I was working for a large commercial construction firm at the time of this photo shoot as a commercial real estate photographer. They were completely renovating a well-known hotel brand. The hotel franchise was not just updating some old hotels but had changed their brand and were also wanting to update the hotel to reflect their new brand and image. However, they found a few surprises during their hotel renovations.

Once the construction company had started to demolish some of the interior walls and windows, they found a substantial amount of mold as well. What started out as a routine remodeling project quickly turned into a complete renovation and restoration of the building structure on certain floors and rooms.

From a commercial real estate photographer standpoint, this project also became one for insurance claims, which can often be the case involving commercial construction renovations. Once they start tearing off old materials and demolishing existing construction materials, they often find more than they bargained for originally. I cannot provide the insurance photos here, or the before and after photos, due to confidentiality reasons, but I can provide the finished photos.

The entire front lobby was updated and modernized. The feature I wanted to showcase the most was the new lighting and the existing skylights that brightened up the front reception area.

A new coffee bar, sitting area, and complete renovation of the main conference room were also part of the renovations in addition to the guest rooms. These areas did not suffer the mold damage that some of the guest rooms had, and therefore the renovations were not as extreme. They were mostly cosmetic upgrades such as new flooring, the addition of the group social areas and new paint or wall coverings.

The stonework you see was originally done by the same construction company when the original hotel was built, and they wanted to preserve that. The new tile flooring was chosen to match the stonework. The entire lobby area has a very earthy atmosphere about it, and the coffee bar and restaurant lounge is a homey touch. The commercial real estate photography was not a big challenge. The only feature I was conscious of having to pay special attention to was the lobby lighting and skylights. The food bar and seating area presented a slight challenge due to the fact that it was so dark compared to the rest of the lobby, but I decided to treat it like its own entity rather than include it as part of the lobby and have it appear to be even darker by comparison. The client understood this and was fine with it.

Hotel renovations and upgrades are a regular occurrence. As you can imagine, and know from your own experience, hotels go through a great deal of wear and tear do to the high traffic volume they incur. So photographing hotel renovations as a commercial photographer can be a steady gig. I have found the real challenge with hotel photography is to seek out and showcase the features that make a particular hotel stand out from its competition. That is the name of the game for hotel owners.

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