ROI of renovating boutique hotels with Fastmount

Hospitality · Financial management

ROI of renovating with Fastmount: the calculation for your boutique hotel

By the Panelclip technical team · 7 min read · Hotel directors and specifiers

Every hotel finance director will ask the same question about any renovation proposal: how much does it cost, how much do I save and how long until I recover the investment? The Fastmount invisible fixing system with interchangeable clips is 15-20% more expensive in the first installation and up to 60% cheaper in each subsequent renovation. Here are the numbers that justify it.

In the boutique hotel series we have already explained the real cost of traditional renovations, how Fastmount lets you renovate a room in 24 hours and how fire-rated clips comply with fire regulations. This article closes the circle with the only thing that convinces a board of directors: the spreadsheet.

01First installation: the initial investment

We are not going to hide it: installing a Fastmount system for the first time costs more than screwing panels to the wall. The extra cost of the first installation is between 15% and 20% compared with the traditional system. That extra cost is due to the price of the clips (females and males), the time needed to install the females on the structure and the need for the panels to have the males pre-fitted in the workshop.

For a 60-room boutique hotel with a panel budget of 5,000 euros per room (traditional method), the Fastmount extra cost would be roughly 750 to 1,000 euros per room. Total: between 45,000 and 60,000 euros extra for the 60 rooms. It is the figure that surprises people at the first meeting and the one this analysis sets out to put into context.

02What you gain from day one: maintenance

The savings start immediately. A 60-80 room hotel records between 40 and 60 jobs a year that require access behind the panels. With screws, each job means a carpenter for 2-3 hours. With Fastmount, the maintenance team itself removes and refits the panels in minutes.

The annual maintenance saving is estimated at between 3,500 and 6,750 euros a year, in carpenter hours alone that are no longer needed. On top of that comes the saving on replacement panels which, with screws, have to be replaced periodically because they deteriorate with every removal. With clips, panels last their whole service life because they never suffer mechanical damage.

15-year scenario with a renovation every 5 years.

03The second renovation: where the magic happens

The first renovation with Fastmount is an investment. The second is where you reap the rewards. Because the female clips are still installed on the structure, the second renovation only requires making the new panels (with their male clips pre-fitted) and putting them up. There is no need to touch the structure, no need to install new clips, no building work of any kind.

The cost of the second renovation with Fastmount comes down to roughly 40% of the cost of an equivalent traditional renovation. The items that disappear are: removing old panels (free with clips), surface preparation (unnecessary), installing new fixing systems (already there), specialist fitting labour (the hotel's own team) and room downtime (1 day versus 4-5 days).

“The first time we presented the numbers to our board of directors, they were surprised by the initial extra cost. The second time we presented them, three years later, they were surprised by the accumulated savings. The third time, nobody questioned the system any more.”

Antonio Rivas Gallego — Finance director, hotel group, Levante

04The RevPAR saving: the differentiating factor

The ROI calculation would not be complete without considering the RevPAR that is no longer lost. When a room is renovated with the traditional method, it is out of service for 4-5 days. With Fastmount, less than 1 day. For a hotel with a RevPAR of 180 euros, that means a saving of 540-720 euros per room for each renovation cycle.

For 60 rooms: between 32,400 and 43,200 euros of revenue that is not lost in each renovation cycle. And since boutique hotels renovate every 5-7 years, over 15 years that saving accumulates significantly until it becomes one of the most important items in the whole scenario.

05The decisive argument: flexibility

But there is a benefit that does not appear on any spreadsheet and yet may be the most valuable: flexibility. A hotel with a Fastmount system can renovate partially —change the panels of just two or three themed rooms, update the lobby for the high season, create an exclusive suite for an event— at minimal cost and in minimal time. That ability to react quickly is a priceless competitive asset.

In a market where the guest experience and aesthetic novelty make the difference, being able to update a space without closing the room for a week or taking on a full building job turns renovation into a management tool, not a budget trauma. That is the strategic reading behind the numbers.

The application images belong to Fastmount™. No acoustic values are claimed: all performance is referred to testing and the technical data sheet.