac couldn't heat the room on real cold nights those vents got screwed shut so having the door gap allowed already conditioned air into the room

            No return is needed in most hotel rooms as the p-tac recycles air and if they aren't using p-tacs they use a 2 or 4 pipe water system usually with a blower/air exchanger.  These also recycle the air.  A common return with a central source would be almost impossible as different people emit significantly different odors in a hotel room, if you get my drift.

            Of the p-tacs Amanas are  the cheapest and GE's are considered the Cadillac/quietest units available.  And as stated above the GE high humidity units are considered the best in the south, espcially deep south where the A/C is run all the time to combat humidity and mold.  Worked at a hotel in Ft. Lauderdale that if the unit was off for 24 hours in a room under the walkways where it was dark it would have a layer of mold on the walls in that period of time.  Real nightmare.  Had to check the units daily to make sure of function. 

            If you are using a p-tac unit in the apartment complex buy 1 spare and you can change them out in a matter of minutes if the need arises.  That is why hotels like them so much as well as low intial cost.  Also they need taken out and power washed every 2 or 3 years in order to be efficient and to avoid legionairs disease.  DanT

        2. Joby | Mar 20, 2004 03:54am | #15

          Look into the GE's.  Quieter.  A little more, but not much.  Motel 6 would probably never suffer, but I am building a little bed and breakfast and noise/return customers are an issue and we are going with the GE's

  2. gdavis62 | Mar 15, 2004 11:28pm | #7

    That tub/shower unit you experienced was probably one of the above-the-floor-drain types, common in a lot of Red Roof Inns and other budget motels. 

    Most of us live with tubs with sides of maybe 16 inches, and a tub bottom that is maybe an inch higher than the floor we step off of.  When you bathe at the Inn, though, you step way over a side of perhaps 20 inches, up to an elevated tub floor.  The key is to remember that you are up in the air when getting out with wet feet, and that the step-down will be a big one.

    I recall seeing warning signs about that in some motels.

    1. edwardh1 | Mar 15, 2004 11:46pm | #8

      not in hiltons (warning signs)

  3. User avater
    IMERC | Mar 16, 2004 07:27am | #9

    Typical archies...

    Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming

    WOW What a Ride!

  4. geoffhazel | Mar 16, 2004 09:53pm | #12

    Ya, the new motel in Aberdeen WA (Guest House inn) we stayed in for a while was something else. The tile work in the bathrooms was crap (can I say that here?) with no bullnose on the base shoe tiles anywhere, just raw cut edges. It's right on the river, and they were informed where the flood plane was. Rather than buid a few feet above that, they built a few inches above it.

    Two years later, I go in and there's big gaps around the door jambs, cracks in the rock at the headers; Built fast and cheap but not good.

    1. edwardh1 | Mar 17, 2004 02:17am | #13

      but what causes the noisy showers and faucets?

      seems a common hotel motel problem

      1. DanT | Mar 17, 2004 03:33am | #14

        Wain,

        Because the buildings are usually multi story they almost always have a booster pump to boost pressure.  Unless they are required by code they are a single stage boost pump and simply take the pressure from say 45PSI provided by the city to 80PSI and if you are on a lower floor you get more pressure/volume than you need.  Thus the noisey faucets and often water hammer in the pipes.  Bigger better hotels have multi stage pumps and switches that operate based on volume used not pressure and so they tend to not have this problem.  DanT

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