Hotel And Motel In Ottawa Article

The saying is "out with the old, in with the new," but when it comes to furniture, sometimes keeping the old and sprucing it up is a better choice for hotels. Reupholstering is one way hoteliers can keep furniture looking attractive and feeling comfortable.

Hoteliers need to determine the cost to reupholster an item versus buying it new, and should consider the quality of the piece and the time each option would take.

Kristina Malcolm, project manager, interior design for Fairmont Hotels & Resorts, said the company isn't likely to reupholster an entire guestroom or every piece in a lobby.

"Reupholstery is more specific to public areas where we have older, more ornate pieces that aren't entirely upholstered," Malcolm said. "We end up replacing the seating part, which is more cost effective than replacing the whole chair. Our gut instinct is to go with replacements on fully upholstered items because there is a minimal price difference."

If the piece is well-made, that often tips the scale in favor of reupholstering.

"Everything depends on the foundation--the frame," Hildebrand said. "We can have the [reupholstery done] quicker than we can buy new and have them made, most of the time."

Malcolm said Fairmont, which has 43 hotels in its portfolio, is reupholstering beautiful carved lobby chairs at its property in San Jose, Calif., and is working on a similar project at its hotel in Ottawa, Ontario.

Day Hospitality Group also bases much of the decision on the quality of the furniture.

"We buy very good furniture, and that's why it's worth reupholstering it if we can," said Phillip Bullard, director of facilities for Day Hospitality, which has 14 properties in its portfolio. "Those in the lobby don't really go out of style, and it's inexpensive to do it."

Historical considerations also affect reupholstery decisions. The Gideon Putnam Resort & Spa in Saratoga Springs, ., a member of Historic Hotels of America, reupholstered 100 vintage dining room and lobby chairs last year and presently is undergoing a major renovation that includes more reupholstery work.

"Anything that is original or close to original that we can preserve and keep in any new design schemes or renovations, that is what we are going to want to keep," said Gregg Balton, general manager of the Gideon Putnam. "We found some photos of the lobby of the hotel that date back to the 1930s, when the hotel first opened. A few of our wingback and Queen Anne chairs were originals, and we had those reupholstered. We will be recycling them into the next lobby renovation, as well."

Balton said the property also had some dining room chairs from the 1940s or 1950s that were reupholstered.

And in some cases, a partial reupholstering will work, according to Bullard.

"When we do our [renovations] every five or six years, we check our couches and the condition they are in," he said. "We might just reupholster the cushions because they get the most wear. It saves us a lot of money over having to do the whole couch. The labor costs for picking up the couch, getting it redone and redelivering it are very costly."

A smooth transition

Once a hotel or company has decided to reupholster, it's imperative to come up with a schedule that causes the least inconvenience to guests. To achieve that, Malcolm said the San Jose project is scheduled to be completed over several nights.

"The center of the lobby is a lounge, and the periphery is surrounded by banquettes that are being reupholstered," she said. "The chairs are being reupholstered or replaced based on their current quality level. We'll remove one quadrant at a time while the rest remain, and we just have a few less chairs for that day."

Hildebrand said Crown American typically selects reupholsterers near the property that needs the work done because it reduces time, and therefore, inconvenience to guests.

"We have a prefunction area in [a hotel] in York, Pa., that had eight different kinds of chairs that needed reupholstered. We took four out, had them refinished and reupholstered, then we took the other four out and had them done.

"In other cases, we've gone with reupholstery companies that give us loaners. They'll take all of our chairs back with them at once, redo them and then switch them out [with the loaner chairs.]"

The dining room project at the Gideon Putnam was made easier because the 120-room property had extra chairs it could use in place of those being reupholstered.

"We sent out a dozen a week," Balton said. "They'd be able to turn them around in a week or 10 days, then we'd send out more. In about six weeks' time, we had all new chairs in the dining room."

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