In the hospitality and recreation industries, aesthetically pleasing and welcoming areas are an extremely important component for customer satisfaction.

The ambience is a memorable feature that needs to be well designed to enhance customer experience. It is a difficult task to balance beautiful design, quality, safety and any regulatory requirements when designing these spaces, a formula that is hard to master. 

Tile flooring offers superior quality that can be as beautiful and as they are practical and sustainable. Tiles today are currently installed by hand, which allows versatility and precision when customising any space. Whether the setting is designing for business customers, romantic getaways, foodies or group activities, tiles offer a great choice for design. 

Hotels

Hotels need to take into consideration a wide variety of customers when designing their space. From vacationers, conferences, romantic getaways and business travelers, tiles will have an answer. Ceramic and porcelain tile can meet the requirements of any design that can blend in, compliment design or catch the eye. ​

The design of a hotel provide a great first and lasting impression if the flooring is durable and easy to clean, surviving the high foot traffic of the lobby of guests and luggage alike. Tiles are perfectly suited for high traffic areas like the lobby and external entrances. The mold, grime, stain and scratch resistant properties of tiles ensure the surface can be easily maintained and remain unchanged in quality and aesthetics. 

Tile is hypoallergenic and resistant to fungi, mold and bacteria. This means guests will feel healthy and clean whens surrounded by tiles at the hotel pool and bathrooms. 

Hotel turnovers are also made easier with the application of floor tiles. Tile also makes clean-up and maintenance easy in comparison to carpet, timber and laminate, allowing staff to easily control and remove contaminants with greater ease. This is because tile is stain and odour resistant with its super low porosity of 0.5%. 

Safety is also an important consideration for hotel designers. With so many different settings within a hotel such as restaurants, lobby, guest rooms, swimming pools and more, designers need to consider all the risks involved. Tiles offer anti slip surfaces and textures to assist designers reduce the risk of slips and falls for both staff and guests. 

The CSIRO HB197 and Australian Standards AS/NZS 4586 require the following specific anti slip ratings for hotels:

• Hotel and Restaurant Kitchens (up to 100 meals per day): R11​
• Hotel and Restaurant Kitchens (more than 100 meals per day): R12
• Entry Foyers hotel, office, public buildings (wet): R10
• Entry Foyers hotel, office, public buildings (dry): R9
• Lift lobbies above external entry level: R9
• Toilet facilities in offices, hotels, shopping centres: R10
• Rooms with washing machines for washing laundry with water: R11
• Ironing rooms: R9

Restaurants

Tile offers design flexibility and durability for restaurants & bars

A well designed restaurant can be the draw card for guests that feel comfortable in the atmosphere created by the design. Whether a restaurant is designed to exude luxury, provide a rustic charm or make us feel at home, the versatility of tiles can assist. There is not better material to use for promote a design theme than tile, with thousands of colours, textures and styles available in a range of sizes.  ​
The versatility of tile gives you free range to design a sumptuous environment. Tile serves up consistency from indoor to outdoor dining spaces, as well as fire and frost resistance and non-slip parings for commercial kitchens.

The flooring types used in restaurants across Australia vary depending on the target market, position and cuisine offered.

One thing that all these restaurants have in common is that the type of flooring used must meet Australian Standards, be safe, look good and have durability to withstand public foot traffic, commercial grade kitchen work and food preparation. 

It is a well-known fact that vitrified or glazed porcelain tiles are the most durable and easily maintained flooring and wall solution in today’s current market. Porcelain tiles have a porosity (water retention rate) of less than 0.5 percent, making them immune to any sauce, oil or other liquid spills in the kitchen. 
 
In a restaurant application, we believe that the aesthetics of the restaurant is a major deciding factor for customers. This means that the importance of having a low maintenance and durable flooring solution is critical to maintaining restaurant aesthetics.

​One thing is for certain though, with the massive array of different tile types, such as marble, timber, Moroccan, stone, travertine, polished, matte, and much more, there is no limitation in the tile market when it comes designing a style that suits a restaurant.  ​

Commercial grade kitchens require extremely safe and durable flooring solutions. Porcelain tiles are also highly recommended for commercial kitchens for the same reasons as mentioned above.
 
A porcelain tile’s low porosity means the tile will not absorb spills or leaks which occur daily that most other flooring products would otherwise absorb and or permanently stain. A porcelain tile’s durability will also ensure the floor can withstand the high foot traffic of busy chefs and staff as well as the dragging of heavy kitchen equipment.
 
When selecting tiles for the commercial kitchen, designers must ensure that the tiles are either fully vitrified porcelain tiles or porcelain tiles with a glaze. Unglazed tiles are not suitable for such applications and would be too porous for a commercial setting.

The CSIRO HB197 and Australian Standards AS/NZS 4586 specify two different slip ratings for commercial settings depending on the number of meals served per day.

• For kitchens that create up to 100 meals a day, the flooring must meet a R11 slip rating.
• For kitchens that create more than 100 meals a day, the flooring must meet a R12 slip rating.

 
There are also specified slip rating requirements for cold storage rooms in restaurants. These include:

• R12 rating for storage rooms which contain unpacked goods.
• R11 rating for storage rooms that contain packed goods.

 
It is important to ensure the builder, site manager and owner are aware of the above slip ratings when choosing a flooring application. It is also critical that a slip test be conducted on all tiles supplied before installation to ensure that the tiles meet AS 4586. This will ensure that the restaurant is meeting code and doing its best to ensure a safe working environment for staff.

Porcelain tiles are the perfect solution for restaurant dining area floors. Porcelain tiles are one of the hardest flooring products available and their glazed surface makes them resistant to scratches, moisture, chips and fading. This means that the flooring can be easily cleaned using any household products.

With an equivelant strength of Topaz or Quartz on the Hardness Scale, tile is a great durable choice for dining room flooring. 
 
The CSIRO HB197 and Australian Standards AS/NZS 4586 require restaurant floors to install a flooring product that has a slip rating of R9. The R9 slip rating is one of the most common slip ratings in the tile industry, so restaurants will never have difficulty finding a porcelain tile that is suitable for a dining room application. 

​Public use and commercial bathrooms are used very often and subject to heavy footfall. As mentioned above, the natural characteristics of porcelain make it the best flooring solution. With low porosity, ease of cleaning and durability, porcelain tiles are ideal for commercial bathroom applications.
 
The CSIRO HB197 and Australian Standards AS/NZS 4586 does not specifically mention a slip rating for restaurant bathrooms, however we can use other bathroom mentions to imply a standard. The AS 4586 specifies an R10 slip rating flooring solution for toilet facilities installed in hotels, we can use this as a guide for restaurants.

This means that almost all porcelain tiles available on the market can be used as a commercial bathroom flooring solution in a wide variety of sizes, formats and styles.   

​Overall it seems that porcelain tiles are a great solution for restaurant flooring. Porcelain tiles are capable of covering all practical and required necessities for restaurants including providing safe flooring, beautiful designs and practical commercial grade uses.

Porcelain tiles are capable of being commercial grade while also aesthetically pleasing to attract customers. For the best flooring solutions for your restaurant, think about porcelain tiles. 

Cafes & Food Outlets

Café culture is a thing and its atmosphere is one of the most important factors to a cafe's success. 

Whether a café or food outlet is aiming for crisp modern feel, rustic charm or organic influence, there are tiles to help cafes or food outlets achieve their theme. 

Cafes have become more of a grab and go outlet to a place for networking, connecting and escaping life's problems. The choice of flooring in both design, safety and fit for purpose is ever so important in contemporary cafes and food outlets.

Ceramic and porcelain tiles can be used wall to wall (literally) in any setting to design any atmosphere that is unique and with the ease of maintenance and the durability to withstand a variety of uses. There is no need to be concerned about chairs or tables being dragged around to configure table settings, tiles are strong and durable enough to maintain their aesthetics. 

There is no need to be concerned about coffee spills or condiment mishaps as tiles have a very long porosity rate which makes them odour and stain resistant.

Where cooking is involved, there is no need to be concerned about tile being a fire hazard. Tiles offer uncompromising safety without sacrificing style.  Tiles are fireproof, they will not catch on fire, emit gas or smoke or be tarnished by flames. 

Tiles can also enhance safety and meet regulatory anti slip requirements. Tiles are available in a range of ant slip surfaces and textures that reduce the risk of slips and falls, helping cafes and food outlets design safe workplaces and protect customers. 

The CSIRO HB197 and Australian Standards AS/NZS 4586 require the following specific anti slip ratings for cafes and food outlets:

• Dinings Rooms, Guest Rooms, Canteens including serving counters: R9
• Washing-up Rooms for Hotel and Restaurant Kitchens: R11
• Coffee and Tea Kitchens, Kitchens in guest houses: R10
• Fast food kitchens, snack bars: R12
• Beverage bottling, fruit juice production: R11
• Fast food outlets, buffet food servery areas: R10

From hotel foyers, cafe lounges to food outlet kitchens, the long lasting benefits of tile deliver for all hospitality settings. Tile flooring provides uncompromising safety, durability, low maintenance and strength with out sacrificing style. Tile also offers a green and eco friendly flooring solution as tile is free from VOC, formaldehyde and PVCs while also being a hypoallergenic product.  

Designers are able to create the ideal cafe or food outlet using ceramic and porcelain tile. 

​For more information on the qualities and benefits of tiles click here.