From Groundbreaking to First Guest

Gallery G1 follows three objects from beginning to end: a building, a ship and a hotel. This reading follows the hotel, because it is the one chain in which the building trades hand the keys directly to the service trades.

The build

A mid-size urban hotel of 250 to 300 rooms can take two to three years from groundbreaking to opening. The sequence is the same as any tower: survey and soil borings; excavation and foundations; structure, floor by floor; the building envelope; mechanical, electrical, plumbing and fire-protection systems; elevators; interior finishes. Hotels are unusually repetitive, hundreds of nearly identical rooms, so many are now built with prefabricated bathroom pods or whole modular rooms made in a factory and craned into place.

The hand-off

Before any guest arrives, the building must pass inspection and receive a certificate of occupancy. Then comes pre-opening: the general manager and department heads hire and train staff, housekeeping sets every room to a standard, the kitchen runs trial services, engineering learns the building's systems, and the front desk tests the reservation and key systems. A soft opening with invited guests shakes out the problems.

The economics

A hotel is priced in two numbers: average daily rate and occupancy; together they give revenue per available room (RevPAR). Construction cost per key and the interest on the loan decide whether that revenue pays off. Tourism economics, Gallery G7's subject, starts here.

Programs on this chain

Surveying, heavy equipment, carpentry, electrical, plumbing, HVAC/R, elevator, drywall and painting, tailoring and upholstery, hotel and hospitality operations, culinary arts, restaurant management, event and tourism management.