The Real Cost of a Hotel Room: FF&E Breakdown for 150 Rooms

Ask five hotel developers what FF&E costs per room and you'll get five different answers — because most of them have never seen a line-item breakdown. They get a single number from a procurement company or a turnkey supplier and sign the check. This article fixes that. We're sharing a real FF&E cost breakdown for a 150-room select-service hotel, based on a project we sourced and shipped from Foshan, China to the US in 2025. Every number below comes from actual purchase orders, not estimates from a glossy brochure. If you're budgeting a hotel FF&E project, this is what the money actually buys.

What Counts as FF&E

FF&E stands for Furniture, Fixtures, and Equipment. In a hotel context, it covers everything loose or semi-permanent in the room and public areas — case goods, beds, seating, lighting, drapery, artwork, signage, and the operational equipment in the back of house. It does not include structural construction (walls, floors, MEP), but it does include everything a guest touches, sits on, sleeps on, or looks at.

For this breakdown, we're covering room-specific FF&E only. Lobby, corridor, F&B, and back-of-house OS&E (operational supplies and equipment) are separate budgets that we'll address in a future article.

The Project Profile

Before the numbers, here's the project so you can calibrate:

• Property: Select-service hotel, new construction
• Room count: 150 rooms (120 king rooms, 30 double-queen rooms)
• Brand tier: Upper mid-scale (comparable to Hampton Inn / Holiday Inn Express)
• Location: Suburban US, delivered to a warehouse in the Southeast
• Sourcing origin: Foshan, China
• Incoterms: FOB Shenzhen
• Container count: 9 × 40HC containers
• Timeline: Spec lock to container loading in 11 weeks

This is a real project. Brand names are omitted, but the spec, quantities, and prices are the actual numbers from our purchase orders and freight invoices.

Per-Room FF&E Cost Breakdown

Here's the full breakdown by category. All prices are in USD, landed at the destination warehouse (FOB origin + ocean freight + duty + inland delivery). The per-room figure is calculated across all 150 rooms, so shared items like corridor FF&E are amortized across the room count.

Case Goods (Furniture)

• Headboard panel (upholstered, king): $185 / room
• Headboard panel (upholstered, double-queen): $230 / room
• Nightstand (1× king, 2× double-queen): $95 / room avg
• Writing desk with power outlet cutout: $165 / room
• Desk chair (upholstered, metal base): $110 / room
• Luggage rack (folding, wood frame): $42 / room
• Dresser / TV credenza: $220 / room
• Wall-mounted shelving unit: $58 / room
• Mirror (framed, 36×48 in): $45 / room
• Subtotal — case goods: $920 / room

Beds and Bedding

• King mattress (high-density foam, 12 in): $240 / room
• Double-queen mattresses (2×): $320 / room avg (for queen rooms)
• Box spring / foundation: $85 / room
• Bed skirt / platform wrap: $22 / room
• Subtotal — beds: $340 / room avg

Soft Goods and Textiles

• Duvet + cover (king or 2× queen): $78 / room
• Pillows (4× king, 6× double-queen): $36 / room
• Sheet sets (2 sets per bed): $54 / room
• Bed runner / throw blanket: $18 / room
• Drapery panels + hardware (blackout + sheer): $95 / room
• Window sheer (privacy layer): $28 / room
• Subtotal — soft goods: $309 / room

Lighting

• Bedside reading sconces (2×): $48 / room
• Desk task lamp: $32 / room
• Ceiling fixture / downlight trim: $25 / room
• Entryway pendant or flush mount: $28 / room
• Subtotal — lighting: $133 / room

Artwork and Decor

• Framed art print (1–2 pieces per room): $45 / room
• Accent wall panel or texture feature: $38 / room
• Decorative throw pillow (1–2): $15 / room
• Subtotal — artwork and decor: $98 / room

Accessories and Room Amenities

• Luggage stool / bench: $35 / room
• Trash bin + recycling bin: $12 / room
• Towel hook set (bathroom): $8 / room
• Door number plaque + signage: $15 / room
• Information directory / guest folder: $10 / room
• Subtotal — accessories: $80 / room

Corridor and Shared FF&E (Amortized Per Room)

• Corridor seating (2 benches per floor): $18 / room
• Corridor artwork (4 prints per floor): $12 / room
• Fire exit signage + room wayfinding: $7 / room
• Ice house equipment and casework: $15 / room
• Vending area furniture: $8 / room
• Subtotal — shared FF&E: $60 / room

The Total Per-Room FF&E Cost

Add it all up and the room-specific FF&E cost for this 150-room select-service hotel is:

• Case goods: $920
• Beds: $340
• Soft goods: $309
• Lighting: $133
• Artwork and decor: $98
• Accessories: $80
• Shared FF&E: $60
• Total per room: $1,940

For 150 rooms, the total FF&E goods cost is approximately $291,000. Add ocean freight ($26,800 for 9 containers), Section 301 duty (25% on Chapter 94 goods, approximately $72,750), customs and port charges ($3,260), and inland delivery to site ($4,800), and the total landed FF&E cost comes to roughly $398,600 — or about $2,657 per room landed.

That's the honest number. Not a brochure estimate. Not a range with a footnote. $2,657 per room, delivered to your warehouse, ready to install.

Where the Money Goes

Looking at the category split, case goods eat 35% of the per-room budget. Beds and bedding add another 13%. Soft goods — the textiles, drapery, and bedding accessories — account for 12%. Lighting, artwork, and accessories together make up 12%. The remaining 3% is shared corridor and common-area FF&E amortized across rooms.

The takeaway: furniture is the single largest FF&E line item, and it's also where sourcing from China delivers the most savings. The same case goods package sourced from a US contract furniture manufacturer would cost $2,100–$2,800 per room. Our Foshan-sourced package came in at $920 — a 56–67% reduction on the largest budget category. That's why China sourcing isn't an optimization. For most select-service and mid-scale projects, it's the difference between the project pencil-out and not.

What Drives Cost Variance

This breakdown is for one project at one brand tier. Your numbers will differ based on several factors:

Brand Tier

An economy hotel may target $1,200–$1,600 per room. An upper-upscale property can run $4,000–$7,000 per room or more. The difference isn't just nicer furniture — it's custom finishes, higher-spec materials, branded case goods, and more elaborate lighting and artwork packages.

Room Mix

Double-queen rooms cost more than king rooms. They need two mattresses, two sets of bedding, wider headboards, and more pillows. If your room mix skews toward double-queen or suites, expect the per-room average to rise 15–25%.

Custom vs. Standard Specs

Standard catalogue furniture from Foshan factories is the cheapest path. Custom designs — bespoke case goods, proprietary upholstery patterns, custom finish matching — add 20–60% to the furniture line. We always ask clients whether the spec is truly custom or whether a standard product with a custom finish will satisfy the designer. Often it will, and the savings are significant.

Freight and Duty

Freight rates fluctuate. In 2025, ocean freight from Shenzhen to Long Beach ranged from $2,400 to $4,800 per 40HC container depending on the season and carrier. Section 301 tariffs on Chinese furniture (Chapter 94, HS code 9403) sit at 25% as of July 2026. These two factors alone can swing your landed cost by $15–20%.

Volume

150 rooms is a mid-size project. At 300 rooms, per-room costs drop 8–12% because factory pricing improves with volume and freight is amortized across more containers. Below 75 rooms, some Foshan factories won't quote — the order is too small to justify production line time. For small projects, we consolidate orders across multiple clients or work with factories that accept smaller minimums at a modest premium.

What's Not in This Breakdown

To be transparent about what these numbers don't cover:

• Installation: On-site labor to place and assemble furniture is a separate cost, typically $80–$150 per room.
• Lobby and public area FF&E: This is a major separate budget — $40,000–$120,000 depending on brand tier and design.
• F&B equipment: If the hotel has a breakfast area or bar, kitchen equipment and dining furniture are separate.
• OS&E: Operating supplies — towels, toiletries, hangers, irons, hair dryers — are a separate procurement line.
• Technology: In-room tablets, smart locks, and AV equipment are IT budget, not FF&E.
• Preliminary and contingency: We recommend a 5–8% contingency on FF&E for spec changes, damage in transit, and replacement stock.

How to Use This Breakdown

If you're planning a hotel FF&E budget, use these numbers as a sanity check, not a quote. Take your room count, multiply by $2,657 for a select-service tier, and see how it compares to your current budget. If your number is significantly lower, something is missing from your FF&E scope. If it's significantly higher, you may be paying for custom specs that standard products could replace.

The most expensive FF&E decisions are made early — at the design spec stage, before a single purchase order is written. That's where a sourcing partner adds the most value: by reviewing the spec, flagging where custom can become standard, identifying the right Foshan factories for each product category, and giving you a landed cost estimate before you commit.

Our process is simple: send us the FF&E spec or a BOQ (bill of quantities). Within 5 business days, we return a line-item quote with factory pricing, freight estimates, and a landed cost per room. You decide what to adjust. No commitment, no retainer.