A hotel or shortlet is a building that is cleaned daily, occupied continuously and judged on the first ten seconds a guest is inside it. That combination sets the painting specification, and it is different from a house in one important way: durability is not a preference, it is the business case.
This guide covers the finishes to specify room by room, how to phase the work so rooms stay sellable, and the failures that cost the most to fix later.
What guests actually notice
Not the colour. They notice the door frame that has worn through at hand height, the corridor corner where the trolley has scraped the paint back to the plaster, and the mark behind the bed head. Hospitality paint fails at points of contact, not in the middle of a wall.
So the specification should be hardest where things touch: door edges and frames, corridor corners, lift reveals, skirting and headboards. A standard satin across a whole floor is a compromise; satin with gloss on every frame is a specification.
Guest rooms
Prestige Matt Finish on the walls gives the calm, hotel look guests expect, and it is easy to touch up between stays — which matters more than durability in a room that is repainted rather than cleaned.
But three surfaces should not be matt. Door frames and door edges take Prestige Premium Plus Gloss. The wall behind the bed head takes a washable satin, because that is where hair oil and hands land. The bathroom takes Prestige Satin Finish throughout, never matt.
Corridors
Corridors are the hardest environment in the building: continuous trolley traffic, no daylight, and walls that are brushed constantly. Satin on the walls, gloss on the corners and reveals, and a light colour under artificial light — dark corridors read as tired even when they were painted last month.
If the corridor has a dado line, keep it. A darker band at chair-rail height takes the traffic and lets the upper wall stay light.
Lobbies and reception
This is the one place to spend the design budget. A feature wall in Prestige Texalux or a metallic finish in Prestige Shining Gold Decor gives the arrival area something the rest of the building does not need.
Whatever goes on the feature wall, the traffic areas around it still need a washable finish. Reception desks, lift buttons and door pushes are the highest-contact surfaces in the building.
Restaurants and dining
Grease and steam, the same problems as a domestic kitchen but at commercial volume. Satin throughout, gloss on joinery, and a ceiling product that covers evenly because dining ceilings are lit from below and show every patch.
Pool decks and outdoor areas
Chlorinated water, sun and constant wetting. This is not a decorative paint job — it needs a coating specified for the substrate and the exposure, and skid resistance matters on a wet deck. Prestige Marine Coatings is the starting point for wet and coastal areas.
Back-of-house
Staff quarters, kitchens, laundry and service corridors are usually painted in whatever is left over. That is a false economy: these are the highest-traffic, highest-moisture areas in the building, and they are the ones that generate complaints and maintenance tickets. Satin, gloss on frames, and a washable ceiling product.
Phasing the work without losing revenue
The painting programme is a revenue decision, not just a scheduling one. Practical approaches:
- Floor by floor, keeping other floors selling. Slowest, cheapest in lost room-nights
- Block of rooms at a time, timed to a known low-occupancy period
- Corridors at night, rooms by day, so no floor is ever fully out of service
- Full closure only for a refurbishment, when the room product is changing anyway
Whatever the sequence, the paint has to be dry and odour-free before a guest enters. Low-odour products and good ventilation are part of the specification, not an afterthought.
What a hospitality quote should include
- Finish by area, not one product for the whole building
- Litres per floor or per room type
- Number of coats, stated
- Preparation: filling, sanding, washing, priming
- Protection of furniture, soft furnishings and carpets
- Phasing plan and out-of-hours premium
- What happens to rooms that are occupied during the work
Our guide to what painting costs in Nigeria explains how to compare two quotes on the same basis.
Getting a hospitality quote
Tell us the number of rooms, the floors, and whether the property stays open during the work. Call +234 802 562 5333, message WhatsApp, or send your project details.