Hospitality flooring

Hospitality is a portfolio problem rather than a single specification. Guest rooms want quiet, warmth underfoot and a look that photographs well; the lobby wants durability under luggage wheels and a surface that a lobby attendant can spot-clean between arrivals; restaurants want stain resistance against red wine, oil and coffee; kitchens want grip under grease, heat resistance and a floor that can be hosed and squeegeed to a drain; service corridors want a surface that survives trolleys at 5 a.m. without waking guests above.

The kitchen is where specifications are usually lost. A kitchen floor needs R11 slip resistance even when wet with oil, welded seams and a fully welded cove, a surface that tolerates hot pans and commercial degreasers, and falls to a drainage point that the flooring contractor has to co-ordinate with the M&E package. Kitchens are also the area most often re-done early, because a floor laid without those details fails at the cove and the drain collar first, and water then works its way under the sheet.

In guest areas the choice is mostly between carpet, LVT and sheet. LVT in a 0.55–0.7 mm wear layer has largely replaced carpet in rooms for hygiene reasons and because it can be replaced room by room during low season; where acoustics are critical, a foam-backed sheet or an acoustic underlay does the work that carpet used to do. For lobbies and ballrooms, a 2.0 mm homogeneous sheet in a large-format stone or terrazzo look gives a seamless, repairable surface that survives luggage and banquet chairs.

• Typical areas: guest rooms, corridors, lobby, restaurant, bar, kitchen, laundry, service corridor
• Kitchens: R11 wet slip, fully welded seams and cove, heat and degreaser resistance, falls to drain
• Guest rooms: LVT 0.55–0.7 mm wear, or foam-backed sheet where impact sound matters
• Lobby and banqueting: 2.0 mm homogeneous in stone or terrazzo decoration, welded, repairable
• Refurbishment: plan floors room by room, keep 5% attic stock of the same batch for repairs