Helping Hotels

A fresh look, a cost-effective plan

Hyatt Hotels contacted TES to review prototype designs for three hotel properties. Our goal? Draw from our experience in the field to uncover cost efficiencies without sacrificing comfort or safety in the MEP design.

Upon review, we discovered three cost-cutting categories: Piping materials, fire/smoke dampers and exhaust system designs, and room air-conditioners condensate collection.

The most obvious shift was in the piping materials. The prototype called for copper pipe to be installed, which is very expensive. The TES team identified an alternate solution in all-PEX piping and PEX/copper hybrid piping, which saved material costs and installation.

Upon further assessment, the smoke evacuation system in the prototype was relatively complex. It called for multiple combination fire/smoke dampers at shaft wall penetrations. We reviewed the code, and saved significant cost by installing the exhaust ductwork on the roof, requiring a single combination smoke/fire damper to the variable speed roof-mounted exhaust fan, with individual exhaust fans installed in the rooms.

Our team also noted that the prototype design collected condensate from the room air-conditioning units on multiple floors and connected it to the sanitary system via underground piping. TES obtained approval from the local authorities to install a condensate stack that discharged out of the buildings’ exterior at grade into gravel leach beds. This eliminated the expense and potential future maintenance issues with underground laterals of sanitary piping.

Finally, TES also solved light trespass problems with the hotels’ small parking lots by modeling various full cut-off site lighting fixtures with optional side shields. This allowed for owner review and use for planning approvals.

Through these efforts, the TES team helped Hyatt Hotels achieve significant cost savings without sacrificing comfort or safety in the MEP design of three hotel properties.