Let’s balance all the considerations that go into a beautiful, functional, and durable hospitality design project. Of course, financial considerations delineate what’s possible and what’s realistic. But hotel furniture can be engineered and manufactured to meet your desired quality and aesthetic appeal standards.
Here’s how to get on the same page with your custom furniture manufacturer to achieve a hospitality design that stands the test of time.
Designing for Longevity: Trendy Hotel Furniture that Stands the Test of Time
Keep in mind: Longevity has different definitions when it comes to the respective franchise and boutique markets. Franchise hospitality models may change directions in 8-10 years to meet corporate aspirations. Boutique hospitality models, tethered only by the height of their ambitions and budgets needed to get them there, typically have the luxury of squeezing a few more years out of their concepts.
Wherever you fit in the hospitality world, let’s start working toward that strong ROI with the following ideas in mind.
1. Great Projects Start with Great Drawings
Did the inspiration for your design come from an eye-popping magazine photo? Or, as we like to say, did it begin as a napkin sketch?
Well, that’s a good start. Let’s turn those into detailed, engineered drawings that guide furniture dimensions and room layout. Visualizing custom hotel furniture in your grand design scheme first requires a solid comprehension of scale.
Work with your casegoods manufacturer to take your concepts and draft them into 2D and 3D drawings. From there, your plan becomes much easier to understand and follow.
2. Great Drawings Become Great Renderings
Let’s expand upon these drawings digitally. CAD renderings offer a detailed virtual perspective of your furniture to guide later project elements including crucial FF&E components and expert installation.
Today’s many great software programs allow you to virtually tour your design - as if you’re there in real life. Feel free to test artificial and natural lighting aspects as they’d appear in different conditions and times of day.
This 3-dimensional perspective takes scale and adds the depth needed to bring the guest room to life. Do the renderings appear as they first did in your head or napkin sketch? If yes, let’s move on. If not, regroup, rethink, and redesign.
3. Rapid Prototyping Adds a Physical Perspective
But let’s not stop there. Let’s get a physical representation in the room and test it in the physical space.
That’s where hotel casegoods furniture rapid prototyping comes in. A responsive furniture manufacturer could construct a mockup of your final product from inexpensive medium-density fiberboard (MDF). This trial run is:
- Quick
- Easy
- Repeatable
- Low-cost
When it reaches the site, place it within your anticipated blocking pattern, step back, and analyze:
- Are any electrical outlets or emergency rights of way blocked?
- Will guests of varying ages and physical abilities maneuver easily and safely around it?
- Can you perceive any barriers to future maintenance or housekeeping?
- Does your team have the appropriate hardware for assembly and maintenance?
It’s best to test these realities sooner rather than later. Express even the slightest of defects and/or dimension oversights immediately to your furniture manufacturer. Use your rapid prototype to avoid a costly change order or do-over by making slight alterations before it advances too far on the factory floor.
4. Value Engineering Stretches Your Trendy Design Budget
Your hospitality design project can experience improved efficiency and reduced costs - without compromising quality. Value engineering considers your product for the end user (both hotel guests and staff) in an approach accounting for its function and value over time.
This could include a choice between laminate and wood veneer finishes. Wood veneer is typically considered an upscale option for its genuine hardwood look and feel. Meanwhile, laminate finishing technology has now advanced to shed its reputation as only an economical option with limited aesthetic options. Still easy on the budget, laminate now brings many quality, durability, and stylistic benefits.
Trends Are Fleeting, But Quality Endures in Your Hotel Furniture Casegoods
Hospitality design trends are an ever-moving target. You may recall designs used even 5 years ago that you wouldn’t dream of implementing today.
Trends may be fleeting, but the quality and long-term value of your hotel furniture casegoods must span your entire design cycle. And as your order nears completion, a responsive hotel furniture manufacturer should offer a standard 5-year warranty to protect your custom furniture investment.
