Lighting for hotels and receptions
Reception is the first thing a guest sees inside the building, and the lighting decides whether the space feels expensive or cheap. Meanwhile the rest of the hotel is lit around the clock – corridors, staircases and the car park – and that is where the biggest savings are, without any guest noticing.
For hotels, guest houses, restaurants and corporate receptions we design and supply the lighting for the whole building – decorative luminaires for the lobby, downlights for guest rooms and corridors, track luminaires for accents in the restaurant, acoustic luminaires for noisy spaces, emergency lighting and lighting for the approach road and car park.
required on the reception desk by EN 12464-1 – the same value applies to the porter’s desk and the buffet
the standard sets no illuminance for restaurants and dining rooms – it states that the lighting should create a suitable atmosphere
efficacy of SANA panels and SABINA A acoustic luminaires
warranty on SANTOS, LIANA II and TOBY II track luminaires
What hotel lighting has to do
A hotel is not one space but several completely different tasks under one roof. The receptionist needs to see the desk and the documents, a guest in the restaurant wants atmosphere, the chef needs safe light on the knife, and the corridor has to be easy to read at night and cheap to run at the same time.
First impression
Reception decides how a guest perceives the whole hotel. A well-lit desk and soft light in the lobby feel expensive; an over-lit ceiling with glare feels cheap.
Atmosphere in the restaurant
Here the standard deliberately sets no illuminance, only Ra ≥ 80. What matters is the direction of the light, accents on the tables and the bar, and the colour of the light – not the number of lux.
Round-the-clock operation
Corridors, staircases, the car park and emergency lighting run all year. This is exactly where sensors and night-time dimming have the biggest effect on the energy bill.
Noise and reverberation
A lobby and restaurant with hard surfaces roar. An acoustic luminaire damps sound reflections within its own body while lighting the space – with no changes to the architecture.
How much light a hotel needs
The requirements for hotels and restaurants are set by EN 12464-1. What is interesting is what the standard leaves out: for restaurants, dining rooms and function rooms no illuminance value is given – the standard says the lighting should be designed to create a suitable atmosphere. A colour rendering index of Ra ≥ 80 still applies there.
The standard does not cover guest rooms, because they are not workplaces. There it is the guest’s comfort that counts: light for reading at the bed, at the mirror and at the desk, and the ability to dim it.
The values are indicative. We will determine the exact solution for your hotel in a lighting calculation.
| ILLUMINANCE | SPACE |
|---|---|
| 100 lx | corridors and entrance hall (a lower level is permitted at night) |
| 200 lx | self-service restaurant |
| 300 lx | reception desk, porter’s desk, buffet (UGR ≤ 22) |
| 500 lx | kitchen (UGR ≤ 22) – there should be a transition zone between the kitchen and the restaurant |
| 500 lx | conference and meeting rooms (UGR ≤ 19, controllable lighting) |
| no value | restaurant, dining room, function room – atmosphere decides, Ra ≥ 80 |
Which luminaires for a hotel
The lobby calls for design luminaires, guest rooms and corridors for slim downlights, tables and the bar for track luminaires you can move at any time, and outdoors for street lighting luminaires.
Reception and lobby
Decorative luminaires
SERENA – a 600, 900 or 1,200 mm ring for surface or suspended mounting, up to 126 lm/W, a micro-prismatic diffuser against glare, DALI and an emergency lighting module. SANTOS with UGR < 19 wherever the luminaire should stay discreet.
Guest rooms, corridors and bathrooms
Downlights and mini panels
DANIEL II, just 11 mm high, in six diameters from 120 to 295 mm and 6 to 24 W, the round SANA panel with a depth of 38 mm and a corridor function, and DORIS ECO with an aluminium body and a service life of over 70,000 hours.
Restaurant, bar and accents
Track luminaires
TOBY II for three-phase track, tilting through 90° and rotating through 355°, black or white body, DALI. A special spectrum for lighting bakery products, meat and vegetables is also available. LEONARDO with selectable output and colour of light.
Approach road, car park and façade
Outdoor lighting
STELA and STELA MINI for the approach road and car park, SILVA PRO with nine optics for larger sites, and FARA III and FALON floodlights for the façade and the greenery around the hotel.
A lobby that does not roar: a luminaire with an acoustic panel
A stone floor, glass and a high ceiling turn a lobby into a sound box – guests at reception have to raise their voices, and in the restaurant you cannot hear the next table. Acoustic luminaires carry a panel in their body that damps sound reflections, and they light the space like any ordinary suspended luminaire.
- SABINA A – a 620, 900 or 1,180 mm square, aluminium body only 68 mm high, up to 11,620 lm at 130 lm/W
- SERENA A – a 600 to 1,200 mm circle, panel in felt or stabilised moss
- SANTOS A – a suspended luminaire with a fabric shade in five diameters
- KLARA panels without a light source wherever more sound has to be absorbed
- optional micro-prismatic diffuser, DALI or Bluetooth control
- felt colours from the swatch book – they can be matched to the interior
Controls: one light for breakfast, another for the evening
A hotel has a daily rhythm and the lighting can follow it. Brighter light in the restaurant in the morning, dimmed in the evening, and at night just enough in the corridors for a guest to reach their room safely. Without controls, everything runs at full output all day.
- DALI dimming in the lobby, restaurant and conference rooms
- motion sensors in corridors, staircases and plant rooms
- corridor function on SANA panels – the light comes up smoothly rather than in a jump
- a warmer colour of light for guest rooms and the restaurant, neutral for reception and the kitchen
- a track system in the restaurant – you move the luminaires every time the table layout changes
- we can supply the design and programming of the controls as a separate service
Emergency lighting and escape routes
An accommodation building is one where people sleep at night in a place they do not know. Emergency lighting for corridors, staircases and exits is therefore a given – and you need to be able to prove it still works years later.
- ZARA luminaires for escape routes and anti-panic lighting of open areas
- ZERO II with IP 66 for plant rooms, garages and wellness areas
- NATASHA with pictograms to mark the exits
- autonomous operation for 1 or 3 hours after a power failure
- a self-test button, an autonomous testing system or central monitoring
- an emergency lighting module built into the SERENA, SANTOS, LIANA II and SANA luminaires
Space by space
What we would put into a hotel
This is what a typical design for a medium-sized hotel with a restaurant looks like. The exact outputs and quantities only come out of the site survey and the calculation – this is a map showing which luminaire belongs where, and why.
Interior
- lobby and reception
- corridors and guest rooms
- restaurant and bar
- conference room
Around the building
- approach road and car park
- façade and greenery
- terrace
- garage and plant rooms
decorative ring for the lobby
discreet ceiling luminaire, UGR < 19
track above the tables and the bar
acoustic luminaire for noisy spaces
How we work
Site survey
We walk the lobby, restaurant, corridors, a guest room and the kitchen – and after dark the approach road and car park.
DIALux calculation
Illuminance and glare for the desk, the kitchen and the conference rooms; in the restaurant we work on atmosphere and accents.
Quotation with savings
Luminaires for the whole building, energy consumption before and after, payback. Including a sample luminaire if you want to see the light in person.
Installation
Floor by floor, or in stages outside the season, so the hotel can keep running.
Warranty and service
Extended 5-year warranty on SANTOS, LIANA II, TOBY II and street lighting luminaires.
FAQ
What owners of hotels, guest houses and restaurants ask us.
How much light should there be at reception?
EN 12464-1 requires a maintained illuminance of 300 lx on the reception desk, the porter’s desk and the buffet, with glare at UGR ≤ 22 and colour rendering of Ra ≥ 80. In the entrance hall around the desk, 100 lx is enough – and it is exactly that difference that makes the desk the place a guest naturally looks.
Why does the standard set no illuminance for restaurants?
Because a restaurant is not about visual performance but about atmosphere. The standard gives no value there and says the lighting should be designed to create a suitable atmosphere; a colour rendering index of Ra ≥ 80 applies here too. In practice that means accents on the tables and the bar, a warmer colour of light and dimming – not a uniformly lit ceiling.
Which colour of light should I choose?
Warm white around 3,000 K suits guest rooms, the lobby and the restaurant – it feels welcoming. For the reception desk, the kitchen and plant rooms, neutral white at 4,000 K works better, where you need to see clearly. The important thing is not to mix colours of light within one space.
Can the lighting be replaced while the hotel is open?
Yes. Most often we work floor by floor or in groups of guest rooms, and do the shared spaces off-peak. If you have a low season, that is the calmest time for it.
What difference does a replacement make to energy bills?
The biggest effect usually comes from combining more efficient luminaires with controls in corridors, staircases and the car park, where the lights are on around the clock. You will get a specific calculation of energy consumption before and after in the quotation – it depends on what is lighting the building today.
Can you supply luminaires that suit the interior?
Yes. SERENA decorative luminaires are made in three sizes, and the SABINA A and SERENA A acoustic luminaires have a felt acoustic panel in colours from the swatch book, or in stabilised moss. We can bring a sample before you order.
From our blog
All articles →Related solutions
