Moving Hotel or Short-Let Furniture During a Refurbishment

The painters arrive on Monday, the new beds land on Wednesday, and twenty rooms of old furniture still have to leave the building before either can happen. Meanwhile the third floor is occupied, the lift is shared with guests, and the facility manager wants the corridor clear by noon.

A refurbishment means moving a lot of near-identical furniture out and back in without mixing it up or upsetting the guests still staying with you.

Decide what is leaving, staying or coming back

Walk every room before you talk to any driver and put each item into one group:

• Leaving for good (sold, donated or going to scrap)
• Going to storage and coming back after the work
• Moving to another room or another property
• Staying in place and needing cover from paint and dust

Each group may need its own trip and its own drop-off. Old mattresses heading for disposal should not share a truck section with headboards that are coming back next month.

Label room by room

Twelve wardrobes from twelve rooms are hard to tell apart once they are stacked in a store. Simple labels save days at the other end.

1. Give each room a code that matches your room numbers, for example 304.
2. Put a masking tape label on every piece with the room code, the item and where it is going. "304, bedside left, STORE" is enough.
3. For flat-packed wardrobes and bed frames, bag the screws, bolts and fittings, label the bag with the same code and tape it to the largest panel.
4. Photograph each room before you strip it. The photos become your guide when you put things back.
5. Keep a sheet listing every room and what left it. Tick items off as they go onto the truck and again when they arrive.

If you can, use a different colour of tape for each destination.

Beds, mattresses and wardrobes

Mattresses

Wrap each mattress in a mattress bag or heavy polythene before it leaves the room. A stained mattress coming back from storage is a mattress you replace. Stand them on edge in the truck, packed close so they support each other.

Bed frames and headboards

Dismantle frames where they are designed to come apart. Wrap headboards in blankets or cardboard, especially upholstered ones, and keep them standing on edge. Never lay heavy items on top of a wrapped headboard.

Wardrobes

Empty them fully, including hangers and loose shelves. Take the doors off if the wardrobe is tall or the doors are mirrored, wrap them separately and carry them on edge. Tape drawers shut. Our guide to moving heavy wooden furniture covers solid pieces that will not come apart.

Box room TVs, kettles and bar fridges separately and keep them upright, away from stacks of bed bases.

Work around guests

• Plan the heavy work for mid-morning, after most guests have checked out and before new arrivals. Avoid early mornings and late evenings when people are sleeping.
• Clear one floor or one block at a time. Do not empty the whole building at once unless it is fully closed.
• Keep corridors passable. Stage furniture in an empty room on each floor, not in the hallway.
• Put floor protection down in corridors and the lobby, and protect lift walls with blankets or boards.
• Tell guests on affected floors in advance. A short note under the door saying when there will be noise is usually enough.

Make sure the front desk knows which rooms are out of use.

Ready to move?

Request a truck or van on Sphere

Choose your vehicle, propose your price, and verified drivers in Lagos, Abuja and Ibadan accept or send a counter-offer.

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Talk to building management early

Short-lets inside apartment blocks and estates usually come with rules. Many buildings set hours for moving, ask for notice before large items go through the lift, or need the estate office to clear a truck at the gate. Some want the facility manager present.

Ask the facility manager what applies before you fix a date, and get it in writing if you can. Give the gateman a list of the vehicles and loaders expected, and the times. If the property sits in a tower, our guide to moving in or out of a Lagos high-rise covers lifts and loading bays.

Choose the vehicle and the number of trips

A small guesthouse may need one truckload. A larger hotel will usually need several trips over several days, following your floor-by-floor plan.

Split the trips by destination: storage, the sister property and disposal each get their own run. A pickup van suits the smaller runs, such as the room electronics or a few beds between two short-let flats. For regular business runs across Lagos, see our business moves page.

How to do this on Sphere

1. Open the Sphere app and choose a truck for the furniture runs, or a pickup van for smaller loads.
2. Add the pickup and drop-off, including the floor, lift access and any building rules about timing.
3. Describe the load properly: the number of beds, mattresses, wardrobes and boxes, and whether items are dismantled.
4. Agree loading and offloading help with the driver before you accept an offer. On a hotel job this usually means several people.
5. Propose your price. Verified drivers accept it or send a counter-offer, and you choose.

Make a new request for each trip in your plan. Sphere works in Lagos, Abuja and Ibadan.