Most guest rooms in Cambodia don't need a gut renovation. They need new walls, a new floor, new curtains and better light - and they need it done floor by floor without losing the season. Here's how that package works, what it costs, and where the money actually matters.
We supply a lot of room renovations, and the pattern repeats. A property built around 2014, decent bones, tired surfaces. The owner gets a quote for a full renovation and sits on it for two years because the number is frightening. Meanwhile the booking photos keep aging.
The walls-floors-windows package is the answer to that paralysis. It's the 20% of the work that changes 80% of what a guest notices, and it can be done one floor at a time while the rest of the hotel sells rooms.
Start with the photo, not the floor plan
Pull up your property on any booking site and look at the lead room photo. That photo is competing against hotels that opened last year. Whatever looks tired in it - usually the wall behind the bed, the carpet, and the curtains - is your scope. Guests don't book floor plans. They book that picture.
The headboard wall earns its budget first
One feature wall behind the bed does more for the room than any other single line item. Fabric or grasscloth if you're selling warmth, a deep textured vinyl if housekeeping throughput matters more, custom print if the brand has a story to tell. The other three walls can often stay painted - fresh paint, same color, done.
Two specification notes from jobs we've supplied. First, order the whole project's feature wall material from one batch, with spare rolls for repairs. Textile dye lots drift, and a floor-three repair in a different lot is visible from the doorway. Second, for anything commercial, get the fire data sheet before you approve the sample, not after. Our wall fabric guide covers the options in detail.
Carpet or SPC? Decide by who cleans it
This argument runs in every renovation meeting, so here's the honest version:
| Question | Carpet | SPC / vinyl plank |
|---|---|---|
| How does the room feel? | Quiet, soft, upscale | Crisp, clean, modern |
| Humidity and spills | Needs solution-dyed fibre and good housekeeping | Doesn't care |
| Noise between floors | Excellent | Needs an acoustic underlay |
| Room-turn cleaning time | Slower | Faster |
| Replacement cycle | 5-8 years | 8-12 years |
Upscale properties keep choosing carpet for the sleeping zone because guests equate it with quiet. Midscale operators with lean housekeeping teams keep choosing SPC because Tuesday morning matters more than the brochure. Mixing both in one room is common and nobody complains. Details and prices are in our flooring guide and carpet guide.
Curtains: the upgrade guests can measure
A guest can't name your wallcovering, but they know at 6am whether your blackout works. Spend here. Proper blackout drapery with a sheer layer, tracks that glide instead of grinding, and enough fullness that the fabric stacks with some generosity. Skimpy curtains read cheap even on a good room. Motorised tracks are worth it from the upper midscale level - they've become one of those small things guests mention in reviews. Our curtains guide has the fabric and track options.
The 7-day room sequence
With materials staged and a crew that's done it before, a room runs roughly like this:
- Days 1-2: strip-out, wall preparation, first paint coat.
- Days 3-4: flooring down, second coat, electrical touch-ups.
- Day 5: feature wall installation - walls must be fully dry first.
- Day 6: tracks and curtains, lighting, snagging.
- Day 7: deep clean, furniture back, photos.
What to spend, roughly
Indicative materials-only ranges for the walls-floors-windows package, per room:
| Level | Indicative materials |
|---|---|
| Economy refresh | $1,200 - $2,000 / room |
| Midscale | $2,000 - $4,500 / room |
| Upscale | $4,500 - $9,000+ / room |
Bathrooms, furniture and MEP sit outside these numbers. For the property-wide picture - phasing, public areas, budgets per key - read the full hotel renovation guide.
One supplier, one accountable date
A room package touches wallcovering, flooring, curtains and sometimes acoustic panels. Buy them from four vendors and you have four lead times and four excuses. We supply the whole package from one catalog, batch-locked with a signed Spec Lock Certificate, on one written delivery date. See it installed in our projects, or come handle the materials at the Phnom Penh showroom.
