A Furniture Plan to Launch Your First Hotel

There is a lot that goes into planning the launch of your new hotel. When you first got the vision to build a hotel and create that dream get away for your guests, you probably had a vision for just how your hotel would look. Maybe it looks like some elegant hotel from the movies in your mind. Maybe its some exotic location that was part of a great adventure you had with your family as a child. But there is a romance and an excitement to running a hotel and being the boss over every small detail of how that hotel operates.

Furniture turns your hotel from a big empty building into something lively, full of personality and atmosphere and a place that welcomes guests to make that hotel a home for a few days. Now obviously the purpose of hotel furniture is utilitarian. You don't just rent someone a room. You provide them with a bed, nightstands, a television and the comforts of your lobby, bar, lounges, gardens, restaurants and other rooms. A hotel is not just place to stay but an experience. It is a place of relaxation, fun, rest and comfort. Good hotel furniture is what makes the magic happen in any hotel. That is why how to furnish your new hotel should be a major part of your planning.

A good start is to lay out the floor plan of your entire hotel and then address the specific customer service areas room by room. Because each room of the hotel will have a specific function, the furniture needs will change with the needs of the customers. Now you may have a dominant color scheme and even a style or theme you want to see prevail in the decor of every room. The color scheme should not be a difficult thing to carry off as any hotel furniture supplier would be able to customize your order to fit the colors you want to emphasize. But using the same interior decorating style approach in every room can be more of a challenge.

It might be better to go with color families rather than two or three specific colors of the furniture. That is because the mood of each room will be different and you want the color schemes of the walls, the window dressing and the furniture to reflect those differences. You will have an entirely different feel in the dining area where you serve continental breakfast than from the bedrooms of the hotel. For the breakfast areas, upbeat, cheerful pastels help get the customers up and going for a good day. But for the bedrooms, darker, sedate and deeper, more restful colors are the way to go.

Of all the spaces of the hotel you will furnish, the reception area is one where you want to put the most effort into making an impression. When the customer enters the lobby, they will form an idea of what kind of hotel this is and whether they wish to spend the night or several nights as your guest. That first impression is crucial because you don't want to see customers step into the lobby, take one look and walk back out again. The hotel lobby should communicate that your hotel is welcoming, professional, classy, fun, relaxing and an adventure, all at once.

That is a tall order for hotel furniture and much of the first impression of the lobby will be in layout, the look and feel of the front desk and other decorating details. Therefore, the furniture design, style and colors will be integrated into the overall interior decorating scheme to create one image in the mind of the customer. But along with style, think about the work lobby furniture will do for your hotel. Maybe even more than the hotel rooms, hotel lobby furniture gets a lot of use. Because people are on the move through this area along with children and even pets, there are a lot of spills in the lobby and the furniture can be used roughly at time. You need to invest in well made furniture that can "take it" and in fabrics that make clean up go quickly.

The need to evaluate each room's furniture needs separately becomes clear when you start to put some detail to what you will need for the multi-function rooms in your hotel. These rooms can be some of the most profitable spaces in your hotel because they can be used for receptions, dinners, parties, seminars or business meetings. But for them to be that flexible, the furniture must be quite adaptable and flexible as well. The hotel tables and chairs must be portable so folding tables and stackable chairs is the way to go. But you want to be able to still create the feel of elegance with this furniture so invest in top quality tables and chairs that are also durable and able to be moved around and reassembled many ways depending on the function.

There may be no single location in a hotel that will more interact with your guests than the actual rooms themselves. And the extent to which this furniture serves their needs while they are enjoying privacy there will be the determining factor about whether they will return to your hotel or recommend it to friends. Most customers won't file a complaint about a hotel about the color of the lobby couch but they will complain and possibly base future decisions about where to stay on the comfort of their bed or the condition of other furniture items in the room. That room is their home for the nights they stay with you so it must be fully able to serve your customers during times when that furniture alone is the hotel representative to those guests.

Because you will be buying beds, televisions, night stands and the other in room furniture for many rooms at once, you will go with a single furniture style and get the benefits of buying in bulk from a quality hotel furniture supplier. But your customers view the room as unique to them so put some thought in your choices and make an investment in the quality of that furniture. It should be sturdy, well made furniture because it will be subject to all manner of wear and tear as each room entertains diverse guests each week. The furniture should not only hold up to rough use but clean up easily as well, be stain resistant and easily brought back to a "like new" condition between guests.

By making the effort to make sure the furniture you buy to take care of your guests during their stay is top quality and made to provide five star service to your hotel customers, you will be making an investment in customer relations. And that is the kind of approach that leads to long term customers who review your hotel well, recommend it to others and come back to your hotel each time they are in town. And that is what will make make your hotel a success in the long run.