Hotels and restaurants use TheArtFolio when guest rooms and public walls need archival prints in specified frames, made to order in the UK. We do not sell a boxed “hotel art pack”. You choose the works; we frame them to the wall.
Designers specifying those walls should also read art for interior designers and enquire on Trade.
What hospitality walls actually need
A guest-room print has to survive being lived with for three nights, not win an art fair. Palettes that sit with timber, linen and low evening light do better than a poster-bright landmark. Coastal, landscape and quieter abstracts from the folio are the usual starting point; London and architectural works suit lobbies and meeting rooms that want a place-name.
Every piece is made to order: the same artwork can be a small mounted print over a bedside table and a larger framed span in a lounge, with the moulding held consistent so the property reads as one scheme.
A guest room is not a living room
The difference is viewing time. Someone lives with their own art for years and wants it to keep revealing something. A guest sees yours for two or three nights and mostly from the bed, at an angle, in artificial light.
That argues for work that resolves immediately rather than rewards study, and for palettes that hold up under warm low-output lighting — which is what most hotel rooms have. Strong blues and greens can go flat under 2700K. Warmer palettes and tonal work hold.
Scale against hotel furniture
The usual mistake is buying to the wall and ignoring the headboard. Art above a bed should span roughly two thirds of the headboard's width. A standard UK double headboard is 140–150 cm, so a single piece of 90–100 cm across suits it; above a king, go wider or go to two panels.
Our size ladder runs from 40 × 40 cm up to 120 × 95 cm, and a diptych spans about 118 cm framed. Centre at 145–150 cm from the floor as you would at home — guests do not need a different eye level.
Repeats without looking cheap
Do not hang the identical image down a corridor. Pick an artist or a palette, then vary the work. Gallery walls and the artists directory are the two shortest routes. Lookboards let the operator see the set before you lock quantities.
The three-tier approach
Most schemes that work use three tiers rather than one.
Guest rooms take the repeat — one artist or one palette, varied work, consistent framing. Corridors take the quietest tier, because nobody stops; this is where tonal and abstract work earns its place and where a strong image becomes tiring by the fourth pass. Public rooms take the one or two pieces people will photograph, and that is where a place-name subject or a multi-panel span belongs.
Holding the moulding constant across all three is what makes a varied set read as one scheme rather than an accumulation.
What to ask before you specify
Questions that change the answer
How is the wall lit? Colour temperature affects palette more than most people expect.
What is the fixing? Standard framing uses a tensioned string fixture. For public areas — corridors, waiting rooms, hotel landings — springlock security brackets are available on request at additional cost, because string-fixed work is not usually acceptable there. Framed work behind glazing also has weight, and some contract walls and fixing regimes rule it out. Ask the contractor before you specify, not after.
Who replaces a damaged piece, and how fast? Made-to-order means a replacement is a fresh 5–8 business day lead, not a shelf item. Worth holding one or two spares per floor on a large scheme.
Is the property one scheme or several? A group with three properties usually wants a shared moulding and a different palette per site.
Lead times
Framed pieces arrive in 5–8 business days. Framing takes 3–5 working days, then 2–3 business days with the courier. Large schemes should land in the brief early. Details: Framing & sizes, Delivery & returns.
