NATIONAL REPORT—Wayfair Professional and Samuel Lawrence Hospitality (SLH) have entered a partnership to deliver commercial-grade furniture—fast. By speeding up lead times, customers can get high-quality commercial product without having to wait months for it to be made to order.
“The key feature of the program is to offer our hospitality customers an assortment of on-trend commercial-grade casegoods with the standard e-commerce shipping many consumers are accustomed to receiving,” said Charlie Reichenbach, head of hospitality, Wayfair Professional. “We’re capitalizing on our combined capabilities: Wayfair’s logistics and drop ship capabilities, paired with Samuel Lawrence Hospitality’s expertly crafted furniture, in stocked positions, and ready to ship.”
Rick Evans, president of Samuel Lawrence Hospitality, added, “Because the forecast is so good for traveling and is looking to be strong over the next five years, hotels are fully occupied. Hotel owners have less time than ever to fit in a renovation. So, instead of having four to six months to squeeze in a renovation, you have two and, therefore, need your furniture faster. That’s where I see the Wayfair Professional program as a huge value, especially with nice, fashion-designed, clean furniture. The program aids hotels facing a lot of different scenarios.”
Commercial grade furniture is often a custom order with three- to six-month lead times for design, construction and shipping, explained Reichenbach. He cited two use cases in the marketplace that are often underserved by this dynamic: small hotels with lower room counts and one-off replacement furniture.
“Smaller hotels frequently won’t have significant enough furniture needs to get fair attention or pricing when ordering contract-grade furniture,” said Reichenbach. “Similarly, unless part of a larger hotel chain program, one-off replacements are even less attractive to manufacturers or intermediaries like purchasing agents. Further to these hurdles, replacement furniture is generally needed on a quicker timeframe than the standard three- to six-month lead time.”
Reichenbach noted that Samuel Lawrence Hospitality is an ideal partner for this offering due to its focus on quality and range of styles.
“Samuel Lawrence Hospitality is well known for aesthetically pleasing furniture built to endure the rigors of high-traffic hotel rooms,” said Reichenbach. “As a major supplier in the industry with a pulse on design trends, we knew we could go to SLH for the right assortment of styles that would meet the level of quality our customers expect. SLH, a subsidiary of Home Meridian International, can leverage the e-commerce know-how of its parent company, including warehousing and packaging for quick dropship. Rather than furniture taking four to six months, it can be there next week in most cases.”
Through the new partnership, Wayfair Professional and Samuel Lawrence Hospitality are offering a selection of styles, stains, fabrics and more, along with shipping within three days of ordering.
“Hotels can update a number of rooms that may be showing wear and tear, they can order a replacement piece, or a new hotel can outfit their rooms with contemporary pieces their guests will love,” said Reichenbach. “The assortment is versatile enough to blend into existing designs, while also including pops of colors to add interest where needed.”
