Nothing spoils a summer holiday or business trip faster than a noisy hotel. That is why installing insulation with outstanding acoustic performance is good for guests and good for business.
As pandemic travel restrictions change, would-be holiday makers are likely to be investigating hotel comparison websites as they consider the possibility of a summer break in their home country or abroad.
And even a cursory glance at these sites will quickly reveal what is really important to these potential hotel guests — a good night’s sleep.
A noisy hotel is not great for guests or hotel employees and it is definitely not great for business. Guests are unlikely to return and more likely to voice noisy opinions online if their hotel room peace was shattered.
“Noise pollution can be external and internal to a hotel building and a combination of both combined with poorly insulated rooms can be deeply irritating for guests,” says Maro Puljizević, Knauf Insulation’s Acoustics Project Manager, Core Research & Development.
How noise pollution impacts well-being
Internal hotel factors are equally challenging such as noisy guests next door, loud entertainment systems, clanking room service trolleys, noisy staff, echoing stairways and banging doors or simply the relentless clanking of air-conditioning or heating systems.
“The pandemic has highlighted the importance of good indoor air quality in hotels and many hospitality companies have been promoting the fact that they are enhancing ventilation systems as a selling point to would-be guests. This of course may mean 24/7 noise as well.”
Bad acoustics are bad for business
Poor acoustic performance may not be restricted to rooms and suites. Hotel conference and meeting rooms may suffer from echoic challenges that distort speech and impact understanding, while restaurants may be so noisy that it is impossible to hear fellow diners.
The result is that travel organizers, guests and restaurant customers are not just going online to voice their disappointment on social media, new communication channels are also calling for a more relaxed audio life.
For example, Quiethotelroom.org offers a worldwide certification of hotel acoustic comfort, the Soundprint app allows users to make noise-friendly restaurant choices, while the Acoustical Society of New Zealand rates the acoustic comfort of all the country’s eating venues.
Of course, the key to a quieter hotel world is good acoustic insulation combined with the latest triple glazing — ideally installed as the hotel rooms, conference rooms and restaurants are being built.
How Knauf Insulation can help
The fiber structure of Knauf Insulation’s Mineral Wool is highly effective at absorbing sound and it is available in a variety of different thicknesses and densities.
Among others, this acoustic performance was highly appreciated in the building of the first Motel One hotel to open in The Netherlands. It features 320 rooms and is based in a nine-floor building in Amsterdam. The hotel brand has a reputation for capital comfort and guests can always enjoy the luxury of a quiet night thanks to Acoustifit from Knauf Insulation with double Knauf A cladding in every room-dividing wall.
Investors, meanwhile, can rest assured the Mineral Wool meets high performance fire resistance standards and has been certified Eurofins Gold for Indoor Air Quality.
Motel One Hotel, Netherlands
Our solutions can be used alone or combined with façade fittings for an attractive finish or with our sound-absorbing wood or plaster boards for even more efficient sound reduction.
Knauf Insulation’s external wall solutions for hotels include slabs or ventilated façade systems that offer exceptional fire and thermal performance as well as being acoustically highly effective.
For mechanical areas such as service rooms and lift shafts or service corridors, conference spaces, stairways or carparking garages, our Heraklith Wood Wool panels offer outstanding sound insulation.
In addition, our Technical Solutions can produce customised Mineral Wool insulation for HVAC systems to ensure noisy ducts are silenced.
For rooms, hotels can combine our Knauf plasterboard and Heraklith with Mineral Wool to maximise acoustic performance, while our DRS Sound Supreme Board has been specially developed for the insulation core of wooden doors and is particularly popular with hotel companies.
Recent Knauf Insulation hotel projects include installing 2,500 doors featuring our DRS Supreme Board at the Kempinski Muscat Hotel in Oman and the Bulgari Hotel in Dubai.
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Kempinski Muscat Hotel, Oman
Find out more information about our solutions for acoustic challenges on our website.
Picture in the header: Niu Dairy Hotel – Haarlem, the Netherlands.
