How to write an amenity specification for your hotel

What a specification is for

A specification is a written description of exactly what goes in each room type and what the products should be. Without one, quotes cannot be compared, and the room standard depends on whoever is restocking that day. With one, you can brief suppliers, check deliveries and train staff against the same document.

It also protects you when staff change. A housekeeping head who leaves takes years of unwritten habits with them. A specification keeps those habits in the building.

Treat the first version as a draft. A specification improves most in the first month of real use, when housekeeping points out what the page missed.

Section 1: the set, by room type

List every item and quantity per room type. Be explicit.

• Standard room: shampoo, body wash, hand soap, 1 bar soap.
• Suite: the above plus conditioner, lotion, dental kit, vanity kit.
• Accessible room: the standard set, with pump formats within easy reach.

Put it in a table if you can. The goal is that anyone could stock the room from the page alone.

Add a line for each room category showing whether the item is placed, replaced daily or provided on request. For example, hand soap may be checked daily and replaced when under half full, while a dental kit is replaced only on request. Writing the rule next to the item stops the same debate recurring every month.

Section 2: the product requirements

For each item, describe what matters to you, in plain terms:

• Format and size, such as wall dispenser, pump bottle, or miniature of a stated volume.
• Fragrance direction, described in words, such as fresh, green, woody, with no sharp top notes.
• Performance, such as lather and rinse-off, judged in a sample test.
• Ingredient and labelling expectations, with the request that the supplier provide full ingredient lists and applicable regulatory information.

Do not invent technical values. Ask the supplier to provide specifications and attach them.

When describing fragrance, avoid single words such as 'luxury'. Describe the feeling and the limits instead: clean and green, with no heavy sweetness, light enough for a small bathroom with limited ventilation. A supplier can respond to that, and your panel can judge against it.

Section 3: packaging and presentation

Describe labels, colours, any logo requirements, outer cartons and how products arrive. State whether packaging should be recyclable, and ask for evidence of any claim made. If you plan a custom look, point to the private label or bespoke options to see what is possible before you write the brief.

Include artwork requirements if you want your name on items: file formats, colours, minimum text size and where the logo may sit. Ask suppliers to provide a proof for approval before production. A line stating that bulk must match the approved proof prevents misunderstandings later.

Section 4: operational rules

This is the part most hotels skip. Include par levels, when to replace partly used items, where products sit, and how to align them. Add storage rules for stock rooms. These rules are what keep a room consistent over months.

Also list what to do when something goes wrong: a leaking dispenser, a delivery with a damaged carton, a guest allergy report. Name who to call and what to record. These rules take ten minutes to write and save hours later.

Keeping it alive

Review the document twice a year and after any complaint pattern. Keep a version number and date. Share it with housekeeping, purchasing and the front office so everyone uses the same version. Attach photographs of a correctly set room; one photo often replaces a page of text.

When it is ready, send it with a request for samples and a quote so suppliers respond to the same brief.

A short template to start from

If you are starting from nothing, use five headings: room types and sets, product requirements, packaging, operations, and contacts. Fill each with bullet points rather than paragraphs. One page per heading is the maximum. Share a draft with housekeeping before it goes to suppliers, since they will spot practical problems the office does not.

Questions on this topic

Keep reading

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• Gym locker room amenities: a practical checklist

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