There is no single cost to refurbish a hotel room in Australia, because every published figure answers a different question: cosmetic refresh or full refurbishment, furniture only or all works, city or regional, new fit-out or a building that stays open. What an owner can use is the structure of the cost. On a 103-key interior package Cocoplum priced in March 2026, guest rooms took 62 per cent of the furniture, fixtures and equipment budget and public areas 32 per cent, and inside the room, fixed joinery was almost half the money. Below is how that number is built, what it leaves out, and how to turn it into a budget.
Why is there no single cost per room?
Vendor buying guides quote a cosmetic refresh from a few thousand dollars a room and a full refurbishment at many times that, usually without saying what is inside the figure. Quantity surveyors such as Rider Levett Bucknall publish FF&E allowances per bedroom by star rating in their annual Riders Digest, and they exclude loose furniture from their building cost tables, so the two have to be added to get a whole-room figure. Overseas figures in US dollars from furniture manufacturers do not transfer, because the labour and freight assumptions are different.
Before comparing any two numbers, ask three questions. Is it FF&E only, or all works including bathrooms, services and building? Does it include public areas, or guest rooms alone? Is it a new interior in an empty building, or a refurbishment around guests, which is slower and dearer per room? Most disagreements about hotel refurbishment cost are two people answering different questions.
What does a real Australian FF&E package look like?
In March 2026 Cocoplum and Boxareno priced the complete interior package for a 103-key hotel in regional Victoria: 91 standard rooms, six junior suites and six family suites, an average room of 29 square metres, with a restaurant, bar, lobby, meeting rooms, gym and terraces. The offer covered design, fixed and loose furniture, lighting, curtains and rugs, bathroom fittings, operating equipment, public area furniture, delivery and installation, ex GST. This is how the money divided.
| Share of the whole interior package | Per cent |
|---|---|
| Guest room and corridor FF&E: fixed joinery, loose furniture, lighting, curtains, rugs, artwork | 45 |
| Bathroom sanitary ware and fittings, supply only | 10 |
| OS&E: televisions, minibars, safes, mattresses, kettles, irons, signage | 7 |
| Guest room package | 62 |
| Public areas indoors: lobby, restaurant, bar, meeting rooms, gym, back of house | 26 |
| Outdoor and terrace furniture | 6 |
| Design | 4 |
| Mobilisation and unforeseen | 2 |
Inside the guest room package the split was:
| Share of the guest room package | Per cent |
|---|---|
| Fixed joinery: entrance and bathroom doors, wardrobe and minibar unit, bed base and headboard, TV unit, window bench, vanity, mirrors | 49 |
| Bathroom sanitary ware: WC, basin, mixers, shower set and screen, drains, accessories | 16 |
| OS&E: TV, telephones, minibar, safe, mattress, iron, kettle | 12 |
| Loose furniture: nightstands, desk and chair, dining set and sofa in suites, corridor pieces | 9 |
| Lighting: bedside and reading lights, downlights, corridor sconces, linear fittings | 9 |
| Curtains, rugs and artwork | 6 |
Installation was about 8 per cent of the guest room FF&E value. Two things follow from these proportions. First, the wardrobe, bed and bathroom joinery decide the budget, so that is where specification discipline pays. Second, the items guests complain about most, the mattress, the blackout curtain and the bedside light, are a small share of the money, which is why saving on them is a poor trade.
How do I get the dated per-key benchmark?
The per-key figures behind these percentages are held as a benchmark that we re-issue quarterly, because our supplier pricing has moved about 10 per cent since March 2026. It is sent by email to owners, asset managers and quantity surveyors, with the scope and exclusions stated, so that the comparison with your own project is like for like. Tell us the star rating, key count and location and the current issue arrives in your inbox.
What does the FF&E number leave out?
Everything in the tables above is furniture, fittings and equipment. A hard refurbishment adds building works; wet-area tiling, waterproofing and the plumbing behind it; mechanical, electrical and fire services; professional fees beyond design, meaning the quantity surveyor, certifier and project manager; contingency, where 10 to 15 per cent is normal practice on an existing building and more is prudent if it predates 1990 and has had no hazardous materials survey; the room nights lost while rooms are out of inventory; and GST. None of these is small. Together they are why the same FF&E package can sit inside a hard refurbishment costing two to three times as much per key.
What makes the per-key cost go up or down?
- Star rating and brand standards. The operator’s manual sets minimum specifications for mattresses, fabrics, lighting and joinery, and quantity surveyor allowances for FF&E rise steeply from three star to five star.
- Room size and suite ratio. The package above averaged 29 square metres and 12 suites in 103 keys. Larger rooms and more suites raise the average.
- Location. Regional and remote freight and labour indices run well above Sydney and Melbourne.
- Repetition. Ninety-one identical standard rooms price far lower per unit than twelve suites, because shop drawings, tooling and prototypes are amortised.
- Procurement route. A single design-and-manufacture contract removes two margins on the same piece and the procurement gap after design approval. Compare quotes on specification, not on headline rate; here is how the owner keeps the check independent.
- Timing. Pricing moves monthly. A figure without a date is not a benchmark.
How should an owner build a refurbishment budget from this?
- Decide the scope honestly: soft refresh, FF&E replacement, or hard refurbishment with wet areas and services.
- Start with an FF&E allowance per key for your star rating, then adjust for room size, suite ratio and location.
- Have a quantity surveyor cost the building and services from a measured survey, not from a rate per room.
- Put fees, contingency and lost room revenue in the same spreadsheet as the construction cost.
- Build one prototype room before committing to the roll-out. It is the only cost check that involves sleeping in the result.
Where does the money actually pay back?
Penner, Adams and Robson (2012) put FF&E at roughly 18 per cent of total project cost for a mid-rate hotel. It is the layer the guest touches, and the one most often cut when a pro forma is squeezed. The builder-grade post sets out what that cut costs later in rate and review scores. The proportions above show where the cut usually lands: on the small lines that guests notice, not on the joinery that carries the budget.
Further reading
- How Do You Keep Design Control When One Team Designs and Manufactures the FF&E?: the five commitments behind a single contract
- What Builder-Grade Hotel Interiors Are Actually Costing Developers: the cost of specifying to the minimum
- Who Should Manage Hotel FF&E?: the coordination problem most renovations do not solve
- Hotel Alba Caracas: a 700-room turnkey interior package, and Rixos Premium Bodrum: FF&E designed and produced for a 409-room resort
References
- Cocoplum Design Studio and Boxareno (2026). Preliminary FF&E price offer for a 103-key hotel, regional Victoria, 31 March 2026, AUD ex GST. Package totals published as percentages; the dated per-key benchmark is available on request.
- Penner, R. H., Adams, L., & Robson, S. K. A. (2012). Hotel Design, Planning and Development (2nd ed.). W. W. Norton.
- Rider Levett Bucknall. Riders Digest (annual, Australian editions): construction cost benchmarks and FF&E allowances per bedroom by hotel star rating.
Frequently asked questions
How much does hotel FF&E cost per room in Australia?
It depends on star rating, room size, location and procurement route, and any figure without a date is out of date. Quantity surveyors publish FF&E allowances per bedroom by star rating; on a 103-key regional package we priced in March 2026, guest rooms were 62 per cent of the interior budget and fixed joinery almost half of the room cost. We issue the dated per-key benchmark on request.
Does the FF&E figure include bathrooms?
It includes the sanitary ware and fittings, supplied: WC, basin, mixers, shower set and screen, drains and accessories. It does not include the wet-area building works, tiling, waterproofing or plumbing installation, which belong to the builder and the plumber.
What is the difference between FF&E and OS&E?
FF&E is furniture, fixtures and equipment: joinery, loose furniture, lighting, curtains, rugs and artwork. OS&E is operating supplies and equipment: televisions, telephones, minibars, safes, mattresses, kettles, irons and signage. On the package above OS&E was about 12 per cent of the guest room cost.
How much contingency should a hotel refurbishment carry?
Ten to fifteen per cent is normal practice on an existing building. Allow more if the building predates 1990 and has not had a hazardous materials survey, or if the bathrooms are being opened, because waterproofing failures are the most common source of rework.
Why do regional hotels cost more per key to fit out than city hotels?
Freight, labour availability and subcontractor pricing run above metropolitan levels, and quantity surveyors index regional locations well above Sydney. Repetition offsets some of this: many identical rooms amortise shop drawings, tooling and the prototype room.
Why not publish the per-key price on this page?
Because it changes monthly and would be compared against figures with a different scope. The benchmark is dated, states its scope and exclusions, and is re-issued quarterly. Request it with your star rating, key count and location and the comparison will be like for like.
