The economic situation in 2009 led to a dire year for the lodging industry. Room occupancy is estimated to have fallen to around 55 percent, a drop that has only been matched twice since the 1920s. Revenue per available room, one of the main measurements for profitability in the hospitality industry, was off by 17 percent when compared to the previous year, with an even bigger drop for the luxury segment. Although 2010 is expected to bring the green shoots of recovery, hotels are currently struggling.
Despite these hardships, customers expect hotels to continue to maintain high standards. This includes a modern and visually pleasing décor. For example, in a luxury hotel guests expect, at the very least, a flat screen television and furniture that looks and feels new. To keep its customers happy, a hotel has to find cost-effective ways to keep its rooms up to date.
Along with well-maintained and modern accommodations, customers demand that hotels embrace the trend of environmental sustainability. A survey conducted by Cone Inc. and the Boston College Center for Corporate Citizenship found that the purchasing decisions for 68 percent of respondents were positively influenced if a company has a strong reputation for environmental commitment. The research also found that 83 percent of the Millennial Generation, a generation that is starting to gain purchasing power, admitted to having more trust in environmentally-responsible companies. Having a reputation for being environmentally sustainable builds goodwill and improves a brand’s image. In an industry as competitive as hospitality, this can be a major deciding factor for customers, as almost one-third of consumers would opt for a “green” hotel if they had the opportunity.
Up to 92 Percent Cost Savings
Hiring an experienced furniture refinishing company can help financially and environmentally. By refinishing rooms rather than buying new furniture, hotels can modernize rooms easily while keeping costs to a minimum. Refinishing, reupholstering and repurposing furniture typically achieves a cost savings of between 65 and 92 percent compared to purchasing new furniture. It is a particularly effective way of ensuring rooms meet customers’ expectations—while helping your bottom line.
Modern refinishing techniques work on-site to ensure there is no downtime, while each piece is restored to a level of quality that is, in many cases, better and more fitting than brand new furniture. For example, many hotels are currently modifying their existing armoires to fit new flat screen TVs. Whether it is repurposing the armoires into tables or desks, or simply modifying them to fit new high-definition televisions, a team of experts can refinish between 10 to 15 rooms per day and have the room ready for guests on the same day the work began.
Modern refinishing methods are also environmentally-friendly and, more importantly, completely safe for the people in the hotel. Past furniture manufacturing techniques resulted in high levels of volatile organic compounds (VOCs), gases that are emitted from certain substances and damage the ozone layer. Hotel guests and workers risked exposure to these pollutants, which could linger in the air after the work on the furniture was completed. Today’s refinishing materials are non-hazardous and allow work to be quickly completed on furniture without the release of toxic materials.
Assets Out of Landfills
In addition, properly refinishing, refurbishing and modifying furniture allows hotels to reuse assets they already have, instead of leaving them to collect in landfills. Too often in the past, hotels would needlessly replace assets without realizing that the cost for purchasing new furniture is greater in more ways than one.
An analysis by Carbon Footprint Ltd. determined that in a typical 100-room hotel, the carbon dioxide emissions produced by the manufacturing of new furniture is 125.32 tons, compared to 1.24 tons for refinishing existing furniture. This means that the process of making new furniture creates 100 times more carbon dioxide than that of refinishing it.
Last year may have been a difficult year, but hospitality businesses can still provide customers with the high level of quality they expect. By reusing furniture assets instead of buying new ones, hotels will become more environmentally friendly, improve their balance sheets, increase room occupancy and illustrate the value of corporate responsibility. Clearly, 2010 is time to start refinishing.
Mario Insenga is the CEO of The Refinishing Touch, a company that provides environmentally safe, on-site furniture refinishing, on-site upholstery, and on-site armoire modification.
