Estimate cost per key
Room size and category drive the rate. The public-area share converts it to a per-key figure.
Guest rooms costed the way operators and lenders budget them
How this calculator works
- Guest room cost = room area × category rate × city factor × FF&E factor. Room area includes the bathroom and the entry lobby, which is how hotel keys are measured.
- FF&E factor: 0.78 where furniture, fixtures and equipment are supplied by the operator and only the shell, finishes and joinery are in scope; 1.00 where FF&E is included; 1.16 for bespoke joinery and made-to-order furniture.
- Per key = guest room cost × (1 + public-area share). That share carries the corridor outside the room, the lift lobby, the reception and the public circulation attributable to each key.
- Total = per key × number of keys.
- The breakdown splits the guest room cost across seven heads: joinery 22%, bathroom 19%, loose furniture 16%, MEP 15%, finishes 13%, lighting and AV 8%, soft furnishing 7%.
| Category | Rate | Typical room size | All-in per key at 35% public share |
|---|---|---|---|
| Budget / economy | ₹2,900 / sq ft | 180 – 220 sq ft | ₹7.7 – 9.4 lakh |
| Midscale | ₹4,200 / sq ft | 250 – 300 sq ft | ₹15.5 – 18.6 lakh |
| Upscale | ₹6,800 / sq ft | 320 – 400 sq ft | ₹32 – 40 lakh |
| Luxury | ₹11,500 / sq ft | 450 – 650 sq ft | ₹76 lakh – ₹1.1 crore |
Per-key figures assume the Mumbai city factor of 1.09 and standard FF&E inclusion. They cover the guest room and its attributable share of corridors and public areas only.
Worked example — a 60-key midscale hotel in Mumbai
| Step | Arithmetic | Result |
|---|---|---|
| Room area | including bathroom | 280 sq ft |
| Category rate | midscale | ₹4,200 / sq ft |
| Mumbai factor | × 1.09 | ₹4,578 / sq ft |
| FF&E | × 1.00 | no change |
| Guest room cost | 280 × ₹4,578 | ₹12.82 L |
| Public area share | × 1.35 | ₹17.30 L per key |
| Total for 60 keys | 60 × ₹17.30 L | ₹10.38 Cr |
| GST @18% | on the total | ₹1.87 Cr |
Where hotel budgets go wrong
On the bathroom, and on the repetition. The bathroom is 19% of a guest room's cost and it is the first thing a guest judges, which is why the gap between a budget and a midscale property is visible there before it is visible anywhere else. Cutting the bathroom to protect the bedroom is the most common value-engineering decision in Indian hotel projects and it is almost always the wrong one.
Repetition cuts the other way and is the biggest opportunity. Sixty identical rooms means sixty identical joinery packages, and a properly detailed prototype room built and signed off before series production typically saves 6 to 10% across the project — because every mistake is found once rather than sixty times. Budget four weeks and about ₹15 lakh for a prototype room on a 60-key property. It is the best-spent money in a hotel fit-out.
The third area is what sits outside this calculator. The kitchen, the laundry, the back of house, the lifts, the façade and the plant room are not in a per-key guest room figure, and on a full-service hotel they add 35 to 55% again. A developer who budgets from a per-key number alone and then discovers the kitchen is a separate ₹2 crore is a developer in trouble at month eight.
One structural point about hotel programmes: the guest-room floors are repetitive and the public areas are not, which means they should be run as two separate packages with two separate programmes. Trying to complete floor three at the same time as the lobby, on one contractor's single programme, is how hotel projects lose two months — the lobby carries all the bespoke work, all the late client decisions and all the specialist trades, and it will always finish last.
Every constant on this page comes from Greenbox site records — measured drawings, signed BOQs and completion certificates from projects delivered between 2023 and 2026 — rounded to the figures an estimator would actually write down. We publish them so the arithmetic can be audited rather than trusted. Treat the output as a planning figure: accurate enough to brief a landlord, a bank or a family, and not accurate enough to sign a contract against.
What this tool does not cover
- Kitchen, laundry, back of house, plant, lifts and façade — all excluded, and together 35–55% again on a full-service property.
- Operator brand standards, which can materially change the specification and are contractual rather than negotiable.
- Pre-opening FF&E, operating supplies and equipment, which are a separate budget line entirely.
- Statutory approvals, fire certification and the hospitality licensing path.
- Structural and civil work, and any change to the building envelope.
- For a commercial rather than hospitality fit-out, use the office interior cost calculator.
Frequently asked questions
How much does it cost to build a hotel room in India?+
₹2,900 per sq ft of guest room for budget, ₹4,200 for midscale, ₹6,800 for upscale and ₹11,500 for luxury, before GST. A 280 sq ft midscale room in Mumbai is about ₹12.8 lakh, or ₹17.3 lakh per key once corridors and public areas are included.
What does cost per key mean?+
The fit-out cost of one guest room plus that room's attributable share of corridors, lift lobbies, reception and public circulation. It is the standard hotel budgeting unit because room sizes differ between properties and a per-square-foot figure cannot be compared.
Is the hotel kitchen included in cost per key?+
No. Kitchen, laundry, back of house, plant, lifts and façade all sit outside the per-key figure and on a full-service hotel they add 35 to 55% again. Budgeting from a per-key number alone is how hotel projects discover a large gap at month eight.
Why build a prototype room?+
Because sixty rooms means sixty repetitions of every mistake. A fully finished prototype, signed off before series production, typically saves 6 to 10% across the project and takes about four weeks. On a 60-key property it costs around ₹15 lakh and it is the best-spent money in the fit-out.
Which part of a hotel room costs the most?+
Joinery and the wardrobe at 22%, then the bathroom at 19%. The bathroom is also the first thing a guest judges, which is why cutting it to protect the bedroom — the commonest value-engineering move in Indian hotel projects — is usually the wrong decision.