The pandemic has had a severe impact on the hotel industry. Since, March to December 2020, the hotel across the United States and other parts of the world have witnessed their lowest occupancies says Maxwell Drever. However, as we stepped into 2021, there was a hope of resurgence. It further offered a scope for the hoteliers to evaluate their assets and use them to their advantage.
When the creative individuals come up with new users for distressed assets, the purchasers tend to reward them. And based on a recent survey, the fast-changing economy is compelling to entrepreneurs and investors, to start repurposing their distressed assets for other profitable uses. Hence, today most hotel owners are thinking of converting their properties that are not in use and not attracting travelers, into workforce housing projects. However, Maxwell Drever says that arriving at this decision is not enough. It’s essential to ensure that a hotel is perfect to get converted. For that it’s important to follow a few practices.
Is the hotel strategically located?
One of the acute issues faced by the workforce population, is not being able to stay in a place that is close to their office, factory or the workplace. Since the houses located centrally in a city are high priced, they invariably have to move to remote and rural areas to stay in a place that comes within their budget. As a result, they have to witness excess commute time, which harms their work productivity. Therefore, it’s beneficial to check if the hotel that’s selected for conversion is closer to the workplace of the workforce population says Maxwell Drever. That will provide ample ease to the concerned section.
Are there permits and approvals to consider?
The broken hotel to low-cost workforce apartment conversions can simply require minor alternations to the initial design of the building. It all depends on the circumstances encompassing the entire conversion. And it needs ample developer expertise to understand this. It is essential to learn about the local codes. It’s also crucial to know about the local planning commissions and the places where it might not bend. If you get into an early discussion with the local municipalities, it can save the developers ample money and time. That aside, it’s essential to check whether there is need for any other government approvals or not.
Are you counting on the facilities which are in service?
Maxwell Drever says that while most hotel rooms have an attached bathroom, few rooms have kitchens. There should be a need for renovations for converting a functional hotel space to a marketable living unit. The challenge is almost similar in a way that gets witnessed by the developers who rebuild the office towers to residential spaces. The majority of the transformations include the virtual demolition of the overall structure for the conversion to conventional apartment shapes and sizes.
These are some of the pre-requisites that will enable the developers and other authorities. To decide better if a hotel has all it takes. To get convert into a low-cost workforce apartment.