Cost Comparison of Sustainable Versus Conventional Interior Finishes for a Luxury Hotel Suite Prototype

Abstract

This project proposed to provide evidence for the research hypothesis: Sustainable products and materials can be specified for the interior design of a luxury hotel suite and attached guest room, without more than a 15% increase in cost. Phase One consisted of designing a set of construction documents for comparing cost of materials, furniture and the permanent and portable light fixtures for a sustainable versus a conventional luxury hotel suite in South Central Texas. The construction documents were designed based on the layout of a typical hotel suite and used as dependent variables for the study. Phase Two consisted of selecting hospitality products; sustainable products were applied to one set of the construction documents, while conventional products were applied to a second set of the dependent variables. The initial retail costs for all materials and furniture as well as the permanent and portable light fixtures within the suites and attached guest rooms were calculated and organized into a proprietary set of specifications for both the sustainable and conventional designs in Phase Three. The purpose of Phase Four of this study was to analyze the cost of a sustainable, luxury hotel suite compared to a conventional, luxury hotel suite. Through a comparison of the two sets specifications, the cost effectiveness of sustainable design in the hotel industry in South Central Texas was analyzed. The total cost for the conventional design was $143,853.05. The sustainable design cost $67,100.07, or 47% less than the conventional design. According to these results, the stated hypothesis was accurate.