 Trend Report - November 2011  |
|
Suite Treats
The sharing of trends and technologies between suppliers and designers who serve both residential and hospitality markets continues. Here we explore how the hospitality business is faring, what design trends are most popular and details on new innovations hitting the hospitality scene. How’s Business? “The hospitality sector is doing reasonably well in 2011,” states Ken Koneck, LEED AP, public affairs manager, Valley Forge Fabrics Inc. “Challenges lie in funding for new construction. However, the renovation market has consistently grown throughout the recession. Hotel brands require the properties to renovate every five years on average. These renovations must continue even in times of economic downturn or the property stands to lose the brand flag.” Mehreen Obaid, managing director of Towellers Limited, notes, however, that the global recession is affecting sales volumes. “With more people unemployed, there is less travel and lower occupancy in hotels the world over, which has resulted in slower buying trends,” she says. Pricing remains a challenge from the supplier’s point of view. “The recession combined with cotton prices has made the market more competitive than ever,” explains Tom DeLoca, vice-president of hospitality, Sferra. “While the hospitality market has been challenging of late, we still see it as an excellent opportunity for continued growth.” Not surprising is relative success in the high-end sector. “The market continues to grow in the luxury bedding category,” says Michelle Harrison, wholesale and hospitality manager, Cuddledown. “We believe in high-quality bedding and continue to grow in the marketplace, especially in boutique and higher-end hotels. We have an aggressive growth plan for 2012.” Susan Dollenmaier, founder, Anichini, notes, “We are definitely seeing an increase in business from five-star properties or properties wishing to upgrade from three-star to four- or five-star.” Design & Materials Trends Although some hotels reflect the aesthetics of popular residential designs, the need to project the venue’s specific image and appeal to a wide variety of guests, not to mention heavy duty durability and laundering requirements, swing the design pendulum in another direction for many properties. “Design trends in hospitality still pull inspiration from the most upscale residential looks. Designers are using bold colors and large decorative bolster pillows to make design impact statements,” says Koneck. “However, most hotel beds are still mostly white, but include wonderful embroidery accents and decorative throws at the foot of the bed,” Koneck continues. “Boutique hotels are all the rage and even the large hotel brands are redesigning their properties with more of a boutique hotel feel. Designers are accommodating the Millenials’ needs into the design of hotels—more open public areas with lots of access for wi-fi and hand-held devices. Millenials look for hip, urban and practical hotel designs.” “We’ve seen an increase in requests for jacquard sheeting for top of bed, but the basic white duvet cover and sham with one (or two) lines of embroidery remains the majority of our business,” notes Tom DeLoca, vice-president of hospitality, Sferra. When it comes to bath towels, simple is better. “Towels, being our main product focus in the hospitality division of Towellers, are not design driven as almost all chain hotels have set specifications for their towels and seldom deviate from that,” says Obaid. “In a towel the only thing that can change is the dobby border design and that is very seldom, as most hotels have a signature border that they run year in and year out.” “The [towel] design trends are going back to GQB's—Good Quality Basics—with specific detailed hotel brand identities, such as small embroidery logos, monogrammed labels and more,” says Aldo Schneider, export manager, Dohler SA. Bath accessories must be versatile enough to complement a myriad of fixtures, surface treatments and other design elements in the guest bathroom. “The trend continues to be elegant and durable products that can withstand the vigorous housekeeping cleaning standards,” explains Robert Weiss, chief operating officer, Creative Bath Products. “For Creative Bath Products, Inc., the competitive edge also continues to be that products are made in the USA.”
An important growing category in the hotel world is mattress encasements. There has been a great deal of press coverage in the past year regarding outbreaks of bedbug infestations. However, Sandra Di Vito, vice-president, hospitality and healthcare for Protect-A-Bed, explains that protecting mattresses from bedbugs in only part of why encasements should be basic equipment in every hotel. “The number one reason that justifies using encasements is the human contamination of mattresses from bodily fluids, spills and other accidents,” she says. “Ask people if they would ever buy a used mattress and the answer is ‘no,’ yet they sleep on used mattresses in hotels all the time. Encasing the mattress in a waterproof or air-vapor porous encasement makes it like sleeping on a new mattress every night.” Protect-A-Bed offers a range of mattress protectors and encasements, such as the BugLock® Plus Mattress Encasement, which is bedbug entry, escape and bite proof on the top surface and also offers allergy protection, which helps hotels maintain healthy sleep environments. “Green” Interest Increasing Although going “green” in residential products may be getting less press these days because of higher prices associated with eco-friendly goods, sustainability is a growing priority for many hotel venues. “Obviously, people are more tuned in to the environment and asking for green products. In addition, they want to launder everything and not dry clean,” explains Susan Dollenmaier, founder, Anichini. “In response to this, it has taken years, but we have developed a washable throw that is 100 percent Merino wool woven in Italy and extremely close in hand and look to our signature Anichini throws.” “As the world's largest supplier of decorative textiles to hospitality, Valley Forge is committed to protecting the environment, while continuing to introduce innovative new products,” says Koneck. “Several years ago, Valley Forge introduced the latest sheeting innovation to hospitality called Tencel+Plus™ Eucalyptus. Just this year, the Tencel+Plus™ Eucalyptus fiber was re-engineered and introduced to the upholstery market as well.” Towellers Limited also believes in fostering environmental sustainability. Obaid states, “The trend to reduce their carbon footprint is a global effort seen in hotels that transcends in all product categories. This is done at the manufacturing level by using eco-friendly dyes and chemicals, using engineered fibers that are energy savers during the laundering process and using recycled packaging. “Our investment in setting up an environmentally responsible manufacturing unit has enabled us to achieve the GOTS and Oeko–Tex certification,” says Obaid. When it comes to mattress disposal, Protect-A-Bed’s Di Vito shares that 250 million pounds of mattresses wind up in landfills each year. Contaminated mattresses are refused by recycling companies. Quality & Innovation Buyers and specifiers for hotels are just as hungry for innovation as consumers, so suppliers continue to develop new solution-based products that add value at affordable costs.
Cuddledown’s Harrison says, “We are introducing a new intimate blend cotton/polyester line to supplement our 100 percent cotton bedding. This will give us a more competitive price point, while maintaining a higher quality product.” Jannice Cameron-Chapital, senior vice-president of marketing, Hollander Home Fashions, explains, “We are having good success in the hospitality world by introducing new products and new fibers, which continue to capture the imagination of buyers.” Hollander is launching a new fiber called Memorelle™ at the International Hotel, Motel + Restaurant Show, which takes place Nov. 12 to 15, 2011 at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center in New York. Memorelle™, owned by Invista® and exclusive to Hollander, is a memory foam-like microdenier fiber with improved flexibility. “The microdenier fiber is evenly distributed in pillows, which allows the head and neck to rest comfortably. In addition, the fluid movement of the fiber is gentle on the pressure points of the head,” Cameron-Chapital explains. “Unlike memory foam, which shapes to the position of your head and stays there, the Memorelle™ fiber shapes to the position of the head, but as you move the fibers continue to move and conform.” The new fiber is also breathable, allowing it to maintain even coolness, and machine washable and dryable. Creative Bath, which offers good, better and best selections to accommodate all hotel classifications, has expanded its in-stock hospitality assortment. “Creative Bath also has a variety of houseware/serverware items that offer commercial application, perfect for food and beverage departments—a range of unbreakable buffet servers, beverage dispensers, pitchers, ice buckets and tumblers for outdoor and poolside functions,” says Weiss. Protect-A-Bed is working with major distributors of hotel products. “We seek to reach every type of property at every level with anti-bedbug products and other types of encasements and protectors offered in a good, better, best price range,” says Di Vito. In the past year, Protect-A-Bed has been providing more education about its products, from sponsoring trade show seminars and webinars, to running supplements in hotel trade magazines. In addition to preventing damage from human contamination, encasements save in cleaning costs and can extend mattress life 20 to 35 percent, according to Di Vito. In spite of a sluggish economy, it’s clear that the hospitality sector is surviving and thriving, aided by the creativity and product development talents of home-textile based suppliers. Resources
|
