And the Silent Danger of Interior Designers Who “Please the Owner — but Destroy the Hotel”
By Charles Tan
Many hotels fail despite having completed a feasibility study —
simply because the owner never truly understood it.
Many others collapse for a different reason:
they trusted interior designers who create beautiful spaces,
but have never actually operated a hotel.
Part 1: What a Feasibility Study Really Is
(Without reading 200 pages)
A feasibility study is not a loan application document.
It is not a glossy report meant to impress investors.
A good feasibility study must clearly answer five critical questions.
- The Real Market — Not an Imaginary One
The key questions are:
- Where do your guests come from?
- Why do they come?
- Which months do they come?
- Which months do they not?
If a feasibility report says:
“Demand is expected to grow continuously,”
but fails to explain:
- Who is growing
- When the growth happens
- Why it happens
then the study has not passed the test.
- Realistic Room Rates — Not Wishful Pricing
Dangerous feasibility studies often set unrealistically high ADRs.
Professionals focus on:
- What you can sell during low season
—not just peak months.
Hotels do not survive on three good months.
They must survive the other nine.
- Costs the Owner Will Actually Pay
Many feasibility studies:
- Underestimate labor costs
- Ignore depreciation
- Forget maintenance expenses
Owners read them and think:
“This should be profitable.”
After opening, reality sets in:
“There’s never enough cash.”
- Total Investment — Not Just Construction Cost
Many hotels have failed because owners only considered:
- Land cost
- Construction cost
And forgot:
- Pre-opening expenses
- Working capital
- Cash required for the first 6–12 months
A hotel should never open
without enough cash to breathe.
- The Worst-Case Scenario
A proper feasibility study must dare to ask:
“What happens if we miss projections by 15–20%?”
If this page does not exist,
the report is not a risk management tool.
Part 2: Interior Designers Who Don’t Understand Hotels — A Silent Threat
This is a topic often whispered within the industry,
but hotel owners must understand it clearly.
❌ Common and Costly Problems
- Pleasing the Owner More Than the Business
You hear:
- “It looks beautiful.”
- “It feels luxurious.”
- “It will be completely unique.”
But no one asks:
- Who will use it?
- How will it be used?
- Who will maintain it?
- Who will pay for it?
- Functional Failure — Invisible Until Opening Day
Real examples:
- A beautiful front desk that cannot function
- A grand lobby with no usable seating
- Gorgeous guestrooms that are difficult to clean
- Expensive-looking materials that deteriorate quickly
The day you realize it’s wrong
is the day the hotel opens.
- Designing a Home — Not a Hotel
Designers from luxury residential or condominium backgrounds often forget that hotels:
- Are used heavily
- Used repeatedly
- Used every single day
Materials that look stunning in a home
may fail within six months in a hotel environment.
- No Understanding of Staff Workflow
- How do housekeepers push their carts?
- Which routes do servers use?
- Where does dirty linen go?
Designers who have never operated a hotel
often design only from the guest’s perspective.
🚨 Warning Signs of a Dangerous Interior Designer
Be cautious if you hear:
- “Hotels don’t need to be that complicated.”
- “Let’s focus on feeling and emotion.”
- “Operations can be fixed by the GM later.”
- “This style is very trendy right now.”
Hotels do not fail because they are not trendy.
They fail because they do not work in real life.
Part 3: What Owners Must Do to Avoid Being Dragged Into Failure
✔️ Practical Rules That Matter
- Clearly separate roles:
- Architect = Structure
- Interior Designer = Experience
- Hotel Consultant = Real-world operations
- Never allow a hotel to be designed by one person alone.
A hotel must be challenged in the meeting room. - Every design decision must answer:
“Who uses this? How often? And how is it maintained?”
Beauty must never destroy profitability.
EP 10 Conclusion
A good feasibility study is a thinking tool, not a presentation document.
An interior designer who does not understand hotels
is just as dangerous as a project with no consultant at all.
Hotels that survive
are born from hard debates before construction —
not excuses after opening.
A great hotel is not beautiful because of one person.
It survives because everyone was willing to think together.
