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Our floor space is used inefficiently

The seminar room is used ten times a year, the storage is too small, and the finest room in the house is a corridor. The building is big — just not where it counts.

Typical for: properties that grew through extensions across decades · businesses whose concept changed but whose floor plan didn’t · houses about to extend that actually need a conversion

Documented by Hospis

Updated: 9 September 2026

How you recognize it

  • There are rooms in the house used less than half the season
  • Room categories, spa or restaurant are too small while ancillary areas are too large
  • The floor plan dates from a time with a different concept — half board, different guest numbers, different expectations
  • The discussion is about extension or new build, not about conversion
  • There is no overview of which area brings what revenue or benefit
  • Staff and storage areas sit where guest areas should be — or the other way round

Matching Hospis

MU

Much Untertrifaller

Architecture · Building in existing stock · Alpine building — Bregenz
AdviseImplement

Reads the existing stock from today’s concept: which areas the house needs, what the building allows, and how conversion and stages fit together — before an extension is decided.

Mapped to root cause
Extending is easier than rethinkingBack of house and front of house are swappedAreas without a yield calculation
View profilePersonally vetted · independent match
SF

Sophia Marie Fehr

Concept · Brand core & positioning
Works with Adobe Creative Cloud · Mews
Advise

Clarifies which concept carries the house today — so the floor plan follows a goal, not history.

Mapped to root cause
The floor plan is older than the concept
View profilePersonally vetted · independent match

Which path fits your situation?

01

Diagnosis

390 € fixed price

A vetted Hospi analyses your situation in a structured way — in conversation and with a written result. Every statement clearly labelled: FACT, BENCHMARK, HYPOTHESIS or CONCLUSION. You get a concrete path, not a sales meeting.

  • A legitimate outcome is also: no engagement needed.
  • If an engagement follows, the diagnosis fee is fully credited.
02

Urgent support

Acute situation? Your case is reviewed with priority — response within 48 hours.

Cause fields — how to tell them apart

Inefficient floor space is usually an old answer to questions that have changed. The floor plan was right once. The question is what the house needs today — and what the building allows.

These fields are complete, and many properties get there on their own — that is what this page is for. The cost simply does not appear on an invoice: internal hours, a few attempts, and a season that keeps running in the meantime.

01

The floor plan is older than the concept

How you spot it

The house was built for eighty half-board guests who all ate at the same time in the same hall. Today there are fewer guests, larger rooms, a spa and an à-la-carte restaurant. The dining hall is still there.

The way out

Work back from today’s concept: which areas does the house need at what size, which does it have. The difference is the task — and it usually sits in the existing stock, not in an extension.

02

Extending is easier than rethinking

How you spot it

When space is short, an extension is built. The new wing solves the problem for ten years, the old building stays as it was. After three extensions the house is twice the size and just as cramped.

The way out

Before any extension, question the existing stock: what can be converted, merged, moved. A conversion within existing stock is often cheaper than an extension — and makes the house better instead of bigger.

03

Areas without a yield calculation

How you spot it

The seminar room is prestige, the storage necessity, the lobby tradition. What each square metre earns or costs, nobody has calculated. So space is allocated by habit.

The way out

A simple area balance: zone, size, use per year, revenue or purpose. It shows which areas carry, which sleep — and where a swap changes the house.

04

Back of house and front of house are swapped

How you spot it

The office has the mountain view, the lobby looks at the car park. The laundry sits next to the breakfast room, the ski rooms at the far end. Grown historically, in the way today.

The way out

Guest areas where light, view and routes are. Operational areas where they have short paths and don’t disturb. It sounds simple — in existing stock it is the real planning achievement.

Frequently asked

How do we find out whether to extend or convert?
With an area balance and a look at the building. The Diagnose clarifies how much of the need can be solved in existing stock — before an extension is planned that merely relocates the problem.
Can a conversion happen while operating?
Usually yes, in phases and off-seasons. What matters is cutting the stages so that guest areas are never affected at the same time.
What about rooms we rarely need?
Either they get a second use, or they become what is missing. A seminar room used ten times a year is often the best suite in the house.

Describe your situation

The problem context is automatically included — you do not need to repeat anything.

Problem
Our floor space is used inefficiently

Related situations

Conversion budget is drifting before construction starts

Estimates rising, lender getting nervous, opening date locked.

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Our build is slipping on time and budget

Without control, costs run away.

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Our business model leans too hard on room revenue

Other revenue streams sit untapped.

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