Hotel2Hospital: Transforming Hotels into Emergency Care Facilities for Crisis Response

The Hotel2Hospital project showcases innovative efforts to convert hotels into fully equipped medical facilities during health crises or disasters. Led by the University of Colorado Department of Emergency Medicine, this three-year initiative demonstrates how a hotel can rapidly become a hospital, capable of handling patient surges caused by pandemics, natural calamities, or conflict scenarios.

In a recent demonstration at the Hyatt Regency Aurora-Denver Conference Center, a mock hospital was constructed inside guest rooms, featuring patient beds, ICUs, labs, pharmacy, radiology, and monitoring systems. This prototype was part of a proof-of-concept to test the feasibility of transforming typical hotel infrastructure into a functioning hospital in just a few weeks. The simulation included medical mannequins to mimic real patient conditions, providing staff with valuable training and workflow testing.

Key leaders behind the project, Dr. Charles Little and Dr. Jason Persoff, emphasize the advantages of hotels over traditional surge facilities like convention centers, citing private rooms, HVAC systems, and robust building structures. This concept was initially driven by military needs but has broad applications in civilian emergency preparedness, such as pandemics, natural disasters, or large-scale emergencies.

The project benefited from extensive planning, including creating a detailed playbook on converting hotels into medical hubs. The team assembled "Team Colorado," comprising clinicians, engineers, architects, and project managers, who conducted tabletop exercises and simulated hospital operations.

In July 2025, the team began dismantling the simulated hospital, with plans to refine the process based on lessons learned. The ultimate goal is to develop a rapid deployment strategy that could save countless lives by ensuring hospitals can expand capacity quickly during crises.

This innovative approach reflects a significant advance in disaster preparedness, providing a blueprint for leveraging existing infrastructure to augment healthcare capacity when it’s most needed.

Source: https://medicalxpress.com/news/2025-07-hotel2hospital-extreme-makeover-patient-surge.html