Tell me what you wear and I'll tell you who you are

By: Duván Chaverra A.

The textiles of a hotel are like the clothes we wear to go to our workplace or to go out for a weekend of partying. According to how you dress, those around you will qualify you, because it is a way to know the personality, culture, customs and preferences of a person.

In the same way you can qualify a hotel, through the different textiles it uses. The colors, textures, quality and comfort that these products can offer in furniture curtains, towels, among others, will give the guest a first impression, which will encourage him to stay in the place or make him feel uncomfortable or disappointed with what they are offering him for his rest.

Our article in this edition of Art and Function in HOTEL & RESTAURANT MANAGEMENT will be based on new trends in hotel textiles, but what we intend to highlight with our invited experts is the way in which a hotelier can combine the personality of his hotel with the textiles he uses.

To talk about the subject we invited Valeriano Suárez, general director of Dues in Mexico, who will delve into the current trends and give recommendations to hoteliers to take into account when selecting the most appropriate fabrics for their hotel. We will also have the contribution of Moisés Fogel, sales director of Valley Forge Fabrics.

To begin, Valeriano Suárez spoke about the importance of textiles in the image of a hotel: "Textiles in a hotel are equivalent to a person's clothes, so it is enough to remember that the first impression is the most important. This is the effect they give: they can make guests feel pleasantly impressed or the opposite can happen if the quality of the textiles is not taken care of, and with it the image of the hotel can be damaged."

Not everything depends on the designer or person in charge of selecting the textiles for a hotel. His image is also subject to the face that a hotelier wants to show the client, from there the idea starts and then put it into practice, because who knows your hotel better than its owner? Therefore, according to the CEO of Dues, the main demands of a hotelier are based on "achieving that textiles give the hotel a touch of distinction, differentiation, quality and sophistication".

Moisés Fogel ratifies the previous comment: "The owner is the one who decides what he likes and what he would not like to see in his hotel, although the development of the idea depends on the designer or architect."

Most recommended textiles
When we are already closing the shutter of the first decade of the twenty-first century, the technology in the elaboration of textiles has improved and also the development of these materials is focusing on two important aspects: "On the one hand the durability and on the other that they offer a pleasant sensation to the touch for the guests," said Suárez.

Another outstanding point has to do with the safety that these products can offer, especially in fire protection. "In a hotel it is extremely important to use, at least in upright textiles (such as curtains), inherently fire-retardant (FR) fabrics. It is a matter of safety and we must insist that they are inherent, which means that the fiber with which the yarn is made to produce the fabric is FR, unlike other processes in which once the fabric is already produced it is subjected to a bath in which the fire retardant is applied but that unlike the inherent fabric FR with the washes goes losing your property. On the subject of upholstery it is very important to use a fabric with good stain protection, since the furniture cannot be sent to the laundry."

On the other hand, Fogel added that now the trend in the company he represents is leaning towards recyclable fabrics. "To upholster we have recyclable fabrics, we are leaning more and more towards the protection of ecology, because these products have the advantage that they do not require so much maintenance."

Colors equal personality
The colors on the textiles indicate to the guest the atmosphere and type of hotel in which it is. That is why designers think that in this sense it is important to keep in mind the type of identity of a hotel and the places that surround it when they are going to acquire the fabrics that are needed and that match the characteristics of the place.

"In hotels located on the beach they are looking for more cheerful colors and in city hotels the trend is more conservative. It also has a lot to do with the personality of it; for example, hotels very focused on rest and that have a spa take great care that the whole concept of the project offers a feeling of peace, tranquility and relaxation, so they opt for neutral colors such as white or beige, however, in hotels where it is about offering the guest a cheerful and festive atmosphere, other more daring tones such as blues are sought, green and even pink or red," said Dues' CEO.

A vital investment
The mere fact of acquiring textiles for hotels means a high investment but of great importance, in addition it must also be taken into account that these are materials of a duration of between one and three years, depending on the type of product.

For this reason, Moisés Fogel recommends to all hoteliers that "the investment that is made has to be of quality if you want to give the hotel a striking image and that makes the guest want to return".

Valeriano Suárez commented in this regard that "it may be that the hotelier invests very little and therefore the quality of the textiles do not meet the needs of the hotel, causing them to be very deteriorated in a short time; or it may be that a lot is invested, but in products and textiles not suitable for hospitality, which would yield the same result."

Finally, the general director of Dues spoke about the periodicity with which textiles must be modified in a hotel, taking into account the wear and tear of them and their function.

"Ideally, in public areas and especially in lobbies, change is made every year. Here we return to the theme of how important the first impression is: love enters through the eyes and the first thing we see when we arrive at a hotel is the lobby. In the restaurant areas and in the upholstery of rooms it is good to modify them every two years. As far as bed linen (sheets, towels and linens) is concerned, changes should ideally be made every six months or a year. This will depend a lot on the stock that the hotel maintains, because it is the textiles that suffer the most and those that are subject to more washing. Regarding the decorative elements of the beds and curtains it is preferable to renew them every three years, however it is very important to be partially and constantly replenishing the products so that they last longer and thus the hotel always looks impeccable".

The characteristics of eucalyptus make this product offer greater comfort to the guest and at the same time will allow the hotelier to improve their environmental conditions, since it saves energy and water. The use of water needed by Telcel+Plus for washing, compared to other fibers, is one hundred times less than creations with traditional cotton.

"The perceived softness of eucalyptus is similar to lying on a piece of butter. This absorbs heat or cold from the body, and the best thing is that the host will never notice the absorption. This product can be recyclable, comfortable and very practical," Moses said.

Fogel also explained why they used eucalyptus as a raw material and not other natural elements such as bamboo: "The problem that exists if it had been made with bamboo tree is that it takes a long time to grow back and does not have the characteristics of a eucalyptus that achieves faster growth and can regenerate in a time of five to eight years."

Valley Forge has already managed to market the product in hotel chains such as Marriott, Sheraton, Intercontinental, among others.