As a prospective hotel development client, you may be wondering why you need to appoint a Client Representative when you’ve already assembled a team of project consultants. You may have hired a high-profile architect, a celebrity designer, a preferred brand-name operator, a leading local contractor, and various other specialist consultants, including a structural engineer and landscape architect. You may even have received offers from your architect, designer, and engineer to manage the project delivery for you.
However, even the most impressive group of soloists needs someone to conduct the orchestra. That’s where a Client Representative comes in. The Client Representative plays a critical role during the development of a hotel project, acting as an independent coordinator to ensure that all members of the project team are working toward a common goal while protecting the client’s interests.
The Client Representative maintains an objective overview of the detailed design development process and ensures that the project does not depart from what is financially viable and market supportable. They provide creative and strategic input throughout the project while mediating any conflicts that may arise between the design consultancy team and the construction managers.
The Client Representative should be totally conversant with the language and vocabulary of design and construction, and able to translate the objectives of the design consultancy team to the construction managers and vice versa. They should also integrate the works of the various specialist consultants, which does not ordinarily happen unaided.
The early appointment of a Client Representative has many significant benefits. They have an in-depth understanding of the operational and standard requirements of hotels, which allows them to resolve design issues without the need for the client to have made a premature commitment to a specific operator. They coordinate the value engineering process and allocate the project budget in the most effective way, using their unbiased and experienced perspective. They identify any necessary additional specialist consultants and bring them onto the project team in a timely manner, minimizing costly afterthoughts.
The appointment of a Client Representative removes the burden of the project development and delivery process from the client’s shoulders, enabling them to pursue other opportunities. Most importantly, potentially expensive mistakes can be avoided.
The appointment of a Client Representative should not increase overall project costs. Instead, costs would be redistributed with reduced professional, construction, and FF+E costs resulting from a more transparent, focused, and efficient process. Therefore, a Client Representative can be somewhat self-financing
Let’s consider a case study. On a recent new-build project, the project team was struggling to make the proposed detailed design solution fit within the established project cost limit. The architect determined that the building should be clad with granite panels from top to bottom, the interior design consultant insisted on adequate funds being allocated to items that guests could see and touch, and the structural engineer pushed for a complex and relatively expensive solution to the site’s subsoil conditions.
As the Client Representative, we took the view that the client’s principal objective was to develop an up-market boutique hotel. The structural requirements couldn’t be compromised due to the site’s location in the earthquake zone of a major city. Still, the importance of developing the interiors with the quality of the boutique hotel guest experience in mind was also paramount. As the external building cladding above the level of the podium was unlikely to contribute to the guest experience, it was decided that granite panels should only be used on the lower floors, and the guestrooms tower should be clad in significantly less expensive materials.
The budgetary deadlock was broken, and the project development process could move forward again. The client was protected from any confrontational effects with any of the vendors.
In summary, the appointment of a Client Representative adds significant value to a hotel project. They play a critical role in coordinating the project team, protecting the client’s interests, and ensuring that appointing a Client Representative can be self-financing and bring numerous benefits to your hotel development project. By providing an independent and unbiased perspective, they can help you avoid potentially expensive mistakes, while ensuring that all members of your project team are working towards a common goal.
So why not discuss your plans with our experienced and innovative CREATOR’S team and let our successful track record show you how we can help you to create a successful realization for your hotel, resort and residential property development or rebranding projects?
To Your Succes!
Bert Bykes @ Contact