Glossary
The FF&E vocabulary, in plain English.
The terms that come up across hotel furnishing, specification and handover, defined clearly enough to be useful whether you're new to the space or explaining it to a colleague.
- FF&E
- FF&E stands for Furniture, Fixtures & Equipment: the movable furnishings and fittings in a hotel that aren't part of the building's structure, such as beds, chairs, lighting, soft furnishings, casegoods and decorative accessories. In a hotel fit-out, FF&E is one of the single largest line items, and renovation drives most of the spend.
- OS&E
- OS&E stands for Operating Supplies & Equipment: the consumable and operational items a hotel needs to run day to day, such as crockery, glassware, linens, uniforms and amenities. It is distinct from FF&E, which covers the durable furnishings and fixtures.
- O&M manual
- An O&M (Operations & Maintenance) manual is the handover document pack a hotel receives at the end of a fit-out, intended to record how the building and its FF&E should be operated and maintained. In practice it's often a 500-page PDF that becomes unsearchable and outdated within months of opening.
- Control Book
- A Control Book is the part of an O&M handover that holds the detailed FF&E specification sheets, typically organised by room type. Each entry records the manufacturer, model, finish, fabric, fire rating, dimensions and supplier for a given item.
- FF&E Matrix
- An FF&E Matrix is a placement map that shows which items go in which room types and in what quantity. It's the spreadsheet-style document that ties the specification (the Control Book) to the physical rooms.
- Type Schedule
- A Type Schedule lists the room types in a property and their defining attributes: bed configuration, area, and the FF&E specification that applies to each. It's a core part of the O&M document pack.
- Drawing Register
- A Drawing Register is the index of all drawings issued for a project (plans, elevations and details) with their reference numbers and revision status. It accompanies the O&M handover so the right drawing can be located later.
- RevPAR
- RevPAR (Revenue Per Available Room) measures a hotel's room revenue divided by the number of available rooms, which works out as occupancy multiplied by average daily rate. It's the key reason a room out of service is costly: each offline night forfeits that property's RevPAR.
- ADR
- ADR (Average Daily Rate) is the average revenue earned per occupied room over a period. Together with occupancy it determines RevPAR.
- Rub count (Martindale)
- A rub count is the abrasion-resistance rating of an upholstery fabric, measured by the Martindale test in cycles (rubs). Contract hospitality fabrics typically need a high rub count, often 40,000+ for general use and 100,000+ for heavy use. It's a spec detail that has to be matched when sourcing a replacement.
- Fire rating
- A fire rating certifies that a furnishing meets a flammability standard for its setting. In UK contract hospitality, upholstered furniture is commonly specified to BS 7176 (with hazard levels) and the underlying fillings to BS 5852. Replacements must meet the same rating, which is why the original spec matters.
- PIP
- A PIP (Property Improvement Plan) is the schedule of upgrades a brand requires a franchised or managed hotel to complete to stay on-brand. PIPs often drive FF&E refreshes on a five-to-seven-year cycle for soft goods, and longer for casegoods.
- Lead time
- Lead time is the period between ordering an FF&E item and receiving it. Bespoke contract furniture and decorative lighting can carry long lead times, so a discontinued item with no documented spec can leave a room out of service for months.
- Specification (spec)
- A specification is the precise definition of an item (manufacturer, model, finish, fabric, fire rating, dimensions and supplier) sufficient to procure it or a compliant equivalent. Accurate specs prevent misorders and the back-and-forth that delays replacements.
- RFI
- An RFI (Request for Information) is a formal query raised during a project to clarify incomplete or ambiguous documents. RFIs cost time and money to resolve, and unclear specifications are a leading cause, which is why clear, complete specs are worth the effort.
- Lifecycle handover
- A lifecycle handover is the transfer of a property's FF&E record from the design/build phase to ongoing operations. On Controlbook, a design firm hands the hotel a live, queryable database rather than a static PDF, so the specification stays usable for the asset's whole life.
See it running on your own property's data.
Give us 30 minutes. We'll report a real fault, identify the item, check availability and draft the supplier email, live, on a sample of your own data.