Hitachi Asia: Developing Thailand's first fully integrated smart district
22 Smart services work packages managed
Hotel renovation project management.
Hotel renovation project management is the owner's side of a renovation: guarding the design, the budget, the programme and every change, often while the hotel stays open. ddx does it as an embedded owner-side team, as it does for Marriott International on the renovation of a flagship hotel in Tokyo.
For hotel owners, asset managers and operators.
Renovating a live hotel
A hotel renovation runs alongside the hotel: guests, staff, bookings and a brand to protect.
On Marriott’s Tokyo flagship renovation, ddx works as an owner-side governance layer alongside Marriott’s own team, across design management, cost control, schedule oversight and stakeholder coordination. The programme brings together multiple consultants and contractors, with the constraints of a live, high-profile hotel.
The work is phased around occupancy and operations, not only the contractor’s sequence, so the hotel keeps serving its guests while it’s renewed.
Brand standards and PIPs
A PIP, or property improvement plan, is the list of works a hotel brand requires of a property to bring it up to the brand’s current standards.
On the owner’s side, the job is to deliver the brand’s standards within the owner’s budget and programme. More in what a hotel PIP is.
Governance
A framework aligned with PMI (the Project Management Institute) across governance, scope, risk, procurement and delivery.
On top of it sit formal change control, scope verification and risk management, so decisions at every stage are evidence-based and aligned with the owner’s budget and operating objectives. It’s the same role as an owner’s representative on any project, fitted to a hotel.
Owner-controlled planning
Two layers of plan: the contractor’s schedule, integrated with an owner-controlled platform that shows cost, programme and stakeholder performance in real time.
It’s the record ddx PMO is built to keep: one live project record, with documents and drawings in a common data environment and transmittals to suppliers.
Design management
Keeping the design intent intact as the drawings develop and the costs come in, including through value engineering, where savings are found by changing what’s built.
Our hotel work is led by an architect who ran AvroKO’s Asia studio, so the design team has someone on the owner’s side who speaks its language.
FF&E, OS&E and the budget
FF&E (furniture, fixtures and equipment) and OS&E (operating supplies and equipment, from linen to glassware) carry a budget and a schedule of their own.
We don’t buy them. We keep their budget, their lead times and their installation in the owner’s programme. More in FF&E and OS&E in hotel projects.
Guest-facing and building systems
A renovation is also the time to renew the systems behind the guest experience: connectivity, room controls, building management and security.
We plan them with the rest of the works. More on building systems.
Where we work
ddx has offices in London, Tokyo, Hong Kong, Bangkok and Dubai. In Japan, see ddx in Tokyo.
Hotel renovation is part of our urban development work.
Questions.
- What is a hotel PIP?
- A property improvement plan: the works a hotel brand requires of a property to bring it up to the brand's current standards, often when the hotel changes hands or renews its agreement with the brand.
- Can a hotel stay open during a renovation?
- Often, yes. The work is phased around occupancy and operations, floor by floor or area by area, which makes the owner's own plan more important, not less.
Who to talk to.
Pawel Michalski
Co-founder and Partner
Leads real estate at ddx: development management, design and delivery for Marriott, Kasumigaseki Capital and One Bangkok. An architect with 25 years in hospitality and commercial projects, formerly Worldwide Head of Design for Amazon’s operations real estate and Executive Director of AvroKO’s Asia studio.
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