Furniture frustration, deep pockets, & budget strategy. Is contract grade worth it?

[Bailey Rankin]

For those of you with a large STR portfolio, I'd love to hear your biggest pain points when in comes to furniture. What pieces are breaking the most? What are you replacing at least once or twice a year?

I'm asking in an attempt to lead to a bigger question/discussion: when is your operation large enough to justify the cost of contract grade furniture?

I'm new here, so, a quick introduction. I'm an interior designer specializing in short term rentals. I've designed and installed STRs all over the country. One of my repeat clients and I were working on a refresh project as he is slowly upgrading his entire portfolio. Let's call him Louis (from Louisville). He's always replacing beds and out of operational frustration gave me a new rule - I want the same bed in every property, no wood, only metal, three cross bars of support under the slats. He had compared his operation to a hotel - they all have the same furniture in each room and everything is indestructible. Louis wants to have the operational efficiency of a hotel chain.

Knowing that his frustration was due to the lack of quality furniture he had, I searched for commercial grade bed frames. The answer was Room&Board's Jennings bed frame. Modern, but will look good in a variety of house styles. Comes in every size. Comes in multiple colors so I don't have to limit my creative side! Made in the US and they have great customer service so I know my client could quickly get replacement parts when needed. All metal! Built to last. All this and a king is less than $2k. 

Now, I know this is a great price. This is a great solution to his problem. BUT - how many of you have $1600 beds in your properties? Every single client of mine requests durable furniture, made to last. 75% of my clients have budgets that call for $300 beds. It's not that my clients have small budgets. It's that the budget has to be STRETCHED so the home looks competitive. If we need a sauna, wallpaper, a sectional to seat 12 (not even possible tbh), a pool table, and arcade games... we can't afford expensive beds. They get pushed down the priority list. When I first started my design company, I'd push back at clients and really try to get them to invest in higher quality furniture. Now I'd say my approach is really mixed. As you can imagine, my client decided to go in the opposite direction and get the same metal bed from Amazon for every bedroom - less than $200 each. I don't blame him! He knows they will break, he'll have to get a quick replacement, and investing in the "unbreakable" contract grade beds wasn't a financial possibility at this time. Even if he had the cash, that investment might have felt too risky to him. (This is another topic for another post - but I do think it's smart to spend low on items you know you'll be replacing. My designs are always a mix of high and low because that just smart budget engineering).

So, I''m curious. For all of you investors out there with lots of STRs. Where is the line? When, if ever, does your operation become large enough that you start spending more now to save later? Does that line exist in the STR world yet?

We've heard of the amenity race. Add one more thing to your home that the top competitor doesn't have. I see my clients racing to the top with design and amenities, but this conversation with Louis got me thinking about the race towards operational efficiency. I've designed for some very big players in the STR world and even the deepest pockets aren't prioritizing this angle. Are the pockets just not deep enough yet? Or, is this a good strategy and just another reason STRs are unique from hotels?

[John Underwood]

I spend the money on quality furniture. I buy  inexpensive cups, silverware etc that is easily damaged or can grow legs.

Sheets and towels are good but not terribly expensive to replace.

Haven't had much issues with damage.