From Design to Execution: What Really Drives Complex Hotel Renovations

Across the hospitality industry, large-scale Property Improvement Plans (PIPs) are becoming more common, and significantly more complex. What used to be a predictable cycle of upgrades has evolved into something far more strategic, driven by deferred investment, rising costs, and a growing focus on repositioning existing assets.

But as the scope of these projects expands, so do the challenges. Owners and investors are no longer just refreshing finishes, they are undertaking multi-layered renovations that impact everything from guest rooms to public spaces to revenue strategy. And with that comes a different kind of risk: one defined less by design and more by execution.

This is where many projects succeed or fall apart.

This article breaks down how that complexity plays out in practice, starting with the market forces driving larger PIPs, then exploring how scope expands beyond traditional renovations, and finally diving into the real points of risk: schedule, hidden conditions, and the decisions that ultimately keep projects moving (or bring them to a halt).

Because in today’s environment, the success of a PIP isn’t just about what you build, it’s about how well you manage everything that can go wrong along the way.

A Surge in Renovations Driven by Market Forces

The increase in large-scale PIPs isn’t happening in a vacuum. It’s the result of several overlapping industry dynamics.

First, the pandemic created a backlog of deferred improvements. Renovations that would have occurred on a five- to seven-year cycle were postponed, sometimes extending to ten years or more, leading to more extensive and urgent upgrades today.

Second, rising construction costs and tighter lending conditions have made new development less attractive, particularly in the full-service hotel segment.

As a result, owners and investors are increasingly pursuing a different strategy: acquire existing assets and use PIPs to reposition them. Renovating a hotel that already generates revenue offers a faster and less capital-intensive path to improving performance.

In many cases, these projects go beyond simple compliance. Owners are using PIPs to up-brand properties, enhance amenities, and drive higher ADR and occupancy, turning renovation into a value-creation strategy rather than a maintenance exercise.

What Makes a PIP “Complex”?

At a high level, complexity comes from combining multiple scopes into a single, coordinated effort.

A soft PIP might involve updating finishes, such as carpet, wall coverings, or furniture, without altering infrastructure. But hard PIPs layer in far more:

• Full guest room overhauls, including new case goods and bathroom reconfigurations
• Common area transformations, such as lobbies, restaurants, and meeting spaces
• Amenity upgrades or expansions
• Brand conversions, such as moving from a DoubleTree to a Curio Collection property

These projects are designed not just to refresh, but to fundamentally reposition the hotel, expanding revenue opportunities beyond rooms into dining, events, and guest experience.

The more these elements intersect, the more complex the project becomes.

The Central Risk: Schedule as the Backbone

While complexity shows up in scope, the real risk lies in execution—and specifically, in schedule.

Hard PIPs operate within a tightly interdependent system. Materials must be designed, approved, and procured, often from overseas with lead times exceeding 25 weeks. At the same time, construction must be phased carefully, taking rooms offline in batches, renovating them, and returning them to service to maintain revenue flow.

This creates a true nuanced dance between procurement, logistics, labor, and operations.

For example, a hotel might take two floors (roughly 20 to 30 rooms) offline at a time, renovate them over a seven-week cycle, then move to the next set of rooms in a rolling “assembly line” process.

But getting to that point requires significant upfront effort. Before construction begins, teams may spend nearly a year designing, prototyping, and refining model rooms to ensure the final product performs as expected.

In other words, by the time the first guest room is renovated, the clock has already been ticking for months—and any delay along the way can ripple across the entire project.

Where Projects Break Down in the Real World

Despite careful planning, even well-structured PIPs encounter unexpected obstacles.

One of the most common challenges is hidden conditions: what lies behind walls in older properties. In many cases, hotels have undergone multiple renovations over decades, often with undocumented or inconsistent modifications.

In a recent real-world example, a project uncovered a junction box with multiple electrical circuits spliced together in a wall, requiring quick design, construction, and project management engagement to identify a solution that didn’t impact schedules and minimized budget impacts.

While model rooms can uncover many of these issues, they can’t eliminate all hidden conditions, so early contractor involvement through preconstruction services can help identify risks sooner and reduce surprises later.

Another real-world challenge comes from balancing operational needs with project timelines. On one recent project, a scheduled power shutdown was delayed due to unforeseen conditions. At the same time, the hotel had more than a 50% occupancy rate with revenue tied to the affected period.

This created a difficult decision that needed to be made: proceed with the shutdown and sacrifice revenue, or delay construction and impact the overall project timeline?

There was no perfect answer, only trade-offs. And resolving those trade-offs required alignment across ownership, operations, and the project team.

The Problem-Solving Bottleneck

In fact, one of the most consistent causes of delay in hard PIPs isn’t construction: it’s problem solving. Making decisions that solve problems are the fuel that keep projects moving, yet in hospitality projects, decisions often stall due to:

• Brands pushing for higher design standards
• Owners focused on budget and return
• Operators prioritizing functionality and guest experience

Without alignment and clear communication, problem-related decisions get deferred, designs continue to evolve, and schedules slip.

The reality is that most problems don’t have perfect solutions. Success depends on making timely decisions, and accepting trade-offs when necessary.

Turning Complexity into a Competitive Advantage

As the hospitality industry continues to evolve, hard PIPs will play an increasingly critical role in shaping property performance.

While these projects are inherently complex, they also offer a powerful opportunity—to transform existing assets, unlock new revenue streams, and stay competitive in a rapidly changing market.

But success requires more than vision. It requires:

• Disciplined schedule management
• Early identification of hidden risks
• Clear, timely problem-solving
• Alignment across all stakeholders

In an environment where delays are costly and expectations are high, the most successful projects are those that treat complexity not as a constraint—but as something to be strategically managed from day one.

Connect with this article’s contributors:
Mark Knott, Vice President and Hospitality Leader at PMA