What does furnishing cost?

Why we will not publish a price range

We could put a number on this page. Most operators do. The problem is that a range wide enough to be honest is too wide to be useful, and a range narrow enough to look useful is not honest.

A studio being fitted out simply is a different exercise from a three-bedroom apartment positioned against premium comparables in the same tower. Same city, same service, entirely different budget. Quoting either figure to you before seeing your property tells you nothing except that we were willing to guess.

What actually moves the number

• Size and bedroom count — the obvious driver, and the one people fixate on.
• Layout — open-plan versus separated living space changes what furniture the room needs and how much of it.
• Design direction — how distinctive the property needs to be to stand out against what else is available in its building and area.
• Specification of contents — the difference between furniture that photographs well and survives guest turnover, and furniture that does one of those two things.
• What is already there — a partially furnished unit may need supplementing rather than fitting out.

Where owners get this wrong in both directions

Under-specifying is the more common mistake and the more expensive one. Furnishing determines what the photography looks like, photography determines whether a guest clicks, and clicks determine occupancy and rate. A fit-out that saves money and produces flat, ordinary images costs more over a year than it saved on day one. It also wears out faster under guest turnover, which means replacing things sooner.

Over-specifying is rarer but real. Past a certain standard, additional spend stops converting into nightly rate. The guest booking a two-bedroom in your building is comparing it with the other two-bedrooms in your building, not with a hotel suite. Spending beyond what the comparable set supports is money that does not come back.

Where the line sits is specific to the property, which is the whole reason we scope it individually rather than selling a standard package.

How it works with us

If your property needs furnishing, styling or improvement, we coordinate it before launch. We assess the unit, agree a design direction and a scope with you, and quote against that. You see what is being bought and what it costs before anything is ordered.

If you would rather furnish it yourself, or the property is already furnished, that is fine too — and we will give you a straight view on whether what is there will hold up and how it compares with what performs well in your building. Sometimes the answer is that it is fine as it is.