The client

A significant Saudi Arabian Hotel Company with an extensive portfolio of hotels in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

Location: Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

What did Hotel Solutions Partnership achieve for the client?

The client had confidence that the new TSDGs will create a positive impact with potential owners and developers affording confidence and competence in the client’s ability to deliver on world class hotel development projects in fulfilment of its development objectives.

Consultants

Duncan MacArthur, Ranjit Gunewardane, Gregoir Chikaher, Larry Bowman.

Background

The client wishes to embark on an expansion of its hotel portfolio in the Kingdom and recognises the requirement for clearly defined and bespoke Technical Standards and Design Guidelines (TSDG) to address its expansion plans within the five, four and three star markets. Included are guidelines for Residential properties or a Residential component within a hotel or resort development and an overarching Environmental and Sustainability guideline positioning the client as the first company within the Kingdom to recognise the need for such an initiative.

Client needs

The client sought to identify a company:
– With solid experience writing TSDGs in the leisure and hospitality industry or similarly complex sector
– Who have a proven record of defining level of guest expectations to achieve high standards of quality, service and associated goodwill
– Who can demonstrate how they have worked in a diverse and complex business environment
– With global experience
– With experience delivering brand consistency whilst allowing regional flexibility / the need to comply with local legislation
– With experience developing, testing and refining TSDGs across different markets, having a common framework for describing each hotel category in written and graphic terms

Project scope

The hotel company needed to establish acceptable standards for the architectural, engineering and technology systems that states the operations specific needs and constraints for design of related projects.

Interviews with small focus groups, research and analyses were performed to describe the functional requirements for each hotel category in performance oriented (outcome-based) terms, as opposed to prescriptive specifications, means, methods and techniques.

The completed TSDGs the client possessed consists of a complete suite of TSDGs written with Brand Standards in mind, leveraging international industry best practice and written to an agreed format and template.

The TSDGs define building performance requirements for individual project design, including spatial features, indoor air quality, thermal quality, acoustics, illumination, life safety, energy conservation, technology systems, environmental sustainability and numerous other requirements.