The decision of selecting a Type I or a Type II wallcovering for your project should be based on two factors: amount of foot traffic and the type of wear-and-tear that traffic will produce.
For instance, a hotel’s elevator lobby should always be a Type II because it will always experience a lot of heavy hard-hitting foot traffic. Furniture, machinery, food carts and suitcases will be incessantly bumping into your wallcovering on a daily basis. The same would apply for most of the hallways that lead into the rooms. The odds of them getting scratched and ripped is significantly higher if you go with a lighter Type I wallcovering.
On the other hand, a guest room would be a prime candidate for Type I wallcoverings. Sure, things do happen and a room here and there will experience rips/ wear and tear, but as long as you have an adequate supply of replacement paper, this can be easily patched up as needed, on a case by case basis.
Why not just be on the safe side and go with Type II wallcoverings for all the lobbies, hallways, offices and rooms? Well, the answer is cost. Type II wallcoverings are thicker and can cost almost double the cost of Type I wallcoverings. When you are talking about renovating a 10,000+ sq foot area, this really adds up. So many management companies install Type II in places that experience the heavy foot traffic and Type I in the offices or guest rooms (depending on business).