Hotel Renovations & Conversions Are Reshaping Hospitality in 2026 — And Experience Matters

The hospitality development landscape is changing. While ground-up hotel construction remains an important part of the market, owners and developers are increasingly looking at existing assets as opportunities for renovation, repositioning, and brand conversion.

In the first quarter of 2026 alone, the U.S. hotel market had 2,041 conversion and renovation projects representing more than 258,000 rooms, according to Lodging Econometrics. Hotel conversions alone accounted for 1,461 projects and nearly 142,000 rooms.

For hotel owners, the question is increasingly becoming not simply, “Where should we build next?” but “How can we get more value from the property we already have?”

Why Hotel Renovations and Conversions Are Accelerating

Several factors are driving this shift.

The economics favor existing assets. Elevated construction and financing costs continue to make ground-up development challenging. Renovating or repositioning an existing hotel can offer a path to improving an asset without taking on the full cost, timeline, and development risk associated with starting from the ground up.

At the same time, investors are actively seeking underperforming hotel properties with repositioning potential. Recent reporting points to increased hotel transaction activity as investors acquire aging properties and renovate them to meet current guest expectations and brand standards.

Property Improvement Plans are creating another wave of work. Brand-required PIPs are moving forward after years of deferred improvements. Industry research estimates that billions of dollars in deferred PIP work is now entering the market, while owners face increasing pressure to bring existing properties into compliance with current standards.

For branded properties, these improvements are not simply cosmetic. Marriott's franchise documentation, for example, specifically addresses PIP requirements for hotel conversions, including renovations, permitting, brand review, current system specifications, and required completion deadlines.

Conversions are becoming a major growth strategy for hotel brands. Existing hotels can be repositioned into new flags or collections without waiting years for a new property to be developed. IHG, for example, reported that the improving pace of its U.S. openings has been fueled by the strength of conversions.

That creates significant opportunity—but converting a hotel is not the same as designing a new one.

LaQuinta/Home2 Conversion - Arlington, Texas

Why Hotel Renovations Require Specialized Architectural Experience

With a ground-up hotel, the design team begins with a site and a program.

With a renovation or conversion, the architect begins with constraints.

Existing structural systems. Existing MEP infrastructure. Existing guestrooms and corridors. Existing egress. Existing accessibility conditions. Existing building envelopes. Existing operations. Existing conditions that may not match the original drawings—or may not have drawings at all.

Then a new layer must be added: current brand standards, current building codes, the owner's budget, operational requirements, and the realities of construction inside an existing property.

The architect's job becomes one of solving a complex puzzle: determining what can remain, what must change, where upgrades provide the greatest value, and how all of those decisions can work together without unnecessarily expanding the scope.

That is where experience matters.

Type Six Understands Hotels—Not Just Buildings

At Type Six Design & Development, hospitality is a core area of our architectural practice.

Our team has experience with 80+ hotel projects nationwide across major hospitality brands and multiple hotel segments. Our portfolio includes new construction, renovations, conversions, dual-brand hotels, extended-stay properties, select-service hotels, lifestyle concepts, and complex mixed-use hospitality developments.

That broad experience gives our team an important advantage when approaching an existing hotel: we understand how hotels are supposed to work.

We understand guestroom layouts and prototypes. We understand back-of-house operations, public spaces, food and beverage components, accessibility, life safety, brand review processes, and the relationship between architecture, interiors, MEP systems, structural conditions, and hotel operations.

Most importantly, we understand that the goal of a renovation isn't simply to redesign a building.

It is to improve the asset.

Navigating Brand Standards and PIPs

For owners working with Marriott, Hilton, IHG, and other major hospitality companies, brand compliance can become one of the most complicated parts of a renovation or conversion.

A PIP may touch virtually every part of a hotel—from guestrooms and corridors to public spaces, exterior identity, signage, accessibility, building systems, technology, and FF&E.

Type Six's experience working across major hotel brands allows our team to approach these requirements with an understanding of both the brand's expectations and the owner's investment.

Our role is to help translate requirements into a coordinated architectural solution, identify potential conflicts early, and work with owners, consultants, contractors, interior designers, and brand representatives to keep the project moving.

Renovating While the Hotel Keeps Operating

Another major difference between renovation and ground-up construction is simple:

The hotel may still have guests.

Every room removed from inventory can represent lost revenue. Public-area closures can affect the guest experience. Construction access must coexist with hotel operations. Noise, dust, life safety, temporary paths of travel, and construction phasing all become critical considerations.

Renovation projects therefore require more than good design. They require thoughtful phasing, coordination, documentation, and problem-solving.

Industry research notes that speed is particularly important in hotel renovations because many properties remain operational during construction and lose revenue when rooms are taken out of service.

The objective is not simply to complete the renovation—it is to help the owner get the improved property fully operational and revenue-producing as efficiently as possible.

Turning Existing Hotels Into New Opportunities

A successful hotel conversion or renovation can do much more than refresh finishes.

It can reposition an aging asset. Introduce a new brand. Improve the guest experience. Address deferred maintenance. Modernize building systems. Create new amenities. Improve operational efficiency. Extend the useful life of the property. And, ultimately, increase the long-term value and competitiveness of the hotel.

In today's hospitality market, some of the most exciting development opportunities may already be standing.

They simply need the right vision—and the right team to unlock their potential.

Planning a hotel renovation, PIP, repositioning, or brand conversion?

Type Six Design & Development brings extensive hospitality experience and a practical, owner-focused approach to navigating existing conditions, brand standards, design, permitting, consultant coordination, and construction.

Centered on service. Uncompromised in design. Always going to the next level to provide next-level results.

About Type Six

Centered on service, uncompromised in design, Type Six Design & Development is an innovative, full-service architecture firm with proven expertise in retail, multi-family, office, and hospitality industries. Providing a comprehensive approach to any scale of project, the diverse team led by James Lusty and Hayes Hinkle delivers a client-driven experience focused on exceeding customer expectations.

Based in Grapevine, Texas, the cornerstone of Type Six is simple: Always go to the next level to provide next-level results.