Buying furniture for a hotel is not the same job as furnishing a home, multiplied. A hotel order has a fixed opening date, a brand standard that has to hold across every room, and pieces that will be sat on by thousands of different guests. The supplier you choose decides whether those three things survive contact with production.
This checklist is written from the factory side. Factory Source Thailand is a full-upholstery OEM/ODM manufacturer in Bangkok — we build the sofas, lounge chairs, ottomans and modular seating in a hotel package — so it focuses on what actually goes wrong in hospitality orders and the questions that expose it before you sign.
1. Can they hold your opening date?
Ask how the supplier schedules: forwards from your order, or backwards from your installation date. A supplier that plans backwards reserves fabric before the design is finalised, because fabric sourcing — not sewing — is what usually breaks a hospitality schedule.
Ask for the lead time in writing and what it is measured from. Ours is quoted as typically 8–12 weeks from sample approval, depending on volume and fabric sourcing, and the clock starts when the sample is signed off, not when the enquiry arrives.
For a recent example, our developer show-flat package was produced and installed on a fixed 6-week schedule coordinated with the fit-out contractor.
2. Will room 1 and room 120 match?
Consistency is the hardest thing in upholstery at volume. Fabric dye lots vary between rolls; bought-in frames vary between batches; foam varies between pours. Each variation is small, and each one shows when the same fabric is stretched over it in a corridor of identical rooms.
Ask the supplier how they control it. The answers you want to hear:
- The whole fabric requirement is bought in one dye lot and held, even when delivery is phased.
- Foam is ordered against one written specification for the entire run (density, firmness, thickness).
- Frames are built to the same jig in the supplier’s own workshop rather than bought in.
- Units are measured against the approved sample during production, not just at the end.
On our 120-armchair hotel order the run was split into three batches of 40 for three properties, with every 10th unit checked against a master reference — the batching was a delivery decision, not a material one.
3. Do you get a physical sample before production?
Drawings and renders do not tell you how a seat sits. Insist on a physical sample of each model, in the production fabric, and treat its approval as a contract: the sample becomes the reference every production unit is checked against.
We build a physical sample for approval on every OEM and ODM order before a run begins. Single sample units are available, so you can approve before committing to the full quantity.
4. Is it built for commercial use?
Residential upholstery fails early in hotels. Ask what changes for a commercial order:
- Foam — high-resilience foam in the 40–55 kg/m³ range rather than soft residential grades, which compress unevenly within a year of daily use.
- Springs — sinuous or 8-way hand-tied construction specified for the seat, not for the price point.
- Fabric — a contract-grade or performance fabric with a stated abrasion rating (see our upholstery fabric guide).
- Frames — kiln-dried hardwood or engineered timber, joined for repeated loading.
5. What happens when you re-order?
Hotels refurbish floor by floor and replace damaged pieces for years after opening. If the supplier keeps no records, every replacement is an approximation. Ask whether cut files, foam specifications and fabric references are kept on file per project. We keep them for every production order, so a re-order is a repeat rather than a new development — which matters most to groups with several properties ordering the same standard.
6. Paperwork, invoicing and acceptance
The person accepting furniture at a property is rarely the person who approved the sample. QC documentation delivered with each batch lets a property manager check a delivered chair against the same reference the factory worked to. Ask for it up front, together with the invoicing and tax documents your finance team needs, the payment schedule, and the warranty terms in writing — get all of these into the quotation rather than discovering them at delivery.
What a supplier like us does — and does not — make
Be clear about scope. Factory Source Thailand manufactures upholstered pieces: sofas, lounge chairs, ottomans and poufs, and modular seating. We do not make case goods — wardrobes, desks, bedside tables, marble or hard furniture. On a full FF&E package we typically sit alongside a joinery supplier, working from the same design intent and fabric schedule. If one vendor claims to make everything in-house, ask to see where.
Frequently asked questions
What is the minimum order for hotel upholstery?
From 10 pieces per style. A single sample unit can be built for approval before the run.
How long does hotel furniture production take in Thailand?
We quote typically 8–12 weeks from sample approval, depending on volume and fabric sourcing. Large or phased orders can be delivered in batches matched to your installation schedule.
Can you deliver outside Bangkok?
Yes. Orders are delivered to site anywhere in Thailand — our Chiang Mai boutique hotel order was delivered in one shipment, wrapped and labelled by room number — and export orders are crated for shipping.
Do you supply beds, wardrobes and bedside tables?
No. We are an upholstery-only manufacturer. We make the soft seating in a hotel package and coordinate with your joinery supplier for case goods.