The process of renovating a hotel is no small feat, with many different stages which all take a lot of planning and resources. At The Hotel Clearance Company, we specialise in the first of these stages once logistics have been arranged: clearance. Before you start stripping wallpaper, knocking down walls or replacing old carpets, you first have to clear all the existing furniture, equipment and decor from your property.
There are places where you can save money hidden at every turn, whether this is in that first stage of clearance or later on, when you’re buying new furniture and bringing your vision to life. In this blog, we’ll be sharing some of the key ways we can help you to maximise your hotel renovation budget from the very beginning.
Maximise Return on Your Existing Assets
When we think about maximising a budget, our minds usually turn to thoughts of saving money on purchases. However, before we get to that stage, you should think about your existing assets and how these could help you claw back some of your outgoings. There’s no denying that a hotel renovation is an expensive endeavour, but maximising the financial return on your existing assets – from suite furniture to catering equipment and beyond – can be an effective way of maximising your overall budget. You may even find you have more money left over to splash out on higher quality furniture or equipment.
So, we’ve established that maximising the financial return on your existing assets is a good thing to do – now we’re going to tell you how.
Your hotel will be full of things which can be sold. Even if they’re obsolete to you, they may still have life in them, and if there’s a buyer out there for them, we’ll find them. One-off items, like a lobby television, a reception desk or pieces of gym equipment are often best suited to finding their new home through private treaty sales. You can look for a buyer yourself – for example, using eBay or by contacting local second-hand furniture shops to see if they are interested in purchasing – but this can take a lot of admin time. At The Hotel Clearance Company, we handle this process as part of our clearance service. Years of experience in this exact area mean we come with a secret weapon – a ‘little black book’ of regular private buyers who we can call upon to purchase your unwanted assets.
Other assets are better suited to auction. There is a buyer for everything, so practically everything in your hotel or restaurant can be sold at a hotel asset auction – depending, of course, on its condition. High-value items like kitchen and catering equipment and bulk amounts of high quality furniture see the most success at hotel furniture auctions, but anything in your hospitality establishment can be sold at auction, from beds, desks and chairs to crockery, linens and computers. Auctions create a competitive environment where buyers bid against each other, potentially driving up the price, and you also get the benefit of a set auction date which can make it easier to plan your renovation.
Be Efficient
The biggest budget-buster during a hotel renovation surrounds the fact that, for the duration of the project, your business is closed and therefore not making money. You have to account for this loss of earnings when calculating your budget, and it can make up a huge chunk of it. This means that efficiency and planning are key to maximising your budget. If you’re able to open a week ahead of schedule, you’ll have a chance to save some of the money you would have otherwise lost should you have stayed closed.
Setting an ambitious schedule is one thing – achieving it is another, and if you’re too ambitious, you’ll end up losing more money than you’d planned. When planning your renovation, be realistic, and work with any trades you have in to help with the project to establish a clear schedule. You might have multiple trades working together, and many of these will need certain tasks to be complete before they can start theirs (for example, the electrics should be complete before you get the plasterer in). For large-scale renovations, it can be a good idea to have one principal contractor handle this – they’ll create a comprehensive programme and schedule of works to get the right people in at the right time.
This is also where we come in. Working with a professional clearance service means the first stage of your renovation is quick and efficient. You won’t have to wait until everything is sold until you can start renovation – we collect everything and keep your assets safe in our secure storage facilities which are monitored 24/7 by CCTV and anti-theft devices. This means you can begin the next stage of the project straight away whilst we work to sell, donate or recycle your assets. This is all included in our service, which also minimises the storage costs you’d pay if you shifted everything yourself.
It gets even more efficient than that, however. Once we’ve cleared one area, your contractor can get started. We have a highly experienced professional team, who can work in any environment – that means that, for work on construction sites, we have a specialist team who all hold CSCS accreditation, allowing us to work alongside even the biggest and most prestigious main contractors to get your project completed.
Buy Second-hand Hotel Assets
As well as utilising hotel asset auctions to sell your existing items, you can use them to buy new (to you) furniture and equipment. Generally, furniture will be at auction because a business is closing down or renovating with a new style that the old furniture doesn’t fit, rather than because the furniture is broken or old. This means that you might just find something which fits your desired aesthetic perfectly – and because you’re buying it in bulk at auction, rather than brand new, you’ll benefit from a cost saving.
In general, by purchasing pre-owned pieces, you can achieve the high-quality look you want without the price tag. And it’s important to remember that new furniture depreciates in value as soon as it’s purchased. With second-hand furniture, much of the depreciation has already occurred, meaning its resale value will hold steadier if you decide to renovate again in the future.
It’s not all about the budget here though – mass-produced furniture is everywhere, and there is so much beauty in buying unique, vintage, charming and characterful pieces of furniture for your hotel.
Maximise Your Hotel Renovation Budget with The Hotel Clearance Company
If you’re looking to discuss your hospitality and hotel clearance requirements in more detail, get in touch with The Hotel Clearance Company.
Whether your business is due to go through a refurbishment, a change in property use, or you are liquidating assets, we are here to help. We specialise in maximising financial returns for our clients through the use of pub furniture auctions, hotel liquidation auctions, and restaurant furniture auctions, as well as private treaty sales.
Our expert team can be contacted by calling 020 8123 8241 or visit The Hotel Clearance Company and fill out our online contact form.