Acoustic comfort decides how a hotel lobby, restaurant or guest room actually feels. Hard surfaces carry sound, crowds raise the noise level, and a beautifully finished space can still fail a guest's first-night expectations. This guide walks through how buyers, project managers and interior contractors plan the procurement of Santerson Acoustic Panels for a hospitality project — from room-by-room scoping to specification, sampling, ordering and site coordination.

1. Start from the rooms, not from the product

Write down every space where sound is a problem before you look at a single panel schedule. In hospitality work the usual hot spots are the same set of areas: the arrival lobby where stone, glass and hard furnishings reflect footfall and conversation; the restaurant and bar, where music and occupied tables stack up; meeting and event rooms that need speech clarity; corridors and guest-room walls where neighbouring rooms transmit noise; and the spa, gym or pool deck, where water and hard finishes amplify everything.

For each room record three things: what the room is used for, what the acoustic complaint actually is (echo, loud conversation, noise leaking in or out), and what the design intent is for the wall surface. Acoustic wall panels are a finish as well as a performance item, so the room brief has to satisfy both. That brief becomes the base of your enquiry to the supplier and the benchmark you check the quotation against.

2. Choose between fixed panels and sliding acoustic panels

The Santerson range covers two configurations that hospitality projects tend to split between.

Santerson Acoustic Panels sit as a fixed wall system. They suit rooms where the acoustic requirement is permanent and the wall finish should read as part of the joined-up interior design: guest-room feature walls, restaurant and bar walls, lobby elevations, spa and gym perimeter walls, and the walls behind reception desks.

Santerson Acoustic Sliding Panels are the moveable option, for rooms whose layout changes. Banquet suites that open into two smaller functions, meeting rooms that combine for conferences, restaurant terraces that close in off-season, and private-dining booths all need the acoustic boundary to be operable. Sliding panels let one element carry both the space division and the acoustic separation, which removes the need for a second partition system on the same line.

Decide early which rooms use fixed panels and which use sliding panels. Both lines are configured per project, so mixed applications get quoted as a coordinated package rather than two unrelated purchases.

3. Set the performance requirement in writing

The single most common procurement failure is ordering panels on appearance alone. Before requesting a quotation, state the acoustic target for each space in the language your design team and the supplier both understand:

• For open rooms such as lobbies, restaurants and gyms — how much reverberation needs to come out of the space, and which surfaces are available to treat.
• For divided rooms such as meeting rooms and banquet halls — how much separation the sliding panels have to deliver between the spaces they close off.
• For guest rooms — whether the panels are being used as a wall finish with acoustic benefit, or as part of the wall build-up against noise transfer.

Send that requirement with your drawings and ask the supplier to confirm the achievable performance for the exact configuration you are buying, not for the product line in general. The Santerson product listings state that acoustic performance is confirmed for the selected configuration, so the performance conversation belongs in the quotation stage, alongside the finish and size schedule.

4. Build the size, finish and layout schedule

These panels are made to measure, so the schedule you send is the deliverable that protects the order. Work from the architect's or designer's reflected ceiling and wall elevations and produce a room-by-room schedule showing:

• Room name and panel line (fixed or sliding), so the two systems are never mixed up in production.
• Panel width, height and total wall area, including the handling of corners, reveals, skirting and any service runs on the wall.
• Layout pattern — joint spacing, horizontal or vertical orientation, and where the pattern starts in each room.
• Finish and material selection for each area, matched to the joinery, doors and other wall finishes in the same elevation.

Because finish, layout and dimensions are specified per space, expect the guest rooms, public areas and back-of-house to carry different entries on the same schedule. Hospitality buyers normally split the schedule into three packages — guest rooms, public and F&B areas, and conference or banquet areas — which makes the production and shipping plan easier to stage.

5. Sample before you place the full order

Order physical samples of the selected finishes and view them in the actual room, under the room's lighting, against the fabric, stone and joinery already specified. Colour and texture read very differently on a hotel wall at 2 a.m. warm lighting than on a data sheet. For sliding panels, also confirm the hardware and the operation of the track with the supplier before signing off, since the operating mechanism is part of the acoustic result.

Use the sample stage to close the finish approvals with the designer or operator. Getting sign-off in writing at this point prevents a change request landing after panels are in production, which is the main cause of schedule slips on panel orders.

6. Coordinate panels with the rest of the fit-out

Acoustic panels are installed against a finished wall line, and they meet flooring, doors, lighting and cabinetry at that line. In a hospitality fit-out those interfaces come from several suppliers, so fix them on the drawing before the panel order is released:

• Flooring — the finished floor level decides the panel height at the base. Engineered oak flooring specified for guest rooms and public areas has to be scheduled early enough that the floor build-up is known.
• Doors and openings — for a consistent elevation, integrated door and panelling detailing keeps door leaves flush with the acoustic wall surface rather than breaking the pattern.
• Lighting — wall sconces, reading lights and cove details need their positions and cable drops resolved before the panels are cut.
• Other wall finishes — where acoustic panels meet stone, marble or decorative wall finishes, set the transition detail on the elevation.

Buying panels, flooring, doors and screens through one project supplier keeps these interfaces in one set of drawings and one production programme. That is the practical argument for sourcing acoustic walls as part of a wider fit-out package instead of a standalone purchase order.

7. Sequence production, delivery and installation

Work backwards from the opening date. Set the panel order release date once the design team's finishes are approved and the wall set-out drawings are signed, then allow production time, shipping time and site installation time as separate line items. Public areas, conference rooms and guest floors rarely finish at the same moment, so plan the delivery in the same sequence the site is being handed over — this keeps panels out of storage and off the critical path.

Confirm who installs. Fixed acoustic panels go on with the joinery and wall trade; sliding systems need their track and hardware set out and aligned with the floor line. Whichever trade is on site, insist on a site inspection with the installing team before the panels arrive, and agree the snag list and handover standard in advance. A panel order that arrives to a wall line nobody has checked is the most expensive failure mode in this scope.

8. What to have ready before you send the enquiry

A complete enquiry gets an accurate quotation the first time. Before contacting the project team, assemble:

• Wall elevations and room list, marked with fixed and sliding panel areas.
• The performance requirement for each space, as described in step 3.
• Finish selections or a shortlist, plus the joinery and wall finishes they have to match.
• Project location, phasing and required on-site dates.
• The interface drawings for flooring, doors and lighting at the panel line.

If you would like the acoustic wall scope checked against your drawings, share the room list and elevations with the Santerson project team and the acoustic wall scope comes back as a panel schedule, configuration and quotation for review.

FAQ

Can fixed and sliding acoustic panels be specified in the same hotel with a matching finish?

Yes. Both lines are configured per project with material and finish options, so a restaurant can use fixed acoustic panels while the adjoining banquet suite uses sliding panels in the same finish.

When should the acoustic scope be locked into a hospitality programme?

As soon as the room layout and wall elevations are stable. Because the panels are made to measure, the acoustic scope should be released together with the other wall finishes and joinery, ahead of the flooring and lighting installation on site.

What confirms the acoustic result for a banquet room that opens and closes?

The confirmed configuration, not the catalogue entry. Send the room dimensions, the division layout and the separation you need, and have the supplier confirm the achievable performance for that specific sliding-panel arrangement before the order is released.