Take advantage of the Christmas period to refresh your contract beds

The approach of the new year means that you can look at your business with a fresh pair of eyes. You can start to consider how you might improve the accommodations and contract beds to attract more prospective tenants or guests. Millbrook Contract Beds believes that the hospitality industry and student accommodation can benefit from getting rid of any bedroom furniture to give a new lease of life to the room. You can take this opportunity to start replacing any contract beds that are near the end of their life; no-one likes sleeping on an old and uncomfortable contract bed! Continue reading »

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.

A hoteliers guide to the 2012 Olympics Part 1

The first question we have to ask is;

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.

A bed fit for a Queen

With the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee just around the corner Millbrook Contract Beds thought it would be fun to look into just how the Queen lives it up when she travels the country (and others) during this momentous period in her history, and indeed Great Britain’s.

When she’s on the move, Queen Elizabeth II tends to stay in the best of the best (of course) and she’s not one for being stingy on the accommodation. The best of the best usually is a travelling accommodation train that goes with her everywhere, servants and all. It’s more exclusive than the Orient Express. The Royal Train is her home-away-from-home. It’s nine coaches long and can be alternated in number to suit the occasion.

The Queen’s quarters is over 30 years old and was brought into service back when the Silver Jubilee took place in 1977.

It has a bedroom, decorated in light pastel shades, with a 3ft-wide single bed in one corner made up with cotton sheets and woollen blankets. Amazingly and surprisingly there are no double beds on board – or no Queen-size beds as it were (hehe). The bedroom has its own en-suite too. Sounds pretty posh. However, if you look at a photo of the quarters (pictured below) you’ll see that it really is quite a humble little package and not as garish and decadent as one might imagine it to be.

Privacy is maintained by the curtains at every window and net drapes that enable the Queen to look out but which prevent anyone looking in. Her view changes from day-to-day, wherever they are heading becomes her knew outlook. There are double doors on both sides of the carriage so that the Queen can disembark in style.

It’s an enviable way of travelling; who wouldn’t want to have their own train service and private entourage with them everywhere they went?

This kind of luxury is not exclusive to Queen Elizabeth II of course. Many hotels and estates also pride themselves on luxury accommodation – some of which charge thousands of pounds per night. These are the ultimate high-end hotels of the world that cater to the super-wealthy, and where people like us will never even glimpse the inner-sanctums unless we were to win the lottery!

We’ve worked with a few of this high-end brands and our equivalent, contract bed wise, would be something like The President or The Club Class – contract beds designed to be fit for royalty but catering to anyone and everyone.

Beds that are fit for a Queen certainly are not hard to come by here at Millbrook. So it’s with great pride that we salute The Queen on her Jubilee tour and to all those of you who plan to enjoy the Jubilee weekend in style and comfort.

Refreshing the hotel sector for 2012 – Advice from Millbrook Contract Beds

With the 2012 Olympics on the way a recent survey conducted across UK hotels has helped to quantify the anticipation for it as a good year for the British hospitality industry. What it seems to represent is the chance for building up and bringing back business to a fluctuating economical climate. The hospitality industry has been suffering from these shockwaves over the past few years. Continue reading »

Are you upgrading your hotel contract beds for the London 2012 Olympics?

The Olympics are coming to London!  The world’s most revered sporting event is being hosted here in the UK for the first time since 1948, and we at Millbrook Contract Beds think every potential 400m runner or long jumper out there deserves a comfortable place to rest those tired legs after an exhausting practice session.  We spotted an opportunity for all of our customers, especially in the hotel industry, to make the most of this… Continue reading »

Changing rooms – Give your hotel a make-over with good quality contract bedroom furniture

In the world of hoteliers there should always be an emphasis on quality. As far as contract bedroom furniture goes, Millbrook Contract Beds likes to be at the top of the game. We decided to take a look at the hospitality industry and explore just what really constitutes genuine quality commercial beds and commercial furniture.

To thrive in these hard times a hotel needs to be different and have something ‘extra’ to offer beyond the standard trimmings. This is what gives a hotel the upper hand in very competitive times. So if you are looking to become a leader in quality, on whatever scale you are operating on, it’s time to face up to the state of your premises, the aesthetics of the place and its commercial furniture!

Individuality between hotels, B&B’s and boutiques should be a high priority and can make all the difference when it comes to profit margins. It’s vital to be able to stand out from the crowd – see our previous blog on Boutique Hotels HERE for more information on how uniqueness and niche qualities will be of great benefit in the coming months.

Hotel rooms consist of your standard contract bedroom furniture from wardrobes to desks to chairs to beds. Everything in these rooms should be thoroughly maintained without any excuses. Guests demand bang for their buck! As a contract bed supplier, Millbrook is an authority on this particular matter.

Take a fresh look at your hotel and recognise where its weaknesses lie. A majority of the problems begin with design and facilities, but the one aspect of a hotel that should never be subpar is the quality of the furniture. If your contract beds are lousy, your guest experience is lousy too, no matter how much you pride yourself on good service. Real good service begins with making it a place fit for people to sleep!

So take that look around and imagine yourself as a customer coming in to book a room. Ask yourself; “Would I want to sleep here for the night?” Try out the rooms, sit and lie down on the bed, experience your hotel from the other side. We can’t stress enough how much difference a bed makes to a hotel room.

Our contract bed ranges have been developed and manufactured to suit a variety of industries from healthcare to academic. The International Collection is very much targeted towards the hospitality sector and the International contract beds very much reflect that in their function and design. What makes our contract bedroom furniture superior to our competitors is that all beds are hand-crafted with individually wrapped springs and are made from the finest materials. Due to our design philosophy our beds such as The Hotel contract bed, The Executive, The Club Class and The President are tailor-made for hotels looking to offer that extra “something.”

For hotels on tight budgets it may come down to a choice of only being financially able to replenish or improve certain aspects of the hotel. Think about what you can accomplish on the budget you have and what would create a better guest experience. Style, comfort and cleanliness are top considerations to take into account. There’s nothing worse than an institutional hotel so don’t underestimate layout and colour scheme either.

Give your hotel a make-over with new contract bedroom furniture, experiment with colour, keep it immaculate and put an emphasis on providing the best guest experience you possibly can. That’s the secret to making a hotel stand-out.

Contact Us for more information on our contract bed ranges and don’t forget you can follow us on Twitter or like us on Facebook.

A Contract Bed Guide – Millbrook Blog Recap Part 6

Millbrook Contract Beds has been blogging for a long time now. We thought that it would pertinent to recap what we have covered in order to create a index for readers to use as a contract bed guide. Our blog is more comprehensive than any FAQ section you could ever hope for!

This series has provided an insight into how we operate, who our products are designed for and what benefits they can offer different industries from hospitality to academic industries. To catch yourself up on where we are at in the series you can read PART 1 HERE, PART 2 HERE, PART 3 HERE and PART 4 HERE.

So to continue where we left off from Blog Recap PART 5:

33. A Contract Bed Guide for Hoteliers: Establishing Need

This blog provided an insightful guide into how best to use contract beds for hotel industries that are required to meet high standards all year around. This was Part 1 of a 2 part series.

34. A Contract Bed Guide for Hoteliers: Meeting Demand

The sequel to “Establishing Need” required a deeper investigation of how to identify problems and assess quality control within the scope of a hotel and leisure business. The conclusion drawn from what was important to test and check on contract beds was ultimately their degree of comfort, age and suitability.

35. Hotel contract bed range – The President

The start of a new blog series began by tackling the inherent importance of each contract bed offered in the Millbrook range. We got the ball rolling by addressing the International Collection and putting one of our most popular contract beds at the forefront – The President. The bed was profiled and its features explored. While we have covered the Millbrook ranges before, we never had gone into as much detail before.

36. Hotel contract bed range – The Executive

And so the series continued… in profile this time was The Executive contract bed. A high quality design with benefits that could only be effectively optimised by Millbrook’s handcrafted design philosophy.

37. Hotel contract bed range – The Club Class

Next on the list of International Collection contract beds in profile was The Club Class. This blog discussed the flexibility and the materials of this bed and why it was so special.

38. Hotel contract bed range – The Hotel

The Hotel contract bed was next under the Millbrook blog microscope and was studied exhaustively in detail to find out why it’s apt title was so… well, apt. The profile on The Hotel bed rounded off the first part of this blog series and in so doing brought the exploration of our International Collection to a grand close for the final time.

39. Rising costs and their effects on hotel contract beds

This blog addressed the current economic climate and went on to assess the effects of a downturn on the hotel and hospitality industry. The goal was to provide advice on how to keep a business’ costs down.

And that is where we leave you for this part in the Millbrook contract beds blog series. We’ve thrown down the gauntlet here and there is still much to cover across our blog spectrum.

If you can’t find what you’re looking for in our blog feel free to Contact Us for further information or alternatively you can follow us on Twitter or like us on Facebook. Don’t hesitate to ask for our help.

A Contract Bed Guide – Millbrook Blog Recap Part 1

Millbrook contract beds started blogging back in December of 2010 in an effort to raise awareness of our products and to impart useful information on sleep related matters for the service industries from hospitality to healthcare to academic. In that time we have covered a variety of subjects amongst the industries that we supply contract beds to.

Nine months later…

We wanted to take a look back and provide a refresher summary on what we have covered over the past months and the advice we have imparted to you. This also helps to act as an index for those that might be looking for specific details or information on Millbrook’s products and services. The objective has always been to offer information and facts about contract beds, as well as providing case studies, research and key factors for businesses who are interested in buying contract beds that are of good quality yet value for money.

So let’s start at the beginning in this new series of retrospective blogs on where we have taken you and what we have imparted along the way:

1. Contract Beds – Some information for the hospitality industry by Millbrook Contract Beds:

Our introductory blog helped us to establish our experience and provided basic guidance for the hotel industry and contract bedroom furniture. This blog lays the foundations for clarifying our standing and position as an experienced bed supplier for the hospitality and leisure industries.

2. Cruise your way to a luxury night’s sleep:

Providing a guide for luxury liners was the next step. Our contract bed are not just for stationary use – they can be used on some of the biggest and most exciting pleasure vessels on the planet. The emphasis is on how to help people to have a luxury night’s sleep whilst constantly in motion at sea.

3. Sleeping Soundly:

This blog addressed the issues of sleep deprivation and how to combat the effects through testing your beds.

4. Some key information from Millbrook Contract Beds:

The key information being imparted in this blog was to explain what exactly you can find inside mattresses and what the uses of the materials can do for the sleeper.

5. Contract beds and their mattresses – a guide for every industry:

The blog before explained what was inside the mattresses of contract beds; this blog focused on the outside discussing the upholstery techniques and fillings used to offer premium support and comfort to the user.

6. Contract beds and their bases:

Millbrook wanted to breakdown the contract bed designs so that people could understand just how they were put together. This blog concentrated on the bed bases and what you needed to know in order to distinguish them from one another. The focus was on The President contract bed.

7. Contract beds in the UK and the ranges available:

The progression in our blogging took us towards discussing our specific ranges here at Millbrook; taking a detailed look at the actual contract beds, as well as their uses for their in terms of industry. A profile for The Executive contract bed was formed to give a perspective on its features and benefits for hotel industries.

This concludes the first part in our look back at Millbrook contract beds blog archives. If you need advice or further information that you can’t find in our blog then please Contact Us and we will gladly help you in your queries.

Alternatively, you can follow us on Twitter or like us on Facebook.

Made with love – How Millbrook’s contract beds are put together

Millbrook Contract Beds asks you to think about the difference between a hand-made suit made especially for you and a cheap, machine-made off-the-rack design. One looks smooth and sharp, fits like a glove, feels immensely comfortable and impresses anyone that comes across it. The other looks basic and badly fitted, feels itchy and tight and gives the impression you don’t really pay much attention to the details or quality control.

The same is true of a bed.

Stick a budget-price industrially made bed in a hotel room and you could cheapen the whole feel of the room. That’s before you even go into the dangers of subjecting picky, fault-finding guests to an uncomfortable night’s sleep.

Contract beds, on the other hand, have been lovingly put together by master craftsmen. It’s a long process with many different stages, but the benefits of hand-made beds are evident; both the look and feel of a contract bed give an aura of luxury unparalleled by even the most expensive machine-built alternatives.

Of course the secrets of how contract beds are made and exactly how they differ from normal beds are not something most people will have a clue about. Without knowing what it is about the building process that puts a contract bed a cut above the rest, how can anyone be expected to really understand the value of opting for one of Millbrook’s hand-crafted contract bed creations?

In order to enlighten you on what makes our beds so special, we’ve decided to fill you in on just how each of the majestic beds in our collections get made.

Probably the most important part to get right in order to make a bed as cosy and comfy as possible is the mattress. Millbrook uses two different techniques within our range of contract beds when it comes to mattresses; open coil springs and pocketed springs.

Open coil spring mattresses such as those on the Hotel Class contract beds (aka International Collection) are constructed using interlinked metal springs to provide a strong and sturdy supporting base for a sleepy guest. Pocket springs like those on the Executive and President Class contract beds are a more decadent option still. With these, thousands of tiny springs are individually contained in little pockets to allow specific regions of the mattress to yield slightly under the weight of the sleeper, taking pressure off the muscles and joints.

The President contract bed

The Executive contract bed

Once the springs are set in place, Millbrook’s mattresses are stuffed with an array of sumptuous fillings including pure cotton and soft pashmina for extra snugness. They are also upholstered in your choice of fine fabric and finished with hand stitched detailing including turning handles at the edges to speed up the turnaround time for cleaning rooms.

Each of these beautifully made mattresses will then be placed atop a hand-built contract bed-frame made to fit your own requirements with a variety of base and leg options, including the possibility to include under-bed drawers. Since our contract beds are hand-crafted, we can even make non-standard sizes to perfectly fit your available space, or zip & link designs to give you more flexibility when booking out your hotel rooms or academic halls.

It is perhaps these extra options, as well as the extreme levels of attention to detail that go into making any of Millbrook’s contract beds, that really distinguishes them from a mass-made bed. That’s why in a competitive industry where small details can make a big difference to the experience of the customer, a contract bed really could be the key to luring in those crucial new clients.

For further information on what goes into our contract beds or for any bed buying advice feel free to Contact Us and we’ll give you all the help you will need in this area. Remember, you can also follow us on Twitter and like us on Facebook where we dispense quality sleep and bed advice.