Natural stone for hotels, restaurants and retail
In a hotel, restaurant or shop, stone works much harder than in a home: thousands of footsteps, daily cleaning, wine glasses on the bar and bathrooms in constant use. It also has to look the same in the lobby and in room 200. Here is how to choose it.
Foot traffic and wear
For lobby, corridor and shop floors, the first question is how many people will walk on them.
- Ask for the abrasion test (EN 14157) for the candidate stones and compare them. The engineer or specifier judges whether the result suits the expected traffic.
- Hard stones such as granite, quartzite and dense limestone cope better with constant traffic.
- Marble works in lobbies too, with a non-polished finish and a maintenance plan. A polished floor with heavy traffic loses its shine along the busiest routes.
- Street entrances bring in grit and water. A good recessed entrance mat protects the floor beyond it.
Slip resistance
Each market has its own rules. In the UK the pendulum is the reference (a PTV of 36 or more means low slip potential, according to the HSE and the UK Slip Resistance Group). In the US, ANSI A326.3 sets a minimum DCOF of 0.42 for level interior floors expected to be walked on when wet. In Spain, hotels, shops and restaurants fall under the CTE (DB SUA 1):
| Area (Spain, CTE) | Class |
|---|---|
| Dry interior areas with a slope under 6% | 1 |
| Dry interior areas with a slope of 6% or more, and stairs | 2 |
| Entrances from outside, covered terraces, changing rooms, bathrooms, toilets and kitchens (slope under 6%) | 2 |
| Those wet areas with a slope of 6% or more, and their stairs | 3 |
| Showers, pools and exterior areas | 3 |
Whatever the market, compliance is shown by testing the stone in its finish. Full details in natural stone slip resistance.
Area by area
Lobbies and reception
The reception desk is the most visible piece in the building, and the place for the most striking stones: a black and gold marble such as Portoro, backlit onyx or a semi-precious slab such as Amethyst. Note that semi-precious slabs are made of pieces of stone bonded with resin onto a backing, and many can be backlit. On the floor, choose a hard stone or a marble with a non-polished finish.
Guest bathrooms
Marble on walls and vanity tops, and a finish with grip on the floor. With serpentine-type green marbles such as Verde Alpi, reactive adhesives (epoxy or polyurethane) are usually recommended so the pieces do not curve. More ideas in marble in the bathroom.
Restaurants and bars
A bar top takes wine, citrus, cocktails and coffee. On marble, acids leave dull etch marks. For hard-working bars, a quartzite or granite is the easier choice. Translucent Crystallo quartzite is widely used for backlit bars and counters. If you want marble, accept the patina or plan for re-polishing.
Shops
Heavy floor traffic, and walls that help sell. A book-matched wall behind the counter or the hero product works like a shop window. On the floor, put wear and grip ahead of shine.
Finishes that age well
- Honed: hides marks better than polished and has a little more grip.
- Leathered: hides fingerprints, water spots and small marks. Very useful on bars and counters.
- Polished: ideal on walls and vertical surfaces, where nobody walks or puts anything down.
Professional maintenance
- Daily cleaning with a pH-neutral soap, with no acids or harsh products (see how to clean marble).
- Regular sealing of floors, bathrooms and bars, guided by the water-drop test.
- Professional re-honing or re-polishing: solid natural stone can be refinished to remove wear and surface marks. How often depends on use.
- Hand over a written maintenance plan for the housekeeping and cleaning teams.
Large projects: consecutive slabs and block reservation
In a hotel, the stone in the first bathroom and the last one should look the same, yet two blocks of the same stone can differ. So:
- Reserve a whole block or a run of consecutive slabs for the whole project.
- Draw a slab layout plan before cutting, sometimes with a dry lay. See large-format slabs and slab layout.
- Approve the actual slabs: we send photos and videos of each numbered slab.
- Keep spare pieces (attic stock) from the same batch for future repairs.
Lead times
They depend on whether the slabs are in stock, whether a block has to be sawn, how much cut-to-size work there is and where the stone is going. Choosing and reserving early stops the material going to another project. We ship worldwide; see buying natural stone from abroad.
Stones that work in hotels and retail
Amethyst
Calacatta Viola
Onyx Capuccino
Statuario
Taj Mahal
Verde Alpi
Belgian Blue
Crema Valencia
Crystallo
Dark Emperador
Lemurian
Nero Marquina
Portoro
Planning a hotel, restaurant or shop? Tell us the areas and quantities and we will send you photos of the available slabs with a quote.
Have a project in mind?
Ask us for a no-obligation quote: we will reply with an indicative price.