Quiet Hotels: Case Study of Tundra Lodge

In September 2003, legendary Lambeau Field Stadium in Green Bay, Wisconsin - home of the famed NFL Green Bay Packers - completed a major $297 million makeover. Originally built in 1957, the new look of the aging sports venue also had a positive effect on many businesses in the immediate surrounding area.

One such beneficiary was the brand new Tundra Lodge Resort. Just completed and only four blocks down (Coach Vince) Lombardi Avenue, the two grand openings both welcomed visitors to the revitalized stadium district.

The 161-room Tundra Lodge is a spectacular property in its own right, with a rustic theme throughout, which includes a crackling fire in a 45-foot tall lobby fireplace warming the chilly nights of football season, a conference center for business meetings, an arcade filled with shops, restaurants and entertainment and a year-round indoor water park with slides, rides and pools-of-fun for all.

Perfectly situated to welcome the loyal "cheese head" Green and Gold fans - many who repeatedly travel long distances to attend games - at the grand opening the Tundra Lodge was ready for a big kick-off in every respect.

Penalty: Sound Waves in Motion

In the first few days, the Tundra's Managing Director of Engineering, Melanie Novinska, watched carefully as guest rooms began to fill. All went extremely well at first - with only partial occupancy - but as the Lodge neared full capacity, problems began to surface.

At first, it was only an occasional complaint about ambient noise coming from adjacent rooms. Then, what began as a trickle of complaints suddenly swelled into an avalanche of unhappy guests that complained, threatened to check out early and often demanded refunds.

"It cost our property a lot of discounted rooms and certificates for people to give us another try," said Novinska. "The sound transfer from one guest room to another was not acceptable. Of course, when you first open any hotel property, business is slow. You don't find the problems until you're selling lots of rooms and guests are right next to each other."

Back Into a Huddle

The original architect-builder estimated the resilient channel walls would deliver an STC (Sound Transmission Class) rating of about 50. In reality, the best performing walls came in at only 37 and the worst were an STC rating of 34 - only a notch or two above 5/8-inch standard drywall.

The lodging business is heavily impacted by word-of-mouth, and Novinska estimated the sound isolation issues of the original construction were causing 40% to 50% percent of normal repeat business to just go away.

Without a knowledgeable architect or builder who was well versed in architectural acoustics, Novinska felt she had no choice but to educate herself.

"I found Serious Materials' soundproofing drywall online and requested information and a sample. Then, we put together a solution to fix the problem using that," to replace the resilient channel, she explains.

After verifying the performance of soundproofing drywall with with Patrick McCormick of Brandner Engineering, contractor H.J. Martin began a complete gutting of each of the 161 rooms, tearing down drywall, removing insulation and emptying everything.

An electrician offset formerly back-to-back outlets and installed insulation where needed. Martin's crew then screw-mounted the soundproofing drywall and followed up with tape, cosmetic texture and new paint. "We were able to complete about six to eight rooms every five days", Novinska recalls.

Score!

"Before, sound transmission was really bad," notes H.J. Martin drywall installer Jay Hussong. "You could hear conversations right through the walls. After, we measured the rooms at STC 50 or better. You could really hear (or not hear) the difference."

"All noise complaints ended," states Novinska. "The difference was amazing and occupancy rates went up. Serious Materials' soundproofing drywall was the perfect solution."

"Start with Serious Materials' soundproofing drywallinstead of resilient channels and properly position your outlets and any other openings on back-to-back guestrooms, and you'll get quiet rooms," she adds.

Novinska's final advice: "Also hire a builder who knows about isolating sound."


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