2002 Hospitality Giants
This year’s top Hospitality Giants earned $194,962,385. This was only 3 percent below the previous year despite an uncomfortably soft economy during the study period, October 1, 2000, through September 30, 2001. Of these 50 Giants, 10 earned all their fees from hospitality design, with another six earning 90 percent or more; only two of the top 10 earned less than half their fees from hospitality. On average, hospitality accounted for an average of 61.5 percent of all design fees earned by these Giants; the next closest project type was contract, at a distant 13.3 percent.
The fees reported for the current study period cover 74,288,466 square feet installed, up 2 percent from the previous year. The total value of fixtures, furnishings, and construction was $7,249,160,000, up 15.7 percent, beating the Top 100 Giants by 3.3 percent. (As usual, installation costs for hospitality were significantly higher than those for other types of design except residential.) New construction and renovations were almost equal, separated by only 1.4 percentage points in favor of new construction. Overseas work accounted for 13.8 percent of installations, compared to 7.5 percent for the Top 100 Giants, however the recent widespread reluctance to travel is likely to encourage an even greater emphasis on close-to-home hospitality projects over the next few years.
Hotel work continued to garner the largest portion of fees for Hospitality Giants, followed by restaurants, resorts and spas, country clubs, casinos, and cruise ships. However, the gaps both between hotels and restaurants and between country clubs and casinos had begun to narrow even before September 11. The largest number of restaurants designed by a single Hospitality Giant shot up 65 percent, and the number of seats per project rose from an average of 152 to an average of 163. The number of country-club projects almost quadrupled, and 18 percent of the Hospitality Giants moved into this arena.
Like last year, one Hospitality Giant billed every single hour—if the firm that billed every single hour last year had bothered to report this year, we might have had a 100 percent increase. The average was 81.4 hours, compared to 84 hours for the Top 100 Giants, and the minimum was seven, up from five last year.
During the study period, $340,000 was the highest annual Hospitality Giant fee earnings per employee; the average was $147,929, up a hair’s breadth from the previous year.
50 Hospitality Giants:
| 2002 rank | Firms, headquarters | Hosp. fees (millions) | Dollar value (millions) | Sq. ft. (millions) | 2001 rank |
| NR = Not Reported. All numbers are in millions. | |||||
| 01 | Hirsch Bedner Associates, Santa Monica, Calif. | 26.714 | 1,576.126 | 15.011 | 1 |
| 02 | Wilson & Associates, Dallas | 18.400 | 1,000.000 | NR | 2 |
| 03 | DiLeonardo International, Warwick, R.I. | 12.450 | 405.000 | 3.375 | 3 |
| 04 | Fitch/AAD, Scottsdale, Ariz. | 8.500 | 76.700 | 2.900 | 6 |
| 05 | Concepts 4, Long Beach, Calif. | 8.403 | 375.000 | 4.650 | 5 |
| 06 | RTKL Associates, Baltimore | 7.100 | 350.000 | 7.300 | – |
| 07 | Callison Architecture, Seattle | 6.300 | 170.000 | 1.250 | 8 |
| 08 | BBGM/Interiors, New York | 5.380 | 304.000 | 2.400 | 10 |
| 09 | H. Chambers Company, Baltimore | 5.100 | 53.000 | 0.600 | 12 |
| 10 | Daroff Design & DDI Architects, Philadelphia | 4.975 | 340.000 | 2.600 | 7 |
| 11 | Barry Design Associates, Los Angeles | 4.900 | NR | NR | 11 |
| 12 | Wimberly Allison Tong & Goo, Los Angeles | 4.542 | NR | NR | – |
| 13 | Aramark Design Solutions, Philadelphia | 4.470 | 227.000 | 0.950 | 16 |
| 14 | The Gettys Group, Chicago | 4.200 | 385.000 | NR | 13 |
| 15 | Bilkey Llinas Design Associates, Palm Beach Gardens, Fla. | 4.076 | 40.000 | 3.000 | – |
| 16 | Hochheiser Ross Design Group, Richmond, Va. | 3.200 | 33.259 | 1.669 | 24 |
| 17 | The Hillier Group, Princeton, N.J. | 3.096 | 35.000 | 0.100 | 14 |
| 18 | Hnedak Bobo Group, Memphis | 2.919 | NR | NR | 26 |
| 19 | Elias Design Group, New York, | 2.855 | 65.000 | NR | 17 |
| 20 | Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, New York | 2.800 | 40.000 | 0.700 | 27 |
| 21 | Design Development Co., Agoura Hills, Calif. | 2.700 | 70.000 | NR | 20 |
| 22 | Brayton & Hughes Design Studio, San Francisco | 2.634 | 60.000 | NR | 18 |
| 23 | Leo A Daly, Omaha | 2.539 | 31.675 | 0.536 | 21 |
| 24 | Looney Ricks Kiss Architects, Memphis | 2.340 | NR | NR | 44 |
| 25 | Design Forum, Dayton, Ohio | 2.250 | 40.000 | 0.600 | 45 |
| 26 | Forrest Perkins, Washington, D.C. | 2.108 | 40.000 | 1.150 | 35 |
| 27 | RSP Architects, Minneapolis | 2.100 | 85.000 | 0.920 | 30 |
| 28 | ISI (Interior Space International), Chicago | 2.070 | 18.000 | 0.350 | 46 |
| 29 | AiGroup, Atlanta | 2.007 | 150.000 | 1.800 | 37 |
| 30 | Haverson Architecture and Design, Greenwich, Conn. | 2.000 | 35.000 | 0.090 | 39 |
| 31 | Shea Architects, Minneapolis | 2.000 | 20.020 | 0.350 | 32 |
| 32 | Hugh W. Dear & Associates, Williamsburg, Va. | 1.998 | 20.000 | NR | 34 |
| 33 | Avery Brooks & Associates, Las Vegas | 1.950 | 100.000 | 1.200 | 49 |
| 34 | Sue Firestone Associates, Santa Barbara, Calif. | 1.900 | NR | NR | – |
| 35 | Rowland Design, Indianapolis | 1.869 | NR | NR | – |
| 36 | Duncan & Miller Design, Dallas | 1.854 | 81.000 | 3.860 | 22 |
| 37 | Cuningham Group Architecture, Minneapolis | 1.823 | NR | NR | – |
| 38 | Alexandra Champalimaud & Associates, New York | 1.800 | NR | NR | – |
| 39 | Lieber Cooper Associates, Chicago | 1.541 | NR | NR | – |
| 40 | Judd Brown Designs, Warwick, R.I. | 1.537 | 41.000 | 0.900 | 42 |
| 41 | Cole Martinez Curtis and Associates, Marina Del Rey, Calif. | 1.519 | 300.000 | 1.000 | 36 |
| 42 | LS3P Associates, Charleston, S.C. | 1.500 | 36.000 | 0.554 | 48 |
| 43 | Vivian/Nichols Associates, Dallas | 1.471 | 473.954 | 3.283 | 38 |
| 44 | FRCH Design Worldwide, Cincinnati | 1.403 | 33.776 | 0.369 | 33 |
| 45 | Babey Moulton Jue & Booth, San Francisco | 1.355 | NR | NR | – |
| 46 | Ahearn Schopfer and Associates, Boston | 1.300 | 20.000 | 0.500 | 40 |
| 47 | Design Directions, Marietta, Ga. | 1.290 | 58.000 | 2.022 | – |
| 48 | R.D. Jones & Associates, Baltimore | 1.275 | 23.000 | 8.000 | 29 |
| 49 | Butler Rogers Baskett Architects, New York | 1.249 | 17.650 | 0.200 | – |
| 50 | Indesign, Studio City, Calif. | 1.200 | 20.000 | 0.100 | 31 |
Fastest-Growing Firms (by ranking)
| Firm | 2002 Rank | 2001 Rank |
| Design Forum | 25 | 45 |
| Looney Ricks Kiss Architects | 24 | 44 |
| ISI (Interior Space International) | 28 | 46 |
| Avery Brooks & Associates | 33 | 49 |
| Haverson Architecture and Design | 30 | 39 |
| Forrest Perkins | 26 | 35 |
| Hochheiser Ross Design Group | 16 | 24 |
| Hnedak Bobo Group | 18 | 26 |
| AiGroup | 29 | 37 |
| Skidmore, Owings & Merrill | 20 | 27 |
Firms With Largest Hospitality Fee Increase (in dollars)
| Firm | 2002 Rank | Fee Increase |
| Aramark Design Solutions | 13 | 1,370,000 |
| Design Forum | 25 | 930,000 |
| Looney Ricks Kiss Architects. | 24 | 906,907 |
| Avery Brooks & Associates | 33 | 807,517 |
| Hochheiser Ross Design Group | 16 | 784,000 |
| ISI (Interior Space International) | 28 | 770,000 |
| Hirsch Bedner Associates | 1 | 707,440 |
| Hnedak Bobo Group | 18 | 698,000 |
| Skidmore, Owings & Merrill | 20 | 625,000 |
Firms New to the Hospitality Listing in 2002
11 companies are new to the 2002 Hospitality Giants
| Firm | I.D. Fees | 2002 Rank |
| RTKL Associates | $7,100,000 | 6 |
| Wimberly Allison Tong & Goo | $4,542,300 | 12 |
| Bilkey Llinas Design Associates | $4,075,813 | 15 |
| Sue Firestone Associates | $1,900,000 | 34 |
| Rowland Design | $1,869,317 | 35 |
| Cuningham Group Architecture | $1,822,912 | 37 |
| Alexandra Champalimaud & Associates | $1,800,000 | 38 |
| Lieber Cooper Associates | $1,540,919 | 39 |
| Babey Moulton Jue & Booth | $1,355,000 | 45 |
| Design Directions | $1,290,000 | 47 |
| Butler Rogers Baskett Architects | $1,248,710 | 49 |
Top Firms Working Outside the U.S.
| Firm | 2002 Rank | % Abroad |
| Indesign | 50 | 100 |
| Bilkey Llinas Design Associates | 15 | 90 |
| DiLeonardo International | 3 | 60 |
| Wilson & Associates | 2 | 50 |
| Hirsch Bedner Associates | 1 | 45 |
| Babey Moulton Jue & Booth | 45 | 43 |
| ISI (Interior Space International) | 28 | 30 |
Hospitality Fees/Percentage of Work By Category
| Project Type | % | Mean | High | Low |
| Hotel | 31.7 | $1,852,062 | $8,280,000 | $99,900 |
| Resorts-Spa | 19.7 | $1,148,858 | $6,440,000 | $30,000 |
| Restaurant | 16.9 | $986,913 | $8,500,000 | $19,498 |
| Country Club | 10.5 | $614,019 | $4,590,000 | $32,000 |
| Casino | 8.4 | $494,163 | $996,000 | $21,000 |
| Cruise Ship | 8.3 | $485,975 | $1,420,000 | $112,500 |
| Other | 4.5 | $261,187 | $750,000 | $19,499 |
Top 50 Hospitality Giants Fee Scales
| Job Title | Annual Salaries (Median) | Hourly Rates (Median) |
| Principal, Partner | $120,000 | $175 |
| Project Manager | $72,000 | $113 |
| Designer | $55,000 | $90 |
| CAD Operator | $41,000 | $71 |
| Manual Drafter | $45,000 | $75 |
| Other Billable | $36,192 | $55 |
