Hotel Construction and Renovation in Calgary

Hotel construction in Calgary splits into two very different jobs. One is building a new hotel. The other, far more common, is renovating a hotel that stays open: a brand-mandated property improvement plan, a guestroom refresh, a new lobby or a restaurant rebuild. In both, the brand's standards decide most of the design, and in renovations the schedule is measured in rooms out of service, because every room that cannot be sold is lost revenue.

Brand standards and the PIP

Flagged hotels work to the brand's design and construction standards. When a hotel changes hands, renews its franchise or falls behind the brand's current look, the brand issues a property improvement plan, or PIP: a list of required upgrades with a deadline. It might cover guestroom finishes, bathrooms, corridors, the lobby, the fitness room, life safety items and accessibility.

We price a PIP item by item, because owners need to know which items are cosmetic and which open up walls. Replacing a vanity is quick. Converting tubs to walk-in showers means new drains, waterproofing and sometimes work in the room below. Those differences decide the schedule and the budget.

The brand also approves the design and often the finish samples and a model room. Building one model room early, getting it signed off and then repeating it across the floors is the most reliable way to avoid surprises.

Guestroom acoustics

Guests notice noise before they notice anything else. Walls between rooms, floors between storeys and corridor doors all need sound-rated assemblies, and the details matter: a wall built to the right rating on paper loses much of it through an unsealed outlet box or a gap at the deck.

In renovations, we pay attention to plumbing noise, the mechanical units in each room and the corridor doors and seals. On new builds, the demising wall and floor assemblies are chosen for their sound rating as well as their fire rating.

Kitchens, restaurants and banquet spaces

A hotel restaurant or banquet kitchen is a commercial kitchen like any other: an exhaust hood with fire suppression, make-up air, a grease interceptor and an Alberta Health Services plan review before construction. Our restaurant construction page covers that process in detail.

The difference in a hotel is that the kitchen often serves room service, banquets and a restaurant at once, so it is usually still running in part while it is renovated.

Renovating while the hotel is open

Most hotel renovations are done floor by floor or in blocks of rooms. Each block is taken out of inventory, renovated and returned, while the rest of the hotel keeps selling. We plan the blocks with the hotel's revenue manager, around Calgary's busy periods. Stampede in July is the obvious one, along with major conventions and events.

Inside the occupied hotel, we keep construction noise to set hours, route trades and debris through back-of-house corridors and service elevators, and keep fire alarm, sprinklers and exits working on every floor. The front desk needs to know each day which rooms are coming back.

New hotel construction

A new hotel is a multi-storey Part 3 building under the Alberta building code, often with a concrete podium and frame or a concrete podium with wood-frame floors above. It involves a development permit, extensive engineering, and long-lead items such as elevators, guestroom HVAC units and the brand's FF&E (furniture, fixtures and equipment) package. Owners usually plan new hotels by cost per key, because that is how the brand and the lenders compare projects.

What hotel construction costs

Renovation costs depend entirely on the PIP. A soft-goods refresh of carpet, paint and furniture costs a fraction of a full guestroom renovation with new bathrooms. We price PIPs per room type and per common area, so the owner can see where the money goes.

Life safety in older hotels

Many hotels in Calgary were built decades ago, and a renovation often uncovers life safety items that need attention: fire alarm systems at the end of their life, sprinkler coverage gaps, fire separations broken by years of cabling, and corridor doors that no longer close and latch. Brands often include these in the PIP, and the City may require them when permits are issued for major work.

We review the fire alarm, sprinklers, fire separations and exits at the start of any significant renovation, so these costs are known before the budget is set. Firestopping is a frequent gap: every cable, pipe and duct passing through a rated wall or floor needs a tested firestop, and older hotels often have hundreds of unsealed penetrations.

Accessibility

Brand standards and the building code both set the number of accessible guestrooms, and renovations are often the moment to add them. Accessible rooms need wider doors, roll-in showers or accessible tubs, lower fixtures and turning space, and some rooms need visual alarms for guests who are deaf or hard of hearing. Converting a standard room usually means rebuilding the bathroom entirely, so plan the accessible rooms early and place them on floors and room types that make sense for guests.

Back of house

The parts of a hotel guests do not see often need the most work: laundry, housekeeping storage, mechanical rooms and the employee areas. Laundry equipment needs gas, water, drainage and exhaust, and replacing it is a project in itself. Renovating the back of house while the hotel operates takes careful planning, since housekeeping and laundry cannot stop.