Refurbishing Singapore’s Hotels with Faithful+Gould

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Faithful+Gould’s hotel specialist Tom Daly shares his insights on live hotel refurbishment works in Singapore – all whilst maximising return on investments and keeping capital expenditures to a minimum without compromising quality and customer experience.

Judicious refurbishment is the way forward for many of Singapore’s hotels. In the current competitive market, cost-effective and guest-friendly refurbs are needed to protect investment and deliver the best product.

Following considerable growth in Singapore’s hotel industry over the past 10 years, tougher times have now hit. New supply in the market is driving an especially competitive situation, with hoteliers under pressure to evolve their service experience through innovation and cost-effectiveness. New-build room stock continues to increase, making it all the more important for existing hotels to compete successfully. Older properties may need renovation and refurbishment to optimise value, maintain a competitive market position, reflect brand development or modernise the facility.

The refurbishment market presents challenges for developers, operators and contractors as they seek to meet design, construction and operational requirements during renovation. Inevitably, there are scheduling issues, as operators are understandably reluctant to decommission rooms and lose revenue. Singapore has no substantial off-peak season, so refurbishment may have to be managed in phases within a live hotel environment.

Faithful+Gould explores multiple phasing options with developers and operators, aiming for minimal operational disruption while maintaining revenue streams as much as possible. Our feasibility studies use modelling strategies to plan productivity rates and room out of order counts for the room refurbishments. Typically, we explore the number of room nights that will be offline and compare against expected occupancy rates, together with plans for progressive room handover as necessary.

When scheduling, we also consider the need for segregation between guests and the construction workforce, focusing on noise and disturbance, together with careful guest routing. Movement of workforce and materials on to and around the site, together with construction waste management, also needs to be planned to ensure minimal impact to guests.

A successful refurbishment focuses on the aspirational look and feel of the new facility, the compliance issues (brand standards and building codes) and the operational effects of the construction works. Whether converting from one brand to another, or upgrading to meet market expectations, it’s important to understand how revenue will be affected, both during and after the refurbishment. We provide clients with estimates and forecasts for ROI calculations, setting the project up to deliver a quality product at an efficient cost.

Getting to know how our clients like to work is an important part of our service. We tailor our provision to suit their objectives, often working alongside multiple stakeholders to successfully complete a project. Where hotel owner and operator have different objectives, we bring useful perspective to help with their negotiations and decision-making, always aiming for a win-win outcome. We are also familiar with the complex and pressured Singapore construction market and its many players. Our local relationships with specialist designers and contractors enable us to implement efficient design solutions, robust procurement strategies, and minimal impact building methods, ensuring we deliver a quality project.

Our project portfolio in Singapore is diverse and includes hotels renovations such as Fairmont Singapore, Swissotel The Stamford, Holiday Inn Singapore Atrium, Marina Bay Sands, InterContinental Singapore, BIG Hotel, Marriot and Hilton Garden Inn. Our portfolio also includes F&B projects such as Spago, Bread Street Kitchen, Adrift, Anti:Dote, Ash & Elm, MBS Club55, as well as casino spaces at Marina Bay Sands.

Our experience comprises renovation and remodelling of the full complement of hotel facilities, including guestrooms, food & beverage, retail, front of house, back of house, public areas, leisure, entertainment and infrastructure. In many instances, we contribute to critical thinking around design and construction decisions, to maximise revenue and guest experience.

Our successful hospitality work is not confined to Singapore. We have a strong global hospitality portfolio, for refurbishments and new-builds, in Asia Pacific, the Middle East, US and Europe. Our project management and cost management leadership, complemented by our asset management and development advisory services, ensures cost-effective results that support operational excellence.