A guestroom chair is sat on by one or two people a night. A lobby sofa or a restaurant banquette is sat on all day, by people carrying bags, drinks and wet coats. Public-area furniture is built for that load. Turkish factories make it to the designer’s drawings in timber, upholstery, stone and metal, and Rovers prices every line with the Turkish partner factory that fits, approves each material as one build, books the fire tests the market needs, and inspects every piece before packing.
What each area needs
| Area | Typical items | What wears first | What to specify |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lobby and lounge | Sofas, lounge chairs, coffee and side tables, reception desk, concierge desk | Seat front edges, arm tops, table edges | High-traffic fabric, arm caps or leather on arms, hard-wearing table edges |
| Restaurant and breakfast room | Dining chairs, banquettes, tables, service stations | Chair joints, seat fabric, table tops | Joint design and strength test, cleanable fabric, top finish rated for heat and spills |
| Bar | Bar stools, bar front and top, high tables, lounge seating | Stool footrests, bar top, front panel kicks | Metal footrests and kick plates, a top in stone or solid surface, sealed edges |
| Meeting rooms | Meeting and banquet tables, chairs, credenzas | Table edges, chair glides, folding parts | Edge banding or solid lippings, glides for the floor type, mechanisms tested in cycles |
| Corridors and lift lobbies | Console tables, benches, mirrors, wall panelling | Corners and low panels hit by trolleys | Rounded corners, kick rails, panels that can be replaced one at a time |
Fabric wear in public areas
Fabric durability is rated by a rub test. The Association for Contract Textiles (ACT) sets one guideline for low-traffic private spaces and a higher one for high-traffic public spaces.
| Test | Private spaces (guestrooms) | Public spaces (lobby, restaurant, bar) |
|---|---|---|
| Wyzenbeek (ASTM D4157), double rubs | 15,000 | 30,000 |
| Martindale (ASTM D4966 or EN ISO 12947), cycles | 20,000 | 40,000 |
ACT notes that the two tests do not convert into each other. A hotel spec may ask for more; the fabric is checked against the spec, not the guideline. Seating frames are built to EN 16139, the European standard for the safety, strength and durability of non-domestic seating, when the spec names it.
Fire tests by market
| Market | What applies to public-area upholstery |
|---|---|
| United Kingdom | BS 7176 medium hazard for hotels, tested to BS 5852 with the crib 5 source |
| United States | 16 CFR Part 1640 (California TB 117-2013), with a permanent label |
| France | In rows of seats (meeting rooms, fixed rows): M3 structures and upholstered seats that pass the French technical instruction, per AM 18 |
| Other EU markets | The spec names the test; EN 1021-1 and EN 1021-2 are the European methods |
| UAE and Gulf | The UAE Fire and Life Safety Code accepts British, European and US test methods |
The test is run on the build that will ship: cover fabric, interliner and foam together, as set out on the upholstery page. A fabric change after the test means a new test.
Stone, metal and joinery in one piece
Most public-area pieces mix materials: a timber bar with a stone top and a metal footrest, a reception desk in veneer with a solid-surface counter, a dining table with a metal base. Each material is made in a different shop, so the piece is drawn as one assembly and each part is checked against it.
| Material | Where it goes | Points on the shop drawing |
|---|---|---|
| Natural stone (marble, granite) | Bar tops, table tops, reception counters | Thickness, edge profile, sealer, joint positions on long runs, weight on the base |
| Solid surface and sintered stone | Counters, service stations, wash areas | Seam positions, edge build-up, cut-outs |
| Metal | Bases, footrests, frames, trims | Steel or stainless, powder coat or plated finish, welds ground and checked |
| Veneer and solid timber | Desks, bar fronts, panelling, tables | Species and cut, matching across panels, lacquer sheen |
Stone is crated separately from its base and set on site, so it travels flat and the base is not loaded in transit. Bar fronts and reception desks too long for one crate are split at a joint shown on the shop drawing.
Fixed banquettes or loose seating
| Fixed banquette | Loose chairs and sofas | |
|---|---|---|
| Built as | A joinery base fixed to the wall, with seat and back as separate panels | Free-standing frames |
| Layout | Set once; fits the room to the centimetre | Can be moved for events and cleaning |
| Covers | Panels come off for re-covering; the base stays | The whole piece goes to the workshop |
| Site work | Measured on site after walls are finished; fixed during installation | Delivered and placed |
| Fire rules | Counted as seating and as fixed furniture where the local rule says so | Counted as seating |
A banquette is measured from the finished room, not the drawing, because a few centimetres of wall finish change the run. Outside the US our team fixes it in place; in the US the scope is manufactured and delivered.
What to send us
Send the area plans and elevations, the furniture schedule with quantities per area, the fabric and finish schedule, and the destination. If the fabric is not chosen yet, we propose contract fabrics that meet the rub count and fire test for the market and price each option on the same schedule.
- Association for Contract Textiles: Voluntary Performance Guidelines, abrasion, woven fabrics, indoor (Feb 2025) · accessed 2026-10-04
- CEN: EN 16139:2025 Safety, strength and durability of non-domestic seating · accessed 2026-10-04
- VisitBritain Pink Book: fire safety of furniture and furnishings (hotels medium hazard; BS 7176, BS 5852 crib 5) · accessed 2026-10-04
- eCFR: 16 CFR Part 1640, flammability of upholstered furniture (adopts California TB 117-2013) · accessed 2026-10-04
- CEN: EN 1021-2:2014 Ignitability of upholstered furniture, match flame equivalent (part 1: smouldering cigarette) · accessed 2026-10-04
- Légifrance: Arrêté du 25 juin 1980, Article AM 18, rangées de sièges (version in force from 4 Nov 2023) · accessed 2026-10-04
- Dubai Civil Defence: UAE Fire and Life Safety Code of Practice · accessed 2026-10-04