3 Ways to Choose Eco-Friendly Furniture for Your Hotel

hotel furniture

Matt Deighton is the Managing Director of Sofas by Saxon. Here, he shares his top tips for adapting your hotel interiors to suit your eco-friendly clientele.

The eco credentials of a hotel are central to the booking decision for many travellers. In a survey of 72,000 Hilton guests, 33% of people said they actively seek out the hotel’s environmental and social information before booking. And, in a report from Booking.com, 70% of travellers said they were more likely to book a hotel that was eco-friendly. 

Thanks to David Attenborough documentaries like Blue Planet II, which showed viewers the shocking effects plastic pollution can have on the environment, humans are now more aware of the environmental effects of their actions. And, with more and more people choosing sustainable and vegan lifestyles, it might be time that you adapted your hotel to become more eco-friendly. And, one way you can do that is by switching up your interiors. Below, I’ll be giving you my top tips for choosing hotel furniture to match your environmentally conscious clientele. 

Choose natural and vegan materials

In the last five years, there’s been a huge increase in veganism in the UK. The Vegan Society analysed Google Trends from 2014 to 2019 and found that ‘veganism’ now gets almost four times as many searches as ‘vegetarianism’ and ‘gluten-free diet’. And, with more people choosing a vegan lifestyle, there’s now more vegan-friendly options when it comes to interiors. 

When choosing furniture for your hotel, try to pick pieces made from natural or vegan friendly materials, such as wood, organic cotton, bamboo, or linen. You can also get some great faux leathers that are made from PVC, polyurethane, cork, or waxed cotton, instead of animal products. This can work especially well for sofas, and can be cleaned using a simple soap and water solution. So, there’s no need for any harsh cleaning products either. If you’d like to know more about vegan leather, check out our guide to faux leather at Sofas by Saxon.

Support sustainable manufacturing through eco-friendly furniture

As people across the UK are choosing a more sustainable lifestyle, businesses are altering their manufacturing processes to suit. Try to source businesses that are making an effort to become more eco-conscious with their work. For example, some companies are finding ways to reuse water or reduce their plastic waste. Others are opting for sustainably sourced materials, like wood with an FSC certification

When choosing your furniture, ask the manufacturer what steps they’re taking to be more environmentally friendly. And don’t forget to share this with your guests on your website and around your hotel.

Shop for high-quality pieces made in Britain

Approximately 22 million pieces of furniture are thrown away in the UK each year (Wise Up to Waste). This is largely due to a rise in fast furniture pieces that are made cheaply and can break easily. To combat this waste problem, try to choose high-quality furniture for your hotel that will last a long time. This will reduce the amount of furniture that will break and need to be thrown away. 

If you can, try to shop for furniture that’s made in the UK. Not only will it have less distance to travel to you — assuming your hotel is in the UK — which can help reduce your carbon footprint, but you can also arrange a visit to your manufacturer. This way, you can get a better idea of their processes, materials, and ethics, so you can have greater confidence that the furniture you’re buying is made to a high quality and built to last. 

As travellers look for ways to make their trips less harmful to the environment, it might be a good time to adapt your hotel interiors. By following the tips in this guide to pick out eco-friendly furniture, you can give your eco-credentials a little boost and increase footfall to your hotel.