A hotel is more than just a profitable business. To your clients, a hotel room temporarily becomes the analogue of their own home. Therefore, the success of your business directly depends on how comfortable, cosy and peaceful the guests feel during their stay at your hotel. And what is the foundation for comfort and peace? Adequately selected furniture, of course.
Hotel furniture is a rather broad concept. It includes the furnishings of rooms, a lobby, and a café or restaurant if such are planned in your hotel. At the same time, regular home furnishings are not very suitable for hotels. The thing is that hotel furniture must meet specific criteria and quite numerous ones at that. In this article, we decided to focus on the features of hotel furniture and the principles of its selection. Let’s discuss what hotel furniture should be like and how to choose it correctly to get a combination of comfort, functionality, and aesthetics.
Top 5 parameters for selecting hotel furniture
First of all, what criteria must hotel furniture meet?
1. Functionality. Your guests arrive at the hotel with a clear intention to spend time in a hotel room according to their schedule. Hence, the hotel interior should meet their needs for comfortable rest and sleep, provide the possibility to place their personal belongings, and, if necessary, — to work or take care of business in their temporary space. For this reason, you should not choose uncomfortable or non-functional furniture for your hotel. It’s better to select stylish interior items that will perform their task perfectly.
2. Style and compliance with the concept of the hotel is another essential parameter. Aesthetics and the harmonious combination of furniture and interior always work in your favor. And it is therefore important to maintain the overall style when choosing furniture. Let’s take an example: if you design the hotel interior in a country style, an ash tabletop in the room and wooden beds and wardrobes will fit organically, unlike metal furniture, for instance. Oak tabletop and walnut furniture would go well with a classic atmosphere of luxury. However, for eco-style hotels or rooms in Scandinavian style, it’s worth considering furniture made of more affordable yet eco-friendly materials.
3. Durability: people of different heights, ages, and sizes stay at hotels. And every piece of furniture is used far more frequently than at home. For this reason, strength and durability are crucial for hotel furniture. Besides, it is also your savings, as repairing broken furniture is really expensive. So the stronger your interior items are, the more cost-effective it is for you.
4. Safety. Of course, fancy elements, carved edges, and a large amount of glass and metal in the interior look very stylish. However, when it comes to a hotel, it’s better to focus on safety. If your guest sustains even a minor injury due to sharp furniture corners or insufficiently processed edges, the blame lies solely with your hotel.
5. Ease of care and repair — another factor that must be taken into account. That’s why it’s worth choosing furniture made of materials that are easy to clean, resistant to disinfectants and detergents, allow for easy removal of stains and scuffs, and if necessary — can be quickly repaired. In particular, furniture made of edge-glued panels meets these requirements. So it’s better to choose upholstery fabrics that are easy to clean as well as avoid furniture materials prone to damage or difficult to take care of.
When the main criteria are determined, you can proceed directly to the selection of interior items, which a hotel cannot do without.
Checklist for hotel interior furnishing: what is worth considering
We offer you a simple checklist that will help you choose the right pieces of furniture for your hotel.
- Beds — the first thing you need for a room’s interior. It’s better if you can offer your guests not only single beds but also double beds — for married couples, newlyweds, or just for people who prefer more space during sleep. Also, do not forget about the organization of children’s sleeping places, in particular — a baby cot as an additional sleeping place.
- Bedside tables — another element, without which a room would be incomplete. They allow guests to place necessities at hand, and having table lamps enables the use of subdued lighting to relax.
- Wardrobes — also mandatory attributes of every room. They must match the overall interior style, the number of guests in the room and their storage needs.
- Coffee tables and desks in the rooms will come in handy, as well as chairs, as for many people, a hotel is a place to stay during business trips, so they have to deal with business matters directly at the place of accommodation.
- Mirrors and dressing tables are also important. If there is no possibility of putting them in the room, it’s worth ordering wardrobes with mirrored doors and, for example, dressing tables and dressers to place them under the bathroom sink.
- Furniture for a café at your hotel should also be selected according to the overall design of the hotel. Thus, you should choose versatile materials that are suitable for the furniture of both rooms and a café or restaurant. Furniture made of wood, including oak or ash tabletops, beams, and edge-glued panels is best for hotels — it goes well with various styles and withstands significant loads.
The same applies to furniture for a reception desk, lobby, and hallways — it must perform its functions, look stylish, and be durable.
Selection tips: what furniture will be a cost-effective acquisition for a hotel?
How to choose the right furniture? Here are some practical tips:
- Count the amount of furniture you need, considering the number of rooms as well as utility rooms and the expected load on the hotel.
- Set a budget in advance: either way, furniture shouldn't cost more than you can afford.
- If possible, order a designer’s services so you can maintain the concept of the hotel, pick up all the necessary interior items, and not overload the space with unnecessary details.
We hope that our article will help you make the right choice and that you will be able to provide your hotel with high-quality, beautiful yet not too expensive furniture that will be both comfortable and aesthetically pleasing.
