A hotel PIP, or property improvement plan, is the list of work a hotel brand requires an owner to carry out to bring a hotel up to the brand’s current standards. It’s usually issued when a hotel changes hands, renews or signs a franchise, or converts to a new brand, and the owner pays for it.

For the brand, a PIP protects what the name promises: a guest should find the same standard in every hotel under it. For the owner, it’s a scope of work, a budget and a deadline, often set by someone else, on a building that has to keep trading.

When a PIP is issued

Most PIPs follow one of four events:

  • A change of ownership. A buyer taking over a branded hotel usually gets a PIP as a condition of keeping the brand, and the cost of it belongs in the price.
  • A franchise renewal. When a franchise agreement comes up for renewal, the brand checks the hotel against current standards before signing again.
  • A conversion. A hotel joining a brand, or moving from one brand to another, gets a PIP to bring it in line.
  • Standards that move on. Brands update their standards, and a hotel that falls behind, or fails a quality inspection, can be asked to catch up.

The term is used most with franchised hotels. Hotels run by the brand under a management agreement go through similar renovation cycles, usually planned through the agreement’s capital plans rather than a PIP.

What’s in a PIP

A PIP starts with an inspection. The brand’s team walks the hotel, compares it with the standards, and lists what has to change. A typical PIP covers:

  • Guest rooms and bathrooms. Beds, furniture, carpets, curtains, lighting, bathroom fittings, and the technology in the room.
  • Public areas. The lobby, restaurants and bars, meeting rooms, the gym and the pool.
  • The outside. Signage, the entrance, the facade, parking and landscaping.
  • Back of house. Kitchens, laundry and staff areas, where the brand sets standards for them.
  • Life safety and accessibility. Fire alarms and sprinklers, accessible rooms and routes, to current codes.
  • Technology. Wi-Fi, door locks, televisions, and the systems the brand requires the hotel to connect to.

Each item usually comes with a deadline. Some are due within months; others can wait for a planned renovation.

Reading a PIP from the owner’s side

A PIP is written by the brand, for the brand. The owner’s job is to turn it into a project it can afford and deliver.

  • Cost every line before committing. In a purchase, the cost of the PIP should be known before the price is agreed, not after.
  • Separate the fixed from the negotiable. Life safety and the items most visible to guests are rarely negotiable. Alternatives, phasing and deadlines often are, especially before a sale or a new franchise agreement is signed.
  • Look for what isn’t there. A PIP covers what the brand sees. The roof, the plant, the building services and the structure may need work too, and it’s cheaper to do it in the same closure.
  • Phase around trading. Every room out of service is revenue lost. Most PIPs in operating hotels are done floor by floor, or wing by wing, with noise and access planned around guests.
  • Watch the deadlines. A missed deadline can put the franchise agreement at risk.
  • Keep the brand’s approvals moving. Designs, samples and mock-up rooms all need the brand’s sign-off, and a slow approval holds up everything behind it.

The budget

A PIP’s budget is more than the construction cost. It usually has four parts:

  1. Construction, from the contractor: the building work, finishes, services and life safety.
  2. Furniture, fixtures and equipment, often the largest visible part of the work in guest rooms. Our guide explains FF&E and how it’s bought.
  3. Soft costs: design fees, project management, permits, the brand’s own fees and a contingency.
  4. Revenue lost to rooms and outlets out of service while the work is done.

Who runs a PIP

A PIP brings several parties together: the owner, the brand’s design and technical teams, an interior designer, a contractor, a purchasing agent for the furniture, and the hotel’s operating team. Each one is right about its own part. Someone has to hold the whole of it for the owner: the scope, the budget, the programme, the approvals and the changes.

That’s the owner’s project manager, or owner’s representative. On Marriott’s Tokyo flagship, our role is an owner-side governance layer working alongside Marriott’s team across design management, cost control, schedule oversight and stakeholder coordination, with formal change control and scope verification, in a live, high-profile hotel. Our hotel renovation project management page sets out how we work.

Questions people ask

What does PIP stand for in hotels?

Property improvement plan: the brand’s list of work an owner must do to meet its standards.

Who pays for a hotel PIP?

The owner. The brand sets the standard; the owner funds the work.

How long do you have to complete a PIP?

As long as the PIP and the franchise agreement allow, item by item. Some items are due within months; larger ones are often timed with a planned renovation.

Is a PIP the same as a renovation?

No. A PIP is the brand’s list of what has to change. The renovation is the work that delivers it, and often goes further, because the owner has its own reasons to improve the building.