Words Damaris Colhoun

When distinctive design becomes a brand strategy, contract customers turn to Robert Allen’s Room Service for one-stop shopping.

www.robertallendesign.com

Some Robert Allen jacquards that can be selected for custom-designed duvets, bedskirts, pillows, draperies and accessories.

Don’t call the 66-year-old textile company Robert Allen venerable. It has remained a leader in its field this long by staying keen to the needs of its clients. Which is why three years ago, Andrew Pacuk, Robert Allen’s senior vice president of strategic development, launched Room Service. A program within its contract division, it offers clients in hospitality and healthcare the use of Robert Allen’s vast archive of 50,000 fabrics, its design expertise and extensive contacts in manufacturing to create rooms and bedding to set them apart, no matter their budget. “Clients kept talking to us about differentiating themselves from the competition,” he says. “With Room Service, we went from being an in-stock fabric company to being an idea company.”

Clients may choose a selection of fabrics from the archive, or reinterpret existing patterns in another color way, scale or weave. They can also choose shower curtains and bath towels that coordinate with their bed ensembles. But Room Service offers even more: It will fabricate and ship the order, and put the entire production on a single invoice.

“With Room Service, we went from being an in-stock fabric company to being an idea company,” says Andrew Pacuk.

When the Hilton hotel chain Hampton Inn contacted Room Service, it was with specifications for a bed ensemble—composed of a duvet, shams, bed skirt and decorative pillow for a new super-comfortable bed experience—called Cloud Nine. “We wanted a look that was crisp and clean, with a residential feel,” says Robert Barter, Hilton’s corporate director of strategic sourcing. With the exception of the decorative pillow and bed skirt, Barter requested that the ensemble be white.

The choice of a duvet cover instead of a bedspread was a critical departure for the brand. “Duvets feel more residential, and they’re easier to clean,” says Barter. Hilton wanted to guarantee its customers freshly laundered covers with every visit to a Hampton Inn. As Pacuk puts it, “Hilton’s vision was to never be on 60 Minutes when they do those ultraviolet light tests.” To help Hilton deliver on this promise, Robert Allen produced three sets of bedding for every bed.

With 1,300 Hampton Inn properties, the project was a massive undertaking, the largest order in Robert Allen’s history. “We created 700,000 duvets,” Pacuk says. “And everything had to pass rigorous standards—no pilling, minimal wrinkling, with virtually seamless duvets.” Even with time spent for a trial run at 30 Hampton sites to assess the ensemble’s performance with housekeeping and guests, Robert Allen managed to roll out Cloud Nine a year to the month after product development had commenced. “Guests were calling the inns before their stay to make sure Cloud Nine was in. That kind of response and the boost it gave our brand image offset our initial investments,” says Barter.

Cloud Nine has been so popular with guests that Hampton Inn now sells the bedding. Is there a better way to build brand loyalty than by tempting guests to bring their bedding home?