A contract bed guide for hoteliers: Establishing need

As a hotelier, or someone who works in the hotel and leisure industry, you have to be very much aware of what goes into your hotel contract beds and how long you’ve had them for. Many of the blogs here on Millbrook Contract Beds serve as guides to dispense advice on what problems and scenarios exist with hotel contract beds and the potential resolutions to those problems and explanations of those scenarios. Millbrook’s holistic advice comes from over 60 years worth of experience, so if you want the best recommendations and knowledge on the subject of contract bed buying, disposal, and the industry specific ranges available, this is the right place to be.

Recent studies have shown us that a substantial amount of people only get approximately six hours of sleep a night, sometimes even less than that. This is not good for many reasons, the most important being that it is simply not good for general overall health. The key factor here is definitely the hotel contract bed. The Furniture Industry Research Association has said that “a bed can deteriorate by as much as 70% after ten years.”  That is to say, from its brand new state to ‘worn down’ in that time. This is the principal contribution and cause to lack of sleep. For paying guests it is just simply unacceptable.

So what do you do if you have dozens to hundreds of rooms, all with hotel contract beds of different sizes, ages, shapes and makes? How do you test them all to ensure that they are adequate to provide the right sleep experience for guests? It sounds like a big job, but it doesn’t have to be. All it requires is some scheduling, careful staff redistribution and time-efficient planning. It is still surprising that as a business, some people still don’t make the connection between their guest’s complaints and that of the condition of their hotel contract beds – which may have been in use for a considerable length of time without being flipped or thrown out and changed.

The best way to tell is if your guests begin telling you that they have woken up with neck or back ache, or that they had a terrible night’s sleep. This is a clear indication that the contract beds you’re offering are not giving the correct level of support or comfort and need replacing. Most people need seven or eight hours of sleep a night to function properly the next day but with beds often being put far down on the list of what causes a sleepless night, it’s about time we started to focus on how important they really are in terms of reducing stress and helping people to function more acutely the next day.

Millbrook Contract Beds addresses how to begin resolving these issues in the next part of our blog guide. For more information or direct advice, please contact us here.

It’ll last forever wont it? Contract Beds and their life span

We all like to think that in buying quality when it comes to contract beds that we can get more use out of them.  While this is relatively true it’s very easy for us to forget that the amount of use will have an affect on its lifespan and can lead to a neglected bed which in turn can mean neglected clients!

For example, after a busy summer season in the hotel industry, many hoteliers are now thinking about the autumn and all the work they need to do to ensure that they’re ready for their Christmas season.

They will get the painter out, have that squeaky floorboard fixed and simply can’t forget about that dodgy handle –but the beds within the rooms are the one thing that seem to be forgotten about.

So, in this blog today we’ve come up with a pre-autumn season checklist for all hoteliers with contract beds to enable them to see just how much more wear and tear their contract beds might have!

1. Have you had any complaints about the beds?  This may seem obvious but it’s surprising how we can blame broken air conditioning, a small room, a window that won’t quite open properly and noise from the room next door, but the bed is the one thing that is never mentioned or forgotten about!  If you’ve had a complaint then why not do an overall check?

2. Have you checked your contract beds personally?  That’s to say, what do the mattresses look like?  Are they in good shape or have they seen better days?

3. Is the base of the bed secure?  Is there a screw loose?  Is there visible wear on the actual bed frame or divan base itself?  Again, this often gets forgotten as most of our efforts are spent on changing linen each and every day during busy periods – not really allowing us enough time to check things properly.

4. Is the headboard nice and secure?  If you’re looking for better star ratings in the future, you may want to know that a loose headboard is one of the things you can get marked down on in the hotel industry.  So, it’s important with your contract beds to ensure that the headboard is secure.

5. Is the contract bed mattress looking worn?  Are the springs sounding squeaky?  Is there a dip in the mattress from constant use?

These are just a few things worth looking for when it comes to your contract beds this season.  It’s worth not forgetting it because you’ll find clients who have a good night’s sleep are far happier than those who have experienced a contract bed that has seen better days.

If you want advice on new contract beds for the Autumn, then Millbrook Contract Beds can give you free, impartial advice – whatever your budget may be. Contact Us for more information or follow us on Twitter and Facebook for regular tips and updates.

Spring refurbishment – listen to your guests’ complaints

Guests complaints about hotel rooms are surprisingly consistent. There are several common factors that contribute to guests complaining about the standard of their hotel room, most of which are easy to fix.

So in today’s blog we thought we’d take a look at some of the most common complaints about hotel rooms and give you a few tips on how to eliminate their causes.

Cleanliness

The single biggest complaint about hotel rooms is poor cleanliness. This usually involves tired and semi-cleaned bathrooms, things left under beds and out of sight dust and dirt. However, it is so easy to keep on top of these problems. The first step to a dirt free room is to de-clutter. You may think that ornaments and objects such as books and pictures in standing frames make a room feel homely. However, these things not only make a hotel room feel too personal but also act as dirt and dust traps. No one wants to see books covered in a layer of dust or grimy old picture frames in their hotel room.

There is a psychology to keeping hotel rooms clean and tired old furniture and cluttered surfaces can lead to cleaners becoming lazy and complacent. And this is particularly true of your contract beds. Hotel beds should not only be moved constantly to check for dirt, dust and discarded objects.

Bad smells

Old contract beds are the second largest culprits after poor drainage for producing bad smells. Old mattresses harbour bacteria in large quantities and can easily make a room smell. Particularly if the space is constantly heated.

Vermin

Vermin are another major cause for complaint for hotel guests. Let’s face it, who wouldn’t complain about finding a cockroach in their bed or mouse droppings on the TV remote control? So how can we avoid an invasion of little critters in our hotel rooms? Well, the first thing is obviously good hygiene. Traces of food stuffs on surfaces and fabrics can attract insects and other vermin. Likewise, an old mattress can also contain organic matter, which is highly appealing to horrors like cockroaches and indeed bedbugs! Moreover, a small hole in an old mattress can become an invitation for a mouse to make its nest inside. Therefore, replacing your contract beds when needed can both save you from upsetting your guests and accruing negative reviews, which can be highly damaging to your business.

Noise

Good sound insulation between rooms is obviously key to keeping noise levels down. However, you may not realise how much noise and old bed can make. There’s nothing worse than being kept awake at night by a squeaky bed in an adjacent room. Close proximity of guests to each other is an unavoidable necessity of the hotel environment. However, your guests do not want to be reminded of this fact. They want to feel like they have complete privacy and that their experience of staying in a hotel is insulated from the everyday annoyances of the outside world.

So if you have been receiving complaints about your hotel rooms or have noticed that they are beginning to look tired, then you may wish to consider planning a refurbishment. In most cases a full refurb is not necessary and a good clean and a lick of paint can do wonders to improve the look and overall cleanliness of your bedrooms. However, if you want to get to the root of the problem then we suggest that you consider replacing your contract beds, and in doing so illuminate many of the major factors that contribute to guest complaints. If this is the case then contact us here at Millbrook Contract Beds and we will be happy to give you a quote.

The guest experience revolution – are you keeping up with the future?

The hospitality industry has changed beyond recognition over the past 20 years or so. No longer are people content with tired decor, uncomfortable beds and rude managers. The days of Faulty Towers are over. If a guest asks to see the manager, then you have already failed!

The standardising effects of globalisation and the internet have given the industry a much needed kick into the 21st Century. However, things are accelerating at an incredible pace to the extent in which it is increasingly hard for hoteliers to keep up with the consumer driven revolution. It is now guests not hoteliers that decide what kind of experience hotels should offer. Indeed, the standardised hotel experience is no longer as important to guests as they become ever more confident, adventurous and demanding consumers. This is all part of a rapidly changing consumer driven revolution that encompasses the growing trend towards an experience economy in which memories are more valuable than goods. Moreover, the internet has given people more of a hold over the hospitality industry with user generated sites like Trip Advisor and Airbnb.

Social networking has been one of the key driving forces behind the guest led revolution. Enabling people to share ideas and experiences, make recommendations and express what they have liked and disliked about a particular hotel. Websites like Trip Advisor work like public guest books sharing both positive and negative experiences. Likewise Airbnb, a website in which a global network of people open their homes up to each other, effectively becoming their own hospitality industry operate a system of feedback and star ratings much like Ebay. Moreover, Airbnb is a heading up a sea change in the hospitality industry where people are beginning to value the personal and unique over the impersonal and commonplace. Hence this also coincides with the rise of the boutique hotel.

So in today’s Millbrook Contract Beds blog we will take a peek into the future of the industry and come up with a few predictions!

Social network endorsed bookings

In the near future people will look to the endorsements of their friends and acquaintances before booking a hotel. This will work by integrating hotel feedback with social networking sites to enable consumers to choose from a portfolio of hotels rated and recommended by the people they know and trust. Instant feedback will also mean that a hotel will only be as good as its last review. Data from past choices will also influence which hotels are recommended meaning that the experience will become more tailored to your tastes and interests as time goes on.

Tailoring your hotel experience before you arrive

An online menu of hotel goods and services will enable guests to tailor their experience by choosing the things that will personalise their stay. Rather than asking for a sea view, for example, they will be able to choose the exact view from photos of the rooms currently available. Likewise, a guest might wish to order some drinks in advance of their arrival that will be brought to them at a set time after check-in.

Tablets to control the intelligent hotel room

The hotel room experience will be controlled from a tablet, which will be used to control and range of user generated choices, activated by the guest’s fingerprint. The intelligent room will then tailor itself to the guests preferences. For example, harness of bed, softness and shape of pillow, temperature, lighting, playlist of music and movies and even the colour of the hotel room will all be chosen in accordance with the information indexed to the guest’s digital fingerprint.

These are just a few of the possible ideas, which may start to become a reality within the hospitality industry might. However, while hypothetical, these concepts do give as some idea of the direction the industry is going in and therefore remind us that guest experience is at the centre of all good hotels.

A contract bed guide for hoteliers: Meeting demand

The New Year  is often the time that most of us think ahead. We make plans and usually, in the hotel industry anyway, it’s a good time of year to look at refurbishment and the changes we want to make.

Usually when you are looking at a refurbishment for your hotel, it’s the aesthetics which are prioritised. The paintwork is in fact the first thing we tend to look at but how often is it that we take a look under the covers to see the state of our contract beds?

Therefore, in today’s blog we address how to identify worn out, old contract beds and what you should take note of to ensure optimum comfort for your guests in 2013.

So, where to begin? How exactly do you identify the symptoms of a worn out hotel contract bed? You have to make a checklist. If you have a lot of rooms and a lot of beds, you need to delegate the checklists to your staff. Ask the following questions;

1. Are there ‘dips’ in the bed?
2. Are there springs visible on the mattress?
3. Are the edges of the mattress frayed?
4. Do people regularly complain of back or neck ache when they sleep in the bed?
5. Are there missing tufts in the mattress?

If the answers to any or many of these questions come back “yes,” buying new hotel contract beds for the rooms that failed the check is imperative for your future guests.

As a hotelier or as a hotel manager this may seem like an expense that you could do without. The current economic situation in the UK is enough reason to put it off. Millbrook Contract Beds understand this. However, through this non-maintenance the standards of the hotel and the contract beds will only spiral into decline, as will the guest experience. Any hotelier knows that a stay at a hotel is entirely about the guest experience. Providing a great night’s sleep to your guests generates generous word of mouth and will eventually lead to repeat custom. Negative comments spread quite quickly and you could risk seeing a drop in new or repeat bookings. As the old adage goes, it can take a lifetime to build up a good reputation but only take minutes to destroy it.

Keep in mind that new contract beds will last you a good eight to ten year period. You will get maximum benefits from replacing the worn contract beds ASAP. Millbrook offers a service where your old hotel contract beds get picked-up and removed and the new replacements brought in. This will give you a minimum of hassle when it comes to the disposal of old and the delivery of new.

Of course, you may need advice on what types of beds to get. There are many blogs and articles on this site that can help you with almost any aspect of contract bed buying. We recommend you take a look at our previous blogs on Improving your fill rates and Contract beds for use in the UK hotel sector for more specific advice.

Alternatively, you can contact Millbrook Contract Beds directly. We are happy to give you holistic advice for free so you can help to maintain the best quality and standard of service in your business as possible.

No one was stirring not even a mouse – how to get your guests’ children to sleep on Christmas Eve

If you are expecting families taking a break at your hotel over Christmas, then you might like to give your guests some tips on how they will get their kids off to sleep. Christmas Eve can be exciting enough for children without the added thrill of staying away from home. Therefore, you might like to consider to a few ways in which your guests can settle their little ones down at bedtime.

Imagine the scenario from your guests’ perspective. They’ve arrived at the hotel and the kids are super excited. They’ve caught a glimpse of the presents as the car is unpacked and having seen the Christmas tree and heard the carol singers are now in a festive frenzy. So what is the best way to calm little ones down on possibly the most exciting night of their year?

Exercise

Well firstly, one obvious yet effective way to make kids tired is by ensuring that they get some exercise before bed. You could always suggest a family walk in the afternoon, or if your guests are arriving late then a scheduled swim at the hotel pool, perhaps involving a game of catch with an inflatable ball will ensure that the children are suitably exercised before bedtime.

Keep their routines

Your guests will, no doubt have set routines for getting their kids to sleep when they are at home, so why should they throw these out just because they are on holiday? Consider supplying the things needed for bedtime routines such as books, teddies and special night-lights to maintain consistency of routine between home and away.

Bedtime bath

A warm bath before bedtime is not only a natural watershed between evening and bedtime but also helps children to relax. Perhaps the warm water activates some subconscious memory of the womb and sooths them into feeling completely secure.

Warm milk

Offer your guests warm milky drinks for their children. A warm drink is not only relaxing but helps to settle the stomach. Moreover, milk contains calcium, magnesium and L-tryptophan, which all contribute to good sleep.

Reading

A book before bedtime enables children to focus their attention on one thing rather than the myriad other distractions that surround them.   Therefore, you might wish to consider selling children’s books for in the hotel shop or lobby.

Counting sheep

Likewise counting sheep might seem like a dumb idea, but again helps children to focus and meditate, enabling them reach a calmer state, in which they are able to feel sleepy.

Set a wake-up time

Suggest to your guests that the family agree a shared wake-up time, for example 7am, and provide a wake-up call to ensure that your children know that they must get a full night’s sleep before they are allowed to open their presents.

No laptops or tablets

One last piece of advice to give your guests is to suggest that children don’t use laptops or tablets to watch TV or play games before bed. It might seem obvious but they disrupt the bedtime routine. Moreover, the light from a laptop can trick the body into thinking it is still daytime, which can halt the secretion of the natural sleep drug melatonin, resulting in a huge delay in the time it takes to get to sleep.

So if your guests are worried about getting their little ones off to sleep then you might wish to consider a few of these ideas and suggestions as a way to ensure that your guests get the best night’s sleep possible on Christmas Eve and wake up feeling refreshed and excited for all that you have lined up for them the following day.

Visit our blog here at Millbrook Contract Beds again soon for more tips and advise for hoteliers and other hospitality news and information.

Rising costs and their effects on hotel contract beds

For those in the hospitality and healthcare industry, whether that’s as a large hotel owner, the healthcare management profession or indeed anywhere that has use for some kind of commercial bed it is probably not the best news to hear that the cost of cotton has been steadily rising since the beginning of this year and is now at an all time high.

In fact, to the end of November of last year, cotton itself rose by over 70% and this not surprisingly has had an effect on the cost of cotton sheets which go on contract beds, which now on average cost over 35% more than they did a year ago.

While this may seem trivial, when it comes to contract bed /commercial bed owners, this does put extra pressure on the budget, especially if you have a 100 bedroom hotel and need to replace the linen regularly or are a large, independent healthcare provider with a high demand on laundry services.

The reason it will put the pressure on is because your commercial laundry provider will potentially need to increase their prices to you  in order to sustain the same level of quality and service and for some, to even stay in business.

With industries that require a fairly substantial supply of cotton based essentials, it’s easy to see how this may affect a multitude of areas within your daily business running – and in particular the hotel industry  – which relies on positive feedback from clients to increase or sustain occupancy rates.

So, here at Millbrook Contract Beds, we thought it would be an idea to consider the impact of cotton price increases – so where possible, if you do need to replace materials, you’ll at least be able to save some money elsewhere and if you’re a smaller bed and breakfast owner, we’ve also come up with a few tips on looking after your linen – as it is most likely that you do a considerable amount of laundry yourself.

So, if you’re a larger business our best advice is to liaise closely with your laundry service provider as you may be able to agree things like fixed rates over a longer-term, which will help sustain their business but it will also sustain your quality of service.

After all, no one likes worn down towels or linen – we all want a bit of luxury so it’s in your interest to work with your laundry to help them stay in business!  This advice has been mirrored throughout the commercial bed sector, so it’s worth taking note!

If you’re a smaller bed and breakfast or healthcare management professional, then you can follow our short guide below and hopefully get a longer life from your towels, which will save you money over the course of the year and beyond.

So what can you do?

If you do need to replace your cotton towels / sheets, it’s far better to go for quality – so choosing things like Egyptian Cotton will keep your linen looking fresher for longer.

It may sound obvious, but it’s worth checking those labels BEFORE washing.  We know you’re busy, but assuming that cotton can be consistently washed on 60 degrees with no detrimental effect is probably not wise and therefore you may want to try and create a laundry regime that ensures your linen is rotated regularly.

One really good tip as well, is to use only half the detergent that the manufacturer recommends.  This may not seem sensible but very often residue is left if you use a lot of detergent which will reduce the lifespan of the cotton.

Also, avoid drying your towels fully in a tumble dryer.  This does wear down the cotton over time and will result in holes!

Finally, if you can (and we know this isn’t always possible) try and hang them for a natural drying session in the sunshine.  This is by far the best way to preserve your cotton for a lot longer.

Rebranding the hotel sector – Advice from Millbrook Contract Beds

It’s called Hotel Rebranding and it is a program like hotel refreshment that is implemented by many hotels – sometimes on a rolling schedule every 7 years or alternatively whenever it comes due.

London in a snapshot

So what is hotel rebranding?

Rebranding is different to refreshment as it is a bigger job and involves a lot of work including reassessing marketing strategies, aesthetics, design and its sector positioning. Room rates are usually increased during a hotel rebrand, and you are more likely to see bigger chains go through this process. It is a much more corporate approach to refurbishment and it is on a massive scale.

The process can involve creating new guest rooms out of redundant or unused space, replacing facilities such as bathrooms and communal areas, changing layouts, introducing new guest facilities and services, updating technologies and new entertainment capabilities.

Basically, this rebrand starts from the contract beds on up!

In a hotel rebrand it is possible to see so much change occur that the brand itself is reborn leaving no corner of the property untouched, from bedrooms to public areas to restaurants and event spaces.

However, due to the nature of upheaval and the cost of time and money, huge rebrands are not as common as hotel refreshments. As we are looking at the arrival of 2012 sooner rather than later, many hotels don’t have time to rebrand themselves like this.

What are Green Refurbishments all about?

Green refurbishments are in keeping with green policies that many hotels are adopting around the world. 30 per cent of hoteliers are looking to install more energy efficient green technology using renewable power for their properties. Sustainability has emerged in the last decade as a dominant trend in hospitality and hotel refurbishments. Guests are getting into a mindset where luxury ratings are simply not enough. A hotel’s green credentials go a long way to sealing the deal.

Many design principles being used or flirted with in the UK hotel sector include recycling water conservation, energy efficiency and maintenance/longevity.

Hotels Go Green

How can Millbrook Contract Beds help?

We provide a service to our customers that helps provide quality contract beds and contract bedroom furniture of the highest ilk to their operations. Our design philosophy is uncompromising in terms of how the beds are made, so you know you are getting the best of the best.

Many hotels and businesses come to us for our advice and our quality of product. In the build up to the big boom or bad bust year of 2012, Millbrook Contract Beds wants to be at the centre of the demand and in the thick of the action. If you are planning a hotel refurbishment, whether it is a refreshment of guest rooms and contract beds, or a major rebranding overhaul on everything, we know we can help. Contact Us for some impartial advice or you can always follow us on Twitter and like us on Facebook.

Special Discount

If you order upto the 31st of October, you can take advantage of the current 10% discount available for online purchases!  Just quote mcb10%oct12 at checkout to take advantage of it and save even more money!

Improve your star rating with the finest contract beds

For hoteliers, the star rating is of vital importance when marketing the business to potential guests. The star rating is a general indicator and reflection of the quality of the hotel itself, although individual circumstances must be taken into account.

The mainstay of any star rated hotel is the contract beds that are available to suit guest expectation and requirements.

The Five Star seal of approval

The Economy class of one-star hotels is essentially a no-frills deal. The rooms are usually small, the decor is functional and they generally cater to the budget travellers.

The Value class of two-star hotels are again, basic accommodation, perhaps offering private bathrooms and television, but all in all, limited amenities.

The Quality class of three-star establishments begin to take on a greater emphasis on a satisfying guest experience with on-site dining, additional hotel services such as baggage assistance and the guestrooms are certainly more extensive in what they offer to the guest.

The Superior class of four-star hotels offer concierge services, conference rooms, valet parking etc. But their stronghold are their luxury rooms with the added benefits of stylish furnishings, an extensive variety of amenities and most importantly of all, fine quality, high standard beds and bedding.

Finally, the Exceptional class of five-star hotels are considered the finest hotels in the world. They offer the highest possible standard of service with the embellishments of interior design stylistics, grand architectural aesthetic, an abundance of gourmet cuisines for fine dining and a fast track, 24-hour room service. The recreational facilities can be anything from friendly tennis courts to sprawling golf courses while the luxurious spa centres exemplify relaxation. But the guestrooms are the real prizes at five-star hotels. They are comprised of premium bedding with everything from high-speed internet access to widescreen TV’s and DVD players.

The hotels that do not manage to attain a star rating are often referred to as half-star hotels, which classify the hotels that have differing levels of amenities, property type and property-class characteristics, and varying degrees in the quality of service.

However, the class system does not mean that hotels below par with four and five star luxury hotels cannot provide fine quality contract beds for their guests. After all, contract beds are the most crucial element of any hotel room.

Millbrook contract beds offer a wide range of contract beds that have a proven track record for supplying comfort, luxury and pleasing aesthetics to the hotel and leisure industry. These contract beds help to provide the right holistic experience for guests. This guarantees to provide personal recommendations, which is the strongest arm of advertising available.

The star rated system for hotels factors in, in a very big way, the quality and comfort of the contract beds in each room. Guests expect and demand that more than any other aspect of their hotel stays.

If you are a hotelier looking to increase your bookings, or if you are indeed looking to climb that hotel star ladder and improve your quality of service, amenities and overall excellence, start in the guestrooms with the contract beds.

Millbrook contracts beds’ International collection is tailored to hotel services specifically;

The President is top of the range. It has individually hand nested pocket springs and a choice of comfort levels. Mattresses come available in standard or firmer comfort while there is a choice of base, leg and fabric options. The materials consist of quality fire retardant woven damask upholstery and extravagant fillings which include pure cotton, durable polyester and luxury pashmina. It’s not called The President for nothing. It’s fit for one.

The President contract bed

As a hotelier, of course, budget must be a consideration. If you have thirty rooms to fill with thirty new beds, you need to make an investment. The only way to increase star rating is by upping your game and the standard of the hotel, and that costs money. When it comes to the contract beds, Millbrook deals so regularly with the hotel industry that the prices and deals are incredibly reasonable. There is no need to worry about accentuated or spiralling costs if you know who to come to.

The Hotel contract bed is a popular choice for many hotels, hence its name. It has open coil spring and a deep mattress. It is the classic firm option bed with fresh, practical hardwearing 100% cotton upholstery and a choice of leg and fabric options on the divan base. Mattresses are available in the custom style of standard comfort. It is practical, comfortable and affordable.

The Hotel contract bed

A star rating means status, it means standards, it means quality, it makes people want to stay with you. If you’re a half-star looking to become a one-star or a one-star looking to become a two-star and so on, you can achieve this only by starting by developing what is at the heart of your business, and that is the guest experience. All guests measure their hotel experiences by the quality of sleep they had and the quality of the contract bed they slept in.

Hotel interior design options Part 1 – the Millbrook Contract Beds way

What are the benefits of hotel interior design? That’s the question that comes up quite a bit amongst the hotelier community when assigning limitations or increases on their budgets towards the process. Many consider hotel interior design as a one way expense, yet this couldn’t be further from the truth.

Admittedly, for some hotels there isn’t much need for a change-up in interiors and contract bedroom furniture, perhaps because they have recently undertaken refurbishments or there is nothing that really needs to be replaced or replenished at the time. However, there are many hotels in the hospitality industry that do need to undertake some serious interior design solutions.

Ask any hotel that has gone through the redesign process and they can tell you – a refurbishment can repay dividends; especially when you do it the Millbrook Contract Beds way!

An introduction to the Millbrook Contract Beds Way

Our 60 years of experience supplying the hospitality industry with contract beds gives us plenty to base our advice on. Hotel interior design is a highly important element of maintaining a consistent level of customer satisfaction. In our opinion, the better the standards of aesthetic, quality, service options and variety, the happier your guests will be.

But how do you do it effectively?

If you have read any of our blogs on maintaining contract bedroom furniture, specifically contract beds, you will know how to check for signs of wear & tare. It is important to know what needs replacing and when!

You want to find a balance between operational functionality and aesthetics. Through getting these two areas right you can conjure an ambience reflective of your hotel brand and experience. It really makes a difference if you want to stand out from the competition. Every hotel, B&B, guesthouse and residence has its own unique flavour and signature. You must recognise what it is that makes your business different and optimise the strengths inherent within that. For instance, perhaps your hotel has a running theme of medieval features from four-poster contract beds in every room to candle chandeliers hanging from the ceilings. It might be merely a quirk of the hotel interior design or it could be its defining feature, but you want to make sure you have fully optimised these qualities to stand-out and represent your unique selling points.

Your best course of action is to take inventory throughout the hotel and explore just what needs to be refurbished:

• #Guest rooms
• #Corridors
• #Reception
• #Dining room
• #Bar
• #Gym
• #Spa
• #Other

Once you have taken not of what needs the work done (if not the whole hotel) you can start drawing up design plans.

In the next part of this blog we will go into greater detail of the hotel interior design process in order to help you navigate your way through what needs to be done.

Contact Us at Millbrook Contract Beds for information on your contract beds and for impartial advice on contract bedroom furniture. Follow us on Twitter and Facebook to stay in step with our community.