Are you in the hotel business? Are you planning to purchase building materials and furniture for a new hotel construction or renovation project?

If yes, then you’ve come to the right place to find useful information that will guide you in the purchasing process.

I. Where to Buy Building Materials and Furniture for Hotels and Apartments?

1. Local Markets

When thinking of where to buy building materials and furniture for hotels and apartments, you’ll first look at what’s available locally, either in your city or town or in your country.

A retailer or wholesaler in your locality would most likely have some items available for your hotel building project. You can buy from a local seller if you don’t need a lot of items if you need your materials right away, and would not mind choosing from the limited styles available in the local marketplace.

II. Why Choose to Purchase Building Materials and Furniture from China?

1. Guaranteed Quality

How do you know that China manufactures quality products? When big international brands, probably across all industries, have established manufacturing bases in China. These global brands need to protect their brand and their business. And so they maintain strict quality standards for products that are made in China.

2. Lower Cost

Mainly because of their large population as well as the advanced manufacturing technologies in place, China’s labor and manufacturing costs are much lower compared to other countries. Also, for any given industry, there are many manufacturers to choose from. Competition drives prices down.

4. Global Reach Service

Most countries all over the world have existing trade relations with China. Wherever your hotel business may be located, it’s likely that you can import building materials and furniture from China.

III. Preparations before Purchasing Construction Materials and Furniture

Before deciding what building materials and furniture to buy for hotel, you need to consider the following factors:

In designing a hotel, you should spend a lot of time focusing on room design. Guests will want to know details like location and facilities. But if they see that the hotel rooms are nothing but extraordinary, they will look somewhere else. Hotel guests expect rooms to be always inviting, comfortable, and of course, appealing.

① Decide on a design scheme and color palette

The design scheme is the overall design concept that will be applied to the entire hotel property.

A beachfront hotel would be a tourist magnet, while a hotel in a central business district would likely serve the business and government sector. Each hotel will carry a unique design scheme that fits its location as well as the market segment that it is targeting to serve.

The design scheme will then include a color palette for the hotel. The beachfront hotel can get away with bright, tropical colors while a business hotel is expected to have solid, subdued colors.

② Consider the space planning

In space planning, interior designers will look at each room’s function to plan for the space needed for the activities that will take place in that room, and for the facilities that will be placed.

Different types of guest rooms will have different space configurations. Is it a single, twin, or family room? Interior room, corner room, room with a balcony? A big conference room will not have the same space requirements as a banquet hall or a lounge area.

③ Lighting

Light up a room using light fixtures and spotlights. Hotel rooms have light switches at the bedside and a nightstand on the side tables. Floor lamps can be added. There are also lights in bathrooms, overhead lights in the vanity area, and the shower room. Dimmers provide mood lighting.

④Use multipurpose furniture

In smaller hotel rooms, using multipurpose furniture would be a great space saver. A sofa bed instead of a bed and a sofa opens up space in a small room.

⑤ Don’t mix different styles

Would you consider using different styles together in a hotel room? That wouldn’t be a good idea. The simpler the design, the more relaxed and comfortable the guest will be. Simple designs make the space visually light for hotel guests.

Now that you’ve decided on a design scheme and color palette, it’s now time to list down all building materials and furniture that you need for your hotel project.

What does it cost to build or renovate a hotel?

The HVS U.S. Hotel Development Cost Survey provides average development costs in each defined lodging product category. Note that development costs for hotels depend on many factors that are unique to each project and location.

HVS created this summary format for hotel development budgets, with corresponding cost categories:

Image source: https://www.hvs.com/article/8597-HVS-US-Hotel-Development-Cost-Survey-201819

For hotel renovations, The 2019 Hotel Cost Estimating Guide is an excellent resource by JN+A and HVS Design to help provide approximate costs for your renovation project.

IV. How to Choose Hotel Building Materials Supplier and Manufacturer?

It’s easy to get overwhelmed by the big number of manufacturers of building materials and furniture that you’ll find online or offline. The process of choosing companies to supply your requirements will get easier when you follow a set of criteria to guide you.

First and foremost, what’s most important is to determine if your prospective supplier can meet your requirements in terms of production quantity, quality, and turnaround time.

Look for a supplier that’s capable of producing a wide variety of building materials and furniture available. Bonus points go for the supplier that has extensive experience in the hotel industry because it means that this company has a deeper understanding of your business needs.

Ask for international companies that they’ve done business with so you can check their claims. If you find it challenging to do this, there are sourcing agents who can do this for you.

① Customizable product supplies

Find a supplier that gives you lots of options for customizing the building materials and especially the furniture that you need.

While the cost of sourcing customized furniture may be high, it will be worth the cost to have furniture that perfectly fits your vision of an ideal hotel for your target market. This is particularly important when you’re serving the luxury market who would frown upon ordinary-looking, off-the-shelf furniture.

Let your designers work closely with your suppliers to choose the design, size, shape, color, and materials of the furniture. With customized service, you can have your ideal furniture by changing details of off-the-rack pieces or creating a brand new design. Ask for suggestions from potential suppliers or manufacturers to get a perfect furniture solution. These ideas can help you save time and reduce sourcing costs.

② Products selection at different prices

Some suppliers may provide a discounted price for samples, while others may send them for free. There’s also pricing based on different quantities to get a clear picture of the costs and discounts once an order pushes through.

① On-time production

You want to do business with manufacturers with a proven track record for on-time production. Delays in hotel project construction are costly, having a direct impact on revenue projections.

Traders should note that sea freight shipping requires more time for preparing documents for both importer and exporter. Customs delays, port congestion, and poor weather conditions may add to shipping delays.

V. Find the Best Hospitality Solutions

① Choose from Building Materials Wholesale Market

You’ll find many options in China for your hotel needs. There are wholesale markets for building materials and furniture in Foshan and Guangzhou cities in Guangdong province. You only have to go to these wholesale markets to find everything that you need for building your hotel project.

China Ceramic City

Covering an area of 53,000 square meters, China Ceramic City in Foshan is a massive trading center that has more than 140 Chinese and foreign brands of building materials. If you’re on the lookout for ceramic tiles, sanitary wares, tap & fitting, mosaic, and other customized products, this is the place to go. The products on display here are straight out of factories.

Casa Sanitary Ware Market

The Casa Ceramics and Sanitary Wares Mall is the biggest, most comprehensive sanitary wares market in China. Located in Foshan, it is a one-stop-shop for quality building materials in China. Here you’ll find architectural ceramics, hardware, sanitary ceramics, sanitary ware, leisure sanitary ware, hardware, water accessories, as well as daily-use, arts and crafts ceramics. Most of the products here are for the middle to high-level market.

Louvre Furniture Mall

Louvre International Furniture Exhibition Center or Louvre Furniture Mall in Foshan is the most famous furniture mall in China. Covering an area of 380,000 square meters, it houses 2,000 top Chinese brands, and over 100 top European brands for furniture and furnishings. Product categories that can be found here are home furniture, office furniture, new Chinese style furniture, children’s furniture, home accessories, etc.

② Attend hotel industry trade shows in China

Traveling to China to attend hotel industry expos or trade shows is a great way to meet with several manufacturers, suppliers, traders within a short period. You’ll get to see the latest products and services, as well as meet potential suppliers.

When going to these exhibitions, remember to bring product prototypes with you, if you can, or some samples of products similar to what you want to have produced in China.

• China Hospitality Expo

The China Hospitality Expo or CHE, held at the Shenzhen C&E Center in Guangzhou, is a major sourcing and networking event that connects suppliers with hoteliers and distributors in the hospitality industry.

• Hotelex (June 2020)- Shanghai

Hotelex Shanghai is organized by Shanghai UBM Sinoexpo International Exhibition Co. Ltd. It is a 4-day international trade fair for the hospitality industry, where visitors can find information about the latest developments, trends, products and services.

③ Best solution: One-stop Hospitality Building Materials Provider

Building or renovating a hotel where you need to purchase different building materials and furniture is a complex project consisting of many processes. It could take a long time to complete just the purchasing process, especially when multiple suppliers and service providers are involved.

The best solution is to hire a single supplier, a one-stop hospitality solutions provider that will take care of the entire procurement process from design to installation of building materials and furniture. A trustworthy solutions provider works to give you the best value, to find the most cost-effective and efficient ways of meeting your project needs.

The solutions provider will manage the problems of designing a hotel while considering the hotel guests’ need for personal space and also taking into account the space requirements for furniture and equipment.

• Wide product coverage

Your solutions provider can supply you with a wide range of quality building materials and furniture to provide maximum value and create your desired result while minimizing costs.

• Quick and efficient shipment and delivery

In providing an efficient logistics solution for your needed products, your supplier should be able to provide options for a quick, efficient, and high-quality delivery service. With its logistics expertise, your supplier will ensure that your building materials and furniture will arrive at its destination safely and on time.

• Optimized installation support

Your service provider should offer expert advice and comprehensive installation support to ensure you get the most out of the materials that were purchased.

① Reduce stress and time

In getting all building materials and furniture needs from one source, hotel owners and developers can streamline logistics to save time, thereby lowering project costs and reducing the stress of project stakeholders.

② Professional team

One-stop solutions providers employ dedicated professionals and specialists who are experts in the hospitality industry. They will monitor the hotel project from beginning to end to ensure its successful completion.

③ Short reaction time

Being industry experts, the hospitality solutions providers have a complete understanding of the business. Thus they can analyze a given situation and make fast decisions to keep the project moving forward.

① Google search

A simple Google search for one-stop hotel product suppliers in China will yield many hits. Online business directories like Alibaba, Global Sources, and Made In China are good sources of information about hotel suppliers in China.

Houzz is an online marketing platform offering products to design and decorate the home. General contractors, home builders, interior designers, landscape architects, and kitchen and bath remodelers use the site for marketing their services as well.

VI. Purchasing Process

VII. Top 3 Challenges in Hospitality Procurement and How to Overcome

When budgets are exceeded, it’s more likely that there is a communication problem somewhere, where project managers do not see the real-time budget. This can be addressed by using procurement and purchasing software where your team can see the real-time budget.

Problems in communication are common in any international type of trading. To solve the language problem, find building materials suppliers with staff who can communicate well in English. You can also hire an interpreter who can bridge the gap in the communication process.

Now I’d Like to Hear From You

There you have it: our comprehensive guide to purchasing building or construction materials for new hotel construction or renovation project.

Now I’d like to hear what you have to say:

Are you confused about the complex and difficult hotel project? Do you feel annoyed and dizzy when looking for suppliers?

If so, what is your biggest trouble?

Let me know by leaving a comment below right now.