The supply of furniture to hotels has come a long way since the days when the primary requirements were for wardrobes big enough to hide a trouser press, and armoires to conceal big ugly televisions, available in a range of colours from orange pine to dark brown mahogany, with not much choice in between.
Increasingly, hotel designers turn to enlightened suppliers who can provide a package meeting all their requirements, across the many aspects of projects as complex as hotels.
It used to be fairly straightforward. In simplistic terms, architects would design the exterior and internal structure of buildings.
Interior designers would then decorate the interiors to a brief from the operator who the hotel belonged to.
Now, the boundaries are blurring. The supply chain has become far more complicated, to the extent that few hotel projects are specified in the same way.
“Architects” are increasingly called upon to design interiors as well. “Designers”, maybe best known for designing products such as individual chairs for mass production, can be called upon to design not just full interior schemes, but entire buildings. Hoteliers rarely own the buildings that house their hotels, with an entire new class of property developers, investors and asset managers having entered the sector.
Purchasing departments within major hotel groups, and procurement companies employed by them to source products more efficiently, play an increasingly important role in the specification process.
All of this has meant that the furniture suppliers who will succeed in the hotel market are those that can meet all the complex requirements of hotel projects.
Over the next few years, sustainability will become an automatic requirement, rather than a desirable extra.
Products must be manufactured to the highest standards, suitable for the heavy wear-and-tear of contract use, often having to meet safety criteria that vary from country to country. Clients increasingly prefer to deal with “one stop shop” suppliers who can almost become part of the project team, supplying iconic one-off items from respected furniture designers, as well as bespoke solutions manufactured specifically to fit both the physical spaces unique to the project, and the vision of the designer who may like a particular chair or table, but want it made in a different colour or material.
Hotel design also has a wider role to play beyond the confines of the hotel industry, as people source inspiration for the design of their own homes from the hotels they stay in. In some cases, items originally designed as one-off items for hotel projects can become part of a furniture manufacturer’s permanent retail collection.
All of these factors mean that, hotel designers are turning to internationally recognized furniture brands such as Ligne Roset, brands which have not just a strong retail presence and a history of working with world-renowned product designers, but also specialist contract divisions capable of ensuring that every last detail is finished to the highest possible standard.