Quality and sustainability are the most important furnishing trends and fairs are the most valuable source of information and inspiration for hoteliers
Textile furnishings are of great importance for 88 per cent of hotels. This is one of the findings of the new Management Report titled ‘Textiles in Hotel Design: Hotel Furnishing Success Factors’ published by Messe Frankfurt on the occasion of Heimtextil 2016. The International Trade Fair for Home and Contract Textiles held in January 2016 offers the world’s biggest range of furnishing textiles for hotels.
In the study, 200 decision makers from German first-class hotels provided new insights into textile furnishing with details of procurement channels, trends, sources of inspiration and information, and buying criteria. “Our new Management Report is the most comprehensive study on textile furnishings in hotels ever published. The contract business was one of the most important themes at Heimtextil and hoteliers one of the most important target groups. Every year, numerous decision makers from hotels and hotel chains come to Frankfurt to discover the latest textile-furnishing trends for hotels. As in the past, the ‘Theme Park’ trend show offered inspiring ideas for the hotel business,” said Olaf Schmidt, vice president, textiles & textile technologies, Messe Frankfurt.
Heimtextil has been able to gain a prominent personality for the study in the form of actress Jessica Schwarz who, together with her sister Sandra, has successfully been running a small hotel in South Hesse since 2008. The ‘Träumerei’ has five rooms with individual bed linen, self-designed wallpaper and high-grade curtains. Exclusively for the study, Jessica Schwarz gave a two-page interview with a variety of interesting and personal opinions, and explains how important external advice and Heimtextil are for textile furnishings in hotels. “I love wallpaper and I can’t ever get enough of decorative cushions. Whether bed linen from Ethiopia, curtains from India or wallpaper from Belgium, Heimtextil offers lots of new inspiration for hotels,” said Schwarz.
The results
The most important textiles for furnishing hotels: Many guests rate the quality of their hotel room in accordance with the quality of the bed. Therefore, bed linen and mattresses are considered to be particularly important by 84 and 80 per cent of hoteliers respectively. In the case of city hotels, the figure for mattresses rises to no less than 95 per cent. Bedding, with 69 per cent rate, is also a significant factor for textile furnishing. However, towels are perceived as being even more important (78 per cent). Rounding off the top-five list of the most important product categories for the hotels polled is table linen with 61 per cent. By contrast, curtains rank among the five most important products for country hotels (57 per cent).
Textile furnishing decision makers: Generally speaking, two different departments are responsible for selecting textile furnishings in hotels: in 76 per cent of cases, it is the purchasing and house-keeping departments (51 per cent). In individual hotels, however, many of which are owner run, the owner (or leaseholder) is the usual co-decision maker (67 per cent) alongside the specialist purchasing department. Also, external experts, such as interior-furnishing specialists, play a more important role for country hotels than for city hotels and hotel chains.
Purchasing criteria: Quality is the most important criterion when it comes to purchasing for 93 per cent of hotels. Ease of care and cleaning are highly rated by 82 per cent. Only 49 per cent regard the price as a decisive criterion and certainly less important than sustainability, which is mentioned as one of the five most important criteria by 53 per cent of all respondents. For country hotels, the long-term availability of products is a major factor (54 per cent) compared to only 31 per cent for all hotels. The question of country of origin is also an issue, especially for city hotels (42 per cent).
Current trends: Asked about anticipated trends, 42 per cent of hoteliers said that quality was most important. Sustainability is a trend in the city (46 per cent). 34 per cent of respondents believe that sustainability will also play a leading role as a future trend. Around 28 per cent who see a greater design orientation as a trend spoke of concepts such as ‘Vintage’, ‘Baroque’, ‘Laura Ashley’ and ‘modern designs with clear lines and sharp edges’. The fourth significant trend is towards product qualities, such as easy care and allergy friendliness.
Sources of inspiration and information: 43 per cent of hoteliers attend fairs and congresses to gain inspiration and gather information. 40 per cent use the traditional catalogue. This is followed by internet research on the manufacturers’ websites (32 per cent), as well as blogs and online communities (27 per cent). Moreover, the study revealed significant differences in the patterns of usage in the city and in the country. Thus, country hotels tend to
orientate themselves towards their competitors (22 per cent) or ask an interior-decoration specialist (31 per cent) or architect (28 per cent) while city hoteliers are more likely to visit a trade fair such as Heimtextil (47 per cent).
Messe Frankfurt commissioned Business Target Group GmbH with the market-research study in the autumn of 2015. The respondents were 200 decision makers for textile furnishings in the upmarket four to five-star hotel category in Germany. The study distinguishes between hotel chains/associations and individual hotels, and between city and country hotels. Most of the hotels have at least 51 rooms.