Which flooring is best for a hotel restaurant and bar? Acoustics, resistance to chair wear and repair on a plank-by-plank basis

Solutions & Applications · Hospitality & Catering

A customer who cannot hear the person they are speaking to does not complain — they leave early and do not return. In the hotel’s restaurant and bar, acoustics are not a matter of comfort; they are a matter of average length of stay, average spend per table and reviews written that very same evening.

The noise cycle

Contemporary restaurant design favours hard surfaces: exposed concrete, timber, glass, metal, and open ceilings with visible ductwork. None of these materials absorb sound. The result is a self-perpetuating cycle:

1. The sound level rises: speech is reflected without attenuation and background noise increases.
2. Clients are raising their voices: a reflexive reaction to a noisy environment — and the tension in the room rises even further.
3. Communication breaks down: the discussion around the table becomes tedious.
4. The table clears sooner: shorter dwell time, fewer orders, lower likelihood of returns.

The cycle is broken at a single point: the absorbent surface. And because the floor needs to be cleaned, the walls feature decorative elements and the openings are glazed, the largest available surface is the ceiling.

Sound absorption is a system, not a panel

A perforated plasterboard such as CLEANEO AKUSTIK provides a continuous, painted ceiling with discreet perforations — aesthetically, exactly what the restaurant requires. However, the sound absorption does not stem from the perforations themselves: it results from the combination of the perforations, the air gap and the porous absorber behind the board.

This sound absorber is the ULTRACOUSTIC P — self-supporting mineral wool panels featuring ECOSE technology:

• Class A1 non-combustible material in accordance with EN 13501-1 — the highest classification, in a room containing a kitchen.
• Thermal conductivity λ = 0.037 W/(m·K).
• Self-supporting slabs in various thicknesses for any dry construction system — and for filling partitions between a hall and a preparation room.
• ECOSE Technology: a smoother texture, less dust and odour during application.
• Suitable for LEED, BREEAM, DGNB and WELL projects.

The flooring solves another noise problem: the chairs

The ceiling reduces reverberation within the hall. Impact noise — chairs being dragged, heels, serving trolleys — is, however, transmitted through the floor slab to the spaces below. In a hotel, rooms or conference halls are often located beneath the restaurant or the roof bar. There, flooring with an integrated acoustic underlay is the most cost-effective solution:

Flooring	Impact noise reduction ΔLw	Installation
iD CLASSICS CLICK ULTIMATE 55 / 70	19 dB	Rigid click, floating — and over existing tiles
RIGID HERRINGBONE	18 dB	SPC click herringbone
iD SQUARE LOOSE-LAY	17 dB	Loose-lay, without permanent adhesive
iD CLASSICS LOOSE-LAY 55	6 dB	Loose-lay, without permanent adhesive
iD CLASSICS GLUE-DOWN 55 / 70 · iD MIXONOMI	— (without acoustic base)	Full bonding

If there is ground or a service space beneath the room, glued LVT provides maximum durability without the need to pay for an acoustic underlay that serves no purpose. If there are rooms, the acoustic underlay is included in the specification from the outset.

The wear and tear comes from the chairs

In a restaurant, the main cause of wear and tear is not the movement of customers but the repeated moving of chairs and tables — dozens of times per table, every day, always in the same places. The specification is categorised into four sizes:

Parameter	Why it matters in the kitchen
Wear layer thickness	0.55 mm for Class 33 Heavy, 0.70 mm for Class 34 Very Heavy — specifies how deep a scratch can go before the pattern becomes visible
Surface treatment	TEKTANIUM® is resistant to scratches, stains and chemicals, and can be cleaned without the use of waxes
Slip resistance	R10 behind the bar and along the serving routes, where the floor gets wet during operation
Repairability	If the skirting around a table is damaged, is it replaced locally or does the entire area need replacing?

It is the final detail that is often overlooked in the design stage but causes problems in practice. With a rolled flooring system, a worn section is difficult to repair and the repair will be conspicuous. With modular flooring — tiles or planks — only the worn sections are replaced, with the shop closed for one night rather than a week.

Same designs, three installation methods

Tarkett’s iD CLASSICS range offers the same 30 designs — 22 oak designs and 8 stone, concrete and metal finishes — in glued, click and loose-lay versions, all with a TEKTANIUM® surface, R10 and Bfl-s1. This allows the installation method to be chosen on a zone-by-zone basis without altering the overall look:

• Dining room, new build: iD CLASSICS GLUE-DOWN 70 — wear layer 0.70 mm, class 34 Very Heavy, permanent indentation ≤ 0.05 mm.
• Renovation over existing tiles: iD CLASSICS CLICK ULTIMATE 55 or 70 — 6.5 mm rigid click with GenClick®, no removal required, with a 19 dB reduction in impact noise.
• Off-season refurbishment in just a few nights: iD CLASSICS LOOSE-LAY 55 — 4.5 mm and 7.8 kg/m², stays in place under its own weight, without the need for permanent adhesive.

As the design is standardised, a worn plank is replaced with one of the same specification, and a second restaurant in the same hotel can be built using a different method, whilst retaining the same identity.

Collections by design intent

Collection	Type & method	Where it fits
iD CLASSICS GLUE-DOWN 70	Adhesive-backed LVT · 0.70 mm · Class 34 · R10	Rooms with very high footfall and frequent rearrangement of tables
iD CLASSICS GLUE-DOWN 55	Adhesive-backed LVT · 0.55 mm · Class 33 · 6 designs with a textured finish	Breakfast rooms, lounges, standard commercial use
iD CLASSICS CLICK ULTIMATE 55–70	Rigid LVT click · 6.5 mm · 19 dB	Refurbishment over tiled floors, halls above bedrooms
iD INSPIRATION CLICK SOLID 55	LVT click semi-rigid · 42 designs	Refurbishment with minimal disruption to operations
iD CLASSICS LOOSE-LAY 55	LVT loose-lay · 4.5 mm · 6 dB	Quick refurbishment, change of concept without altering the substrate
iD SQUARE LOOSE-LAY	LVT loose-lay · 0.80 mm · 17 dB · 37 designs, fabric and terrazzo	Spatial organisation through colour and texture, transition to carpet without a skirting board
iD MIXONOMI	Adhesive-backed LVT · 11 designs · 34 colours · Red Dot	Customised geometric designs as a hallmark of identity
RIGID HERRINGBONE	SPC click herringbone · Category 23/33	Herringbone in a damp environment — waterproof, R10, 18 dB
SEGNO WOOD	Pre-varnished timber, glued · PEFC	High-value spaces with a long-term identity — worn down rather than replaced
STYLE EMME xf² 2.5 mm	Linoleum · distinctive matt marble pattern · Class 34	Projects with environmental criteria
ACCZENT EXCELLENCE COMPACT+	Compact heterogeneous roll material	Preparation rooms, service routes, continuous surface

Two collections convey the same image but with contrasting concepts. SEGNO WOOD is real wood, glued, and sanded; RIGID HERRINGBONE is SPC click flooring with the same herringbone pattern, but waterproof, with R10 slip resistance, 18 dB impact noise reduction, a ten-year commercial warranty and — practically important in an open-plan space — no expansion joints up to 15×15 m. The former prioritises durability, the latter water resistance and speed.

iD SQUARE LOOSE-LAY is the same height as the carpet tiles: in the bar lounge, the seating area and the service walkway are joined without a transition profile — with a fabric or terrazzo finish on the LVT.

The difference between a hall and a utility room is not merely aesthetic. In the client’s space, the focus is on design and ease of repair; behind the door, a continuous surface without joints that trap grease, with the joints heat-sealed.

Installation method: the concept changes before the flooring wears out

The shop front is frequently updated, and every day the shop is closed represents a loss of turnover. UZIN 398-D is a pressure-sensitive water-based adhesive: it is fast-drying with immediate ‘grip’, odourless after application — and has a bond that allows the material to be removed without damaging the substrate. It is also resistant to cleaning with liquids and sprays.

Around the perimeter, skirting-On skirting boards for LVT are made of solid PVC with a PUR finish and can withstand submersion in water for 72 hours — a parameter that is by no means theoretical in a space where the floor is washed every evening. They are lighter and more flexible than MDF, so they conform to the non-straight walls found in most catering establishments.

Design series

1. Acoustic objective first: the required absorptive area is defined before the aesthetic design of the ceiling is finalised.
2. What lies beneath: rooms or conference halls situated beneath the auditorium imply a floor with an acoustic underlay.
3. Areas of use: hall, bar, preparation room, service corridors — each with different requirements, with R10 where exposed to water.
4. Installation method: glued, click or loose-lay, depending on the subfloor and the off-season installation window.
5. Repair strategy: to be determined in the design — modular for localised replacement, roll-form for continuous surfaces.
6. Cleaning protocol: confirmation that the floor can withstand the cleaning products that will actually be used.
7. Perimeter & finishes: water-resistant skirting around the entire washable perimeter.

Flooring Collections for Restaurants & Bars

Welding & Finishes

Acoustic Ceiling System

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