Hotel Room Essentials: From Bedheads to Blockouts

Hospitality competition is fierce, with hotels competing for that point of difference and tailored offering. Generally, guests select a hotel based on their personal taste and style and view on what a hotel should be. This is where interior design enters, and great design shouldn’t cater to everyone’s expectations but seek a targeted approach. 

The questions to consider are:

• Who is your key audience?
• What are guests expecting from the hotel and overall brand?
• How can you stand out from your competition?
• How can this be delivered visually? (theme, overall aesthetic, colour, furnishings, artwork, fixtures)

For example, if your aim is to create a ‘home away from home’ atmosphere in a rural location for couples, you could use a calming colour palette of earthy and spiced hues, textured furnishings such as boucle’s, shearling look fabrics or designs with a hand loomed effect, source linens with natural fibres, and include pottery in the space by a local ceramicist.  

The colour scheme via wall applications and furnishings plays an intrinsic role in setting the tone of the space. Cool shades such as blues and greens promote calm and relaxation, creating an open and bright space, while darker tones promote intimacy, sophistication, and reflection. These colour groups work well in guest rooms, while adding pops of colour on architectural features or sections of the room can add a distinct nod to the hotel’s brand. 

Lobbies allow for more opportunities to experiment with colour to showcase the hotel’s overall style in dramatic ways. For example, a lobby featuring a range of neutrals speaks of elegance, minimalism, and refinement, while a lobby with saturated colour and contrasting shades creates an eclectic, energetic, and casual atmosphere. Other key areas in a hotel such as bars and restaurants often require intimacy and warmth, and deeper hues such as burgundies, greys, rust, and chocolate are very complementary in this space.  

Furniture and furnishings make up a significant cost in hotel design. With this in mind, it’s important to reflect the hotel brand and vision but achieve this in a way where the interior doesn’t need to be refurbished within 5 years, particularly in guest rooms where presentation is key.  

Selecting furnishings that are simple for the key features in guest rooms such as bedheads, loungers, walls, and curtains is the best place to start. 

Here are some useful tips to consider:

•  Select a suite of plain upholstery designs that you can mix and match. 
• Add textures, unique weaves, and subtle patterns in furnishings to add interest.
• Pair sheers with a complementary blockout design. This will provide UV protection to furnishings in the space along with added privacy for guests.
• Select furnishings that hold high-performance technology such fire retardancy, stain and UV resistance, easy clean, and anti-microbial properties combined with high durability. It’s important to liaise with your designer or architect to meet building standards regarding the furnishing selection.
• Consider carefully if the fabric selected is suitable for the application. For example, a velvet design with high shading or upholstery that cannot be steamed and spot cleaned, wouldn’t be ideal for bedheads.
• Comfort is of utmost importance, so along with selecting furniture with an ergonomic design, select upholstery with a natural hand feel and lush texture for ultimate luxury.
• Use trend focused or bold designs on items that can easily be updated such as ottomans, cushions, and throws. This is an inexpensive way to refresh the space when required and will add the hotel’s distinct style.
• If the hotel resides in a location with a rich culture or unique landscape, consider selecting fabrics that support this through patterning, colour, and weave. 

Blending sensory experiences and creativity through furnishings will elevate the space and provide that sense of luxury and escapism that guests are seeking.

Even though aesthetics play a key role in attracting guests, it’s vital to pay attention to the care and maintenance of furnishings in the space. This could add many years to the life of the fabrics and importantly provide a hygienic space for guests free of dirt, stains, and harmful bacteria. 

In our view, high performance fabrics such as FibreGuard, FibreGuard Pro and FR One are a must in hotels, including bed & breakfasts. These fabrics are constructed with inherent properties such as stain resistance and anti-microbial protection, which means common spills and grime can be easily removed. Importantly, these fabrics are machine washable and often at a high temperature such as 60 degrees, further ensuring bacteria is eliminated from the yarn. Strong colourfastness is also a feature of FibreGuard collections safeguarding the quality and vibrancy of the fabric colour, wash after wash. 

Create a maintenance guide for each fabric in the room, and include a washing, spot clean, vacuuming logbook to assist in maintaining each upholstery and drapery design.  

Leaving a lasting impression on guests through thoughtful design, considered colour schemes, and furnishing selections can elevate their overall experience to new levels. Combining these elements successfully will take guests into luxury states of living, providing respite, relaxation, and escapism from the repetition of the everyday.

At Zepel, our commercial team specialises in providing fit for purpose upholstery, drapery, and wallcovering solutions for the hospitality industry.