For hotel owners, operators and asset managers
Hotel Refurbishment in London: A Practical Guide for Owners and Operators
Sviatoslav JerdetchiiCEO & Founder of Craftex. Updated , 6 min read
The short answer
A hotel refurbishment in London succeeds when it is planned around revenue, not just the build. Decide what can close and when, sign off a sample room, and settle fire, access and heritage approvals first.
- Choose full closure, floor-by-floor or room-by-room before you price anything.
- Build and approve one sample room before ordering for every room.
- Hotels are sleeping accommodation, so fire rules are stricter than for offices.
- Order joinery and furniture before the first floor is stripped.
Every closed room is lost revenue. Every noisy morning is a review. Every late bedroom is a cancelled booking. That is what makes hotel work different from an office or a shop.
This guide is for owners, operators and asset managers refurbishing an existing London hotel. That might be a boutique townhouse, a city hotel or a serviced apartment building. Written from the contractor's side, it covers scope, phasing, regulations, consents and programme. Hotel in mind? Book a site visit and we will walk it with you.
Types of hotel refurbishment in London
Most hotel refurbishments in London fall into three types. Each one changes the programme and how much of the hotel can stay open.
| Type | Typical scope | What it means for the programme |
|---|---|---|
| Soft refurbishment | Decoration, carpets, curtains, loose furniture, lighting, some furniture, fixtures and equipment | Room by room, often while the hotel trades, with short closures per room |
| Hard refurbishment | Bathrooms, fixed joinery, ceilings, flooring, services within rooms | Floors or wings out of service; noise, dust and services need careful phasing |
| Full refurbishment | Layout changes, new rooms or suites, new mechanical and electrical plant, public areas, facade | Often a full or long partial closure, with planning and building control |
Most projects mix them. Soft refurbishment in some rooms, new bathrooms throughout, and a reworked lobby, restaurant or bar.
Phasing is the decision that sets the budget
The biggest choice is how much of the hotel stays open. There are three options.
- Close completely. The shortest programme and the lowest build cost, but no revenue while closed.
- Close floor by floor or wing by wing. Revenue continues, but the build is longer. Every phase needs its own separation, fire strategy and access route.
- Room by room. Possible for soft refurbishment, rarely efficient for bathrooms or services.
When guests stay in the building, plan for these:
- Noisy and dusty work in agreed hours, away from occupied floors where possible.
- A separate access route and goods lift for the works.
- Fire alarm and escape routes working for guests at all times.
- Protection of corridors, lifts and finished areas.
- Clear updates to front-of-house staff, who will take every complaint.
Sloane Place in Chelsea is a 27-key boutique hotel in a five-storey Victorian building. Craftex took part in the project. The remodel ran over 28 weeks next to a members' club that stayed open throughout. Work ran floor by floor on one programme, sequenced to contain noise.
Build a sample room first
Before committing to 30, 60 or 200 bedrooms, build one. A sample room, also called a mock-up room, lets you:
- test the layout, lighting and storage in the real building;
- check how the bathroom works for guests and housekeeping;
- see how joinery, stone and fabrics look together;
- fix details once, not in every room;
- confirm the time per room with real numbers.
Victorian and Georgian buildings make this especially important. Bedrooms are rarely the same shape twice. At Sloane Place, each room type was detailed to its purpose. One material thread, from velvet headboards to stone en-suites, ran through all 27 keys.
I was stressed about timing since we had bookings lined up, but they smashed it. Even worked Saturday to finish the floor. My clients love the look — the beauty salon fit-out turned out exactly how I wanted. Couldn’t have pulled it off without their help. Genuinely appreciate the way they communicated throughout the refurbishment. If you need reliable help with beauty salon design or fit-out, especially in a place like Chelsea — these are the guys.
Fire safety rules for hotel refurbishment
Hotels are sleeping accommodation. So fire safety is stricter than in offices or shops.
- The Fire Safety Order applies to the whole hotel. The responsible person keeps the fire risk assessment current. Review it for each phase of the works and after completion.
- Approved Document B treats hotels as residential (other). It recommends automatic fire detection and alarm, and compartment floors throughout. Bedroom doors, corridor doors and fire stopping around new services most often need work.
- External walls on taller hotels. Since 1 December 2022, the ban on combustible materials in external walls covers hotels with a storey at least 18 metres up. Facade or balcony work must then use class A2-s1, d0 or A1 materials, subject to listed exemptions.
- Building control. Because the Fire Safety Order applies, the work needs a full plans application, not a building notice.
Accessibility in bedrooms and public areas
Where Part M of the Building Regulations applies to your works, Approved Document M Volume 2 sets the guide for hotel bedrooms.
Approved Document M also asks for a visual fire alarm signal in all bedrooms. Accessible bedrooms should be no worse located than other rooms, on accessible routes to all facilities.
The adopted London Plan (2021), Policy E10, applies to new serviced accommodation. If your refurbishment adds bedrooms, expect the borough to apply it. A draft new London Plan was published in 2026, so check which policy your borough is using. Your Equality Act 2010 duties apply in any case, including in public areas.
Consents to check before you start
These are the consents most London hotel refurbishments need to check.
- Planning permission for external changes, extensions, roof plant, new extract ducts, or a change of use to or from hotel use (Use Class C1).
- Listed building consent for works that affect a listed building's character, inside or out. Many central London hotels are in period buildings.
- Building control, with a full plans application.
- A premises licence variation if the layout of licensed bars or restaurants changes.
- Landlord or freeholder consent if you operate under a lease.
Bedrooms and bathrooms carry most of the cost
In most hotel refurbishments, the bedroom and bathroom package is the bulk of the cost and programme.
- Bathrooms involve drainage, waterproofing, ventilation and tiling. These trades most often disturb the rooms next door. In period buildings with irregular rooms, bathrooms are usually built in place.
- Joinery such as headboards, wardrobes, desks and minibars has long lead times. Order it once the sample room is signed off.
- Acoustics between rooms and from corridors matter for reviews. If you change layouts or use, check whether sound rules apply.
- Services in older hotels often need replacing: hot water, air conditioning, electrics and data.
Public areas: lobby, bar and restaurant
Public areas set the first impression. They usually need to keep working while bedrooms are refurbished. Plan them as their own phase, often out of hours, with temporary reception.
For the bar and restaurant side, see our hospitality fit-out guide and restaurant kitchen fit-out guide. They cover extraction, licensing and programme. We design and build these spaces through our restaurant and hospitality fit-out service.
What decides a hotel refurbishment programme
Six things decide how long a hotel refurbishment takes.
- How many rooms can be out of service at once.
- Lead times for joinery, stone, sanitaryware and furniture.
- Whether mechanical and electrical plant needs replacing.
- Consents, especially listed building consent.
- Access: the goods lift, street loading and working hours.
- What the building hides once opened up.
Older London hotels often hide earlier alterations. That is why a survey and a contingency come first. Our pub refurbishment guide shows the same lesson in a heritage pub.
Who to bring in, and when
- Survey and brief: condition, services, fire strategy and heritage limits.
- Concept and sample room design.
- Consents and ordering of long-lead items.
- Sample room built and signed off.
- Phased works, floor by floor.
- Handover per phase, snag-free, then aftercare while the hotel settles in.
Our Projects Director, Konstantin Jegorovs, has led aparthotel projects and fit-outs of occupied offices over 16 years. Hotel work rewards that experience. The build is half the job. The other half is keeping the hotel running around it.
We take on construction projects from £100,000. Ready to plan the phasing? Book a site visit and we will walk the building with you.
