The question was stated; Are we ready?

The answer resoundingly seems like yes from the hotel sector. Other sectors of the tourism industry are looking to reap dividends from 2012. Estimations see restaurants and caterers will be providing over 18 million meals to athletes and visitors. That’s a lot of goods and services that will need to be prepped and ready to go in time – in turn it means that there will be a lot of revenue generated in return. The hopes of the UK hospitality industry are that this will reinvigorate and revitalise the UK economy.

As a contract bed supplier we are very much interested to see the outcome of all the build-up, supply and demand, but we also need to anticipate it. Contract bedroom furniture will be in ever greater supply come the start of the Games.

What can hoteliers expect from 2012 Olympic Games in the UK?

Well, the Olympics are set to strengthen the UK hotel industry by fostering more public-private partnerships. The long-term effects of such partnerships will have a powerful knock-on effect throughout 2012 and beyond; increasing tourism and perpetuating a long-term legacy of the Olympic event for years to come. It will be a boost to the economy and the UK’s international image.

Prime Minister David Cameron pledged his support to making this event a success, placing the hospitality and leisure industry at the forefront of the country’s economic recovery. The government’s view is that the Olympic Games will act as a catalyst for this new business environment, particularly with substantial investments made to infrastructure and regenerating areas of London.

The end game here is to strengthen “Brand Britain,” which means opportunity will be knocking for almost all hoteliers.

How can hoteliers maximise this opportunity?

As with any opportunity, to take it with both hands requires work; striving to uphold the quality and finest standards of customer service. If the 2012 Olympics is to be a global event about the quality and hard work apparent in international sportsmanship, then the hospitality industry must measure up and reflect those same standards.

Millbrook Contract Beds has been supplying contract beds to this sector for the better part of 60 years. Our experience has taught us that quality has a trigger effect on everything that comes after it. If we as a nation of industry wish to be held in high regard, then we must continue to aim for the very best.

Hotels need their facilities and amenities to match-up to this. Contract beds and contract bedroom furniture are essential ingredients to this success. The quality of our contract beds and contract bedroom furniture measure up to expectations every single time, so if you’re looking to create the right aesthetic and comfort levels for the approaching waves of Olympic visitors – Contact Us to ensure that 2012 is just as big a success for your business as it will be for the country’s economy.

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Are we ready?

The 2012 Olympics are only a blink of an eye away and the UK hospitality industry will be caught up right in the middle of events. It’s going to be a big year for the UK economy.

As a contract bed supplier, we here at Millbrook Contract Beds thought it was time to delve into matters by addressing the expectations and possibilities of next year’s radical shake-up of approaching trade. As demand for more space, rooms and beds goes up, so too will our responsibilities. We have a duty to our customers to deliver the finest quality hand-crafted contract beds in time for this boom.

As far as research into matters are concerned, studies and predictions have yielded positive results. UK hoteliers will need to position themselves in order to capitalise and meet the large demands ahead. Those based out of London from the small independent hotels to the large franchises will be in the thick of it, although the Olympic Games will spread far and wide around the country.

Current projections have speculated that London should expect 350,000 foreign visitors per day during the Olympic period.  At this point in time the UK hospitality industry is well-equipped to absorb this increased demand thanks to the creation of an extra 13,000 rooms in the region.

To help meet this demand there will be need for beds. Lots of beds.

That’s where Millbrook comes in.

Our mission has always been to equip hotels and residences with all the contract beds they can handle. It’s been our speciality for over 60 years. 2012 will be just another notch on our belt. For those area specific hotels, guest houses and B&B’s that will be looking to reap the dividends of such a prosperous influx, they will be needing quality contract bedroom furniture.

Our International Collection was tailor made for this kind of situation with The President and The Executive providing fine quality sleep experiences for tourists, guests, visitors and even competitors. In a previous blog we even addressed the 2012 Olympics revelation that beds were being custom built for athletes in order to provide them with the ideal night’s rest!

The Executive contract beds

What makes a hotel worth satying in is how good the guest experience is. What makes a guest experience so satisfying is the quality of the services and facilities and the comfort of the beds. It’s a no-brainer really and it’s not like we haven’t covered this in detail in the past.

Operators are quite rightly preparing themselves for a long, hard but ultimately profitable summer next year. Estimations predict that caterers and restaurants will be providing over 18 million meals to athletes and visitors during the event. That’s a lot of people making plans to come and stay with us here in the UK.

Optimists think that the 2012 Olympics is very likely to strengthen the UK hotel industry and the overall UK economy due to its fostering of more public-private partnerships. If all goes according to plan then we should be looking at a more robust, government-backed business environment for operators in general.

It looks set to be a very busy, but very successful 2012. Just make sure that you have covered your bases and that you are supplying the right contract beds so that you optimise your guest experience for one of the most important years in the hospitality industry for a very long time.

Part 2 in this Olympic blog series is coming soon. In the meantime follow us on Twitter and like us on Facebook.

The guests started booking their places months ago and the big hotel franchises are already beginning to turn away customers as they are booked out. If you want to compete on this level you have to step-up to their level!

Provide your guests with the best you can possibly give them. Invest in your hotel facilities and accommodations in order to bring in bigger and better business. It’s really that simple. Our specialty is of course contract beds, but that in no way overshadows the other elements of a hotel that need to be maintained or improved upon.

That said, hoteliers know that the quality of their hotel contract beds can mean the difference between a satisfied customer and a complaint. Sleep is an important factor in everyone’s lives and it is especially important for the hotel industry where positive customer satisfaction is crucial to a successful business. The hotel contract beds make all the difference by providing a focal point for any room and assist in creating the perfect holistic experience for guests. Word of mouth spreads if you provide a satisfying enough experience.

There’s still time to get those tongues wagging!

Busy hotels often need contract beds that offer longevity, universal comfort and versatility. Millbrook’s International Collection predominantly caters to hotel businesses with a range of sizes and a variety of options that can be customised to suit the practical and aesthetic requirements of individual hotel brands. If you are willing to offer the best in your hotel rooms then guests will want to stay with you for the duration of the Olympic Games.

Millbrook supplies its contract beds to businesses large and small where the quality and value of our designs can suit high end hotel chains or smaller independent bed and breakfasts. We know what makes a good contract bed, how to tailor them to the hospitality industry’s needs and how to ensure that they give a good night’s sleep to its guests.

Millbrook Contract Beds has been in the bed manufacturing game for more than 60 years and we understand this industry more than any other hotel contract bed supplier. Trust us to help you bring in more customer satisfaction and up your street cred in time for the biggest event in the world this year!

To ensure that you supply hotel contract beds that meet the expectations of guests you need to think about what it is that they are looking for when it comes to a peaceful night’s sleep.

In this blog we’ll do some of thinking for you…

Think about your own sleeping arrangements and ask yourself:

–What kind of bed do you have? Are you a single person in a single bed? Or do you share a double bed with a partner? Or are you lucky enough to have it all to yourself?

–Is it a firm or soft mattress?

–Was the bed base sold separately or did it come with the mattress as a complete unit?

–Do you sleep well in it or do you toss and turn during the night?

–Do you get to read in bed at night with your back up against a soft, quilted headboard?

What applies to your own sleep can generally be applied to others. If your bed keeps you up nights, lacks the right comfort levels, creaks when you move in it, or seems to cause any body ache or back pain, then you have to concede defeat and get a new bed.

This same process applies to the hotel beds and contract beds that you use for business purposes. Hotels are rated, in part, on the basis of the quality of contract bedroom furniture in the rooms. If the contract beds don’t meet your own standards, or to put a finer point on it; if you as a hotelier, landlord, carer or residence manager wouldn’t sleep in it, why should any of your guests?

A person’s most naturally happy state is when they are asleep in a bed, which is why the contract beds you use need to be of the highest quality. Consider the key factors just as you would if you were selecting your own bed:

–SIZES: Single beds are approx. 3ft x 6ft 3inches; Double beds are approx; 4ft 6inches by 6ft 3inches; King size beds are approx; 5ft x 6ft 6inches; Super King size beds are approx; 6ft x 6ft 6inches.

–ADJUSTABILITY: if you deal with the elderly or sick on a regular basis, adjustable beds with remotes and five way adjustable actions must be considered. Read our blog on the importance of adjustable beds.

–BED BASE AND MATTRESS COMFORT LEVELS: Firm options, soft options, the only way to know what works is to try them out.

–DURABILITY: Will it pass the 7-10 year mark? Think about warranties

–SPACE: Zip & Link options that allow you to turn double rooms into twin rooms. Also consider contract beds that can save space in general. The Academic Collection was designed for this very purpose.

–SUPPORT: Remember, a person’s back is something that needs to be supported, especially during sleep. Contract bed bases are the key ingredient to assisting in this area. A lot of people forget about the importance of the bed-frame itself and the headboard. The strength of a bed depends almost entirely on the frame that supports it.

All commercial industries that supply accommodation of some kind should avoid entirely hand-me-down-mattresses at all costs. The only reason someone is getting rid of an old bed is because it is no longer comfortable or durable.

So think of your own sleeping environment and your own bed. Then think about the quality of comfort that you supply to customers, guests and residents. If it’s not good enough for you to sleep in, it’s not good enough for them.

For further information on hotel contract beds information please Contact Us or alternatively follow us on Twitter or like us on Facebook.

With the country preparing to host the 2012 games, isn’t it about time you considered an upgrade in the accommodation department?  The world will be watching, and an influx of international guests is expected as tickets run low.  But after a long day of watching energetic world-class athletes competing for gold, where will the spectators rest their weary heads?  Look no further; our International Collection has something sure to tickle your fancy, whether you’re catering for visiting VIPs or guests on a bit tighter budget. Quality hotel contract beds are an essential mainstay of any hotel. Remember, we can even take your old beds away and save you the trouble of arranging removals.

Always a popular choice for the hotel industry, The Hotel offers a classic firm mattress on a divan base and is available with a choice of fabrics and leg options – so don’t hesitate to contact us with any custom requirements!  Starting at £150, these are the perfect option to furnish rooms for guests with a bargain in mind.

The Hotel contract bed

Looking for that touch of additional comfort?  You should consider investing in a pocket-sprung bed or two.  They provide superior support, even for couples of differing weights – and would give an Olympic-quality night’s sleep to the skinniest gymnast even if sharing a bed with the bulkiest of heavyweight boxers!  Pocket springs are a standard installment with The Club Class and The Executive, with 1000 and 1400 individual springs respectively.  Starting at £199 and £215, these mid-price high-comfort beds are ideal for any prospective Olympians or keen spectators, and come with a variety of base, leg and fabric options as well as a choice of mattress; contact us for details on the available combinations.

Preparing a presidential suite?  Need to inject that extra dose of pure luxury?  Take a look at The President, our top-of-the-range choice.  With an indulgent range of fabrics and materials in addition to the standard base, leg and fabric customisations, The President leads the pack when it comes to quality.  2000 individual pocket springs ensure a comfortable sleep, and fillings of cotton, polyester and pashmina really do make this choice stand out from the crowd.

The President contract bed

Don’t forget to see our sleep tips elsewhere in this blog for advice on making the most of your purchases, whatever your budget.  One final point to remember: because all of our beds are individually hand-made, we can craft them to any specific requirements you may have.  Let us know what specifications are needed and we’ll put our 60+ years of expertise into practice to provide you with an efficient solution for your hotel contract beds.  We can’t guarantee Olympic gold, but we can set the gold standard for quality and service.

This is the perfect time for UK hoteliers to start thinking about how to approach the coming influx of business to the country, particularly the nation’s capital, and the best ways to maximise capacity potential and optimise aesthetic and practical considerations.

So where to start?

We mentioned contract beds (that being our speciality of course!) as one of the defining features of a hotel experience. So make sure your beds are checked and replenished if necessary. Do not underestimate the power of contract bedroom furniture! We cannot stress this enough. Millbrook Contract Beds has been in the business of sleep and supplying quality bedroom furniture for hotels, academic residences and healthcare industries for over 60 years. We know what we’re talking about!

Beyond the beds we think the importance of recognising your own hotel brand and how it caters to guests is the first step to formulating a working plan. So consider the before-and-after impact of the Olympics as in pre and post visits/stays. It’s set to be a busy year in general, which while an excellent prospect, will be an intensive experience in terms of occupancy volume. Of course, plenty of London hotels have models in place designed to engage with high occupancy. If your hotel business is located in those pockets of activity located near Olympic venues they will be very much well-positioned to experience this boom period.

Create a unique experience, a unique atmosphere. It really is of fundamental importance that the UK hotel industry recognises the opportunity here. It has to step up and be able to offer a first-class welcome and quality service to what could possibly be new, exciting inbound markets from all over the world.

You don’t need to think of this as a short term investment, the benefits of London Olympics will continue beyond with surges of interest in the country (a la the Royal Wedding of 2011) and hopefully a steady rise of inbound visitors from all across the map. The overall opportunity being presented to the hoteliers of London and the UK is a big one.

We have covered Hotel Refreshment and Hotel Rebranding in previous blogs giving rundowns on how to redesign a hotel and re-position in for successful custom time and again. It is all about thinking strategically and planning ahead, not just for the Olympics but far beyond that! Reinforcing Brand Britain requires an investment of money and time into your own product.

Read back through our blog to find the best tips we have researched on how to optimise your business’ potential now and for the future. Help to build a fresh awareness of the UK as a country worth visiting, as a place worth exploring and as a nation worth staying in, if only for a few weeks.

Start the work to refresh, refine and rebrand your hotels now! You know who to come to if you are looking for quality hotel contract beds. Contact us for more information on our contract bed ranges.

According to recent projections and studies carried out, the boutique hotel sector is set to lead the way as the UK hotel industry lurches into recovery. The research has revealed that boutique is the fastest growing hotel segment in London right now and is set to nearly double in size by 2013.

The emergence of boutique hotels became common in the 1980’s within major cities like London and New York. Their purpose was to offer an intimate, unique hotel experience and environment that was as good as anything a franchise could offer but with its own flavour and sense of character.

Accommodation was personalised as was the services and facilities, sometimes with themed or stylish qualities to them. For many years the boutiques battled it out with the big brands until they themselves became enfranchised, losing some degree of that uniqueness that made so popular to begin with.

Somewhere along the way, boutique hotels have began to return to their roots. Since the economic climate shifted, boutique hotels have actually gone through a period of expansion not recession. They are more popular now than they ever were before, which begs the question; will it last?

According to reports the answer is very much definitely “Yes!”

As a contract bed supplier, Millbrook Contract Beds is incredibly supportive of these developments. Boutique hotels can be a more accurate representation and ambassador, come the 2012 Olympics next year, to a place and time than the large franchises.

Maintaining that degree of uniqueness for each boutique means having its own identity. Due to strong competition (what else is new in hospitality?), the boutique hotel sector needs to work harder to separate their services and alternative guest experiences from the mainstream hotel markets. This seems to be of greater appeal to travellers, tourists and guests in this day and age.

Millbrook Contract Beds has always kept its finger on the pulse when it comes to customer satisfaction and delivering products and services that ultimately benefit and reward them, which is why as the demand for boutique hotels increase, so too will boutique hotel standards of quality become of greater importance.

To prosper in 2013, boutique hotels, especially in the capital, need to nurture quality as if the future depended on it. People are asking if the boutique hotel sector can live up to this “boom market” hype and if it can really perform in the big leagues.

Millbrook Contract Beds believes it can! And will. Just you wait and see…

For some though, it seems even the most generous standard-sized bed doesn’t quite cut it, which is why Millbrook Contract Beds has maintained its 60 year + design philosophy to meet this kind of demand.

A recent news article claims the Jamaican team for the London 2012 Olympics will be lucky enough to enjoy specially-ordered supersize contract beds to give them the best possible chances in the largest sporting event to hit the UK for decades.

London 2012 Olympics

Spokespeople say a comfier night’s rest is not the main reason for the gigantic beds however; instead their first priority was to protect the team’s unusually tall competitors from nocturnal injuries acquired from falling out of too-small beds!

If this idea catches on with other Olympic teams, the UK hospitality industry could see a massive increase in the demand for bigger-than-ever hotel contract beds, and will need to plan ahead to make sure they have the facilities to accommodate such prestigious international guests.

Luckily, all of Millbrook’s dedicated range of contract beds from our International Collection have been designed especially with hotel rooms in mind and come in a huge range of sizing options. What’s more, not only do our massive 6’0’’ by 6’6’’ Super King size styles start at the incredibly competitive price of just £299, but we also offer the option of custom sized contract beds to cater to every guest, no matter how tall. Contract bedroom furniture can always be tailored to suit individual requirements at Millbrook.

Millbrook's International Collection hotel contract beds

In addition, we even supply a zip and link variety on our Super King beds, which gives you the ability to quickly convert a Super King room into a twin room and increase the flexibility of your room hire options. Hotel beds need to be flexible for a wide variety of guests after all.

Once you’ve decided on the size requirements for your new contract beds, the only choice left is the style; from the sumptuous President model right down to the high-quality yet economical Hotel model. If you have the most distinguished Olympic guests specifically in mind, we recommend either the Executive or President Contract bed, as each can be made in a range of firmness levels to perfectly suit the physical requirements of even the most sensitive bodies.

The Executive contract beds

A choice of base, leg and fabric options also means there’s a style to suit every existing hotel room decor scheme to give each suite a more cohesive, elegant feel. With a multitude of high-profile international guests set to jet in next year for this huge sporting ceremony, clearly the need to present a superior-quality image becomes even greater given the effect it could have on your hotel’s international reputation.

In an industry where a good night’s sleep could make all the difference to the performance of each competitor, now is the time to ensure your hotel leaves the right impression by furnishing your rooms with hotel contract beds of the perfect size. If you would like more information on our ranges or just some general bed buying advice please Contact Us.