Opening a hotel is a logistics problem before it is a hospitality problem. Before a single guest checks in, every room, washroom, kitchen and corridor needs to be stocked, and most new owners underestimate how many separate supply lines that involves. A proper hotel procurement checklist turns that chaos into a list you can actually work through, vendor by vendor and category by category. This guide walks through what a new property must set up across guest amenities, linen, housekeeping chemicals, cleaning equipment, paper and tissue, washroom utilities, food and beverage, packaging and disposables, and kitchen grocery. It also covers the parts owners usually get wrong: estimating quantities by room count, fixing specifications so reorders stay consistent, setting a replenishment rhythm, and cutting the number of vendors you have to chase.
Start with room count, not a wish list
Almost every consumable in a hotel scales off two numbers: the number of keys (rooms) and your expected occupancy. Get those two right and most of your opening order writes itself. A 30-room property running at moderate occupancy consumes amenities, linen and tissue at a predictable pace; a 60-room property roughly doubles it. Before you call any supplier, build a simple sheet listing each room type and its count, then attach a per-room consumption figure to every item.
Work to a par-stock logic from day one. Par stock means holding enough of each item to cover what is in use, what is in the wash or being cleaned, and a buffer. For linen, the common working rule is three sets per bed position: one on the bed, one in the laundry, one on the shelf. Apply the same in-use-plus-buffer thinking to amenities and cleaning supplies so you never open with a shortfall.
- List every room type and the number of keys in each.
- Assign a per-room or per-occupied-room consumption figure to each consumable.
- Decide a par level (in use + reserve) before placing the opening order.
- Keep one master sheet so reorders reference the same numbers every time.
Guest amenities and toiletries
This is the category guests notice first and the one most tied to your brand impression. It covers the bathroom toiletries and the in-room touches that signal the standard of the property. For a new hotel, the practical advantage of a dedicated amenities range is consistency: the same bottle, the same fragrance, the same finish in every room, refill after refill.
SGS Sales supplies hotel toiletries under its own brand, Saravi, alongside a wider amenities line, which lets a new property standardise its bathroom and in-room kit from a single source rather than mixing whatever each local shop happens to stock.
- Bathroom toiletries: shampoo, conditioner, shower gel, body lotion, soap bars or liquid soap.
- Dental kit, shaving kit, comb, shower cap, vanity kit, sanitary bag.
- Slippers, laundry bags, and any branded in-room collateral.
- Tea and coffee tray sundries if rooms carry a hospitality tray.
Standardise the format early. Decide whether you are using bottles or dispensers, choose a single fragrance family, and lock the sizes. Switching format later means stranded stock and an inconsistent guest experience across rooms.
Linen and the laundry equation
Linen is the heaviest single investment in a room's soft inventory, and it is where the three-par rule matters most. Under-buy and your laundry cycle will leave rooms short on a busy morning; over-buy and you have tied up capital in cupboards.
- Bed linen: sheets, duvet covers, pillow covers, and pillow protectors by bed size.
- Bath linen: bath towels, hand towels, face towels, and bath mats.
- Table and F&B linen if you run a restaurant or banquet space.
- Mattress and pillow protectors, which extend the life of bigger purchases.
Settle on a single thread count and size standard per room category so that every replacement matches what is already in service. Mismatched linen is the fastest way to make a clean room look untidy.
Housekeeping chemicals and cleaning equipment
A hotel needs a structured chemical programme, not a shelf of random bottles. Different surfaces demand different products, and using the wrong one damages finishes or simply fails to clean. Group your purchase by where the product is used, and keep dilution and dosing consistent so housekeeping staff get the same result every time. SGS Sales carries professional housekeeping chemicals, including the Buzil Professional range, for properties that want a proper graded cleaning system rather than consumer-grade products.
- Surface and floor cleaners, glass cleaner, and multi-purpose cleaner.
- Bathroom and toilet cleaners, descalers, and disinfectants.
- Kitchen degreasers and dishwash for the F&B side.
- Laundry detergents and fabric care matched to your linen.
The chemicals are only half the job. Cleaning tools and equipment determine how efficiently your team actually works.
- Housekeeping trolleys, mop sets, buckets, and wringers.
- Microfibre cloths colour-coded by area to avoid cross-contamination.
- Brooms, scrubbers, squeegees, and dusting tools.
- Larger equipment such as floor scrubbers or vacuums where the property size justifies it.
Paper, tissue and washroom utilities
Paper products run out faster than anything else in the building, which makes them the category most likely to embarrass you at the wrong moment. Treat tissue and washroom consumables as a standing reorder, not an occasional purchase.
- Toilet rolls, facial tissue, and kitchen towels.
- Hand towels or roll towels for public washrooms.
- Soap and sanitiser refills, plus the dispensers themselves.
- Air fresheners, urinal screens, and other washroom utility items.
Match consumables to your dispensers before you buy in bulk. A pallet of folded towels is useless if your washrooms are fitted for roll towels, so confirm the format first, then commit to volume.
Food, beverage and the kitchen pantry
If your property has a restaurant, banquet hall or even a basic breakfast service, the F&B supply line is its own checklist. Beverages and staples turn over constantly, so reliability and authenticity of supply matter as much as price. SGS Sales is an authorized supplier of Nestlé Professional and Tata Consumer beverages and staples, which gives a new kitchen a dependable source for the everyday items that guests notice when they are missing.
- Tea, coffee, and beverage mixes for rooms and the restaurant.
- Staples and wholesale grocery: flour, pulses, sugar, salt, spices.
- Cooking oils in the grades and pack sizes your kitchen runs.
- Condiments, sauces, and the dry-store items behind your menu.
Standardise pack sizes to your actual consumption. A small kitchen buying catering-size packs ends up with wastage; a busy one buying retail packs wastes labour on constant reordering.
Packaging, disposables and eco options
Room service, takeaway, banquets and housekeeping all generate a steady need for disposables and packaging. With more properties moving away from single-use plastics, this is also a category where your choices are visible to guests and increasingly to regulators.
- Food packaging and containers for room service and takeaway.
- Disposable cutlery, cups, and plates for events and quick service.
- Bin liners and garbage bags sized for your trolleys and bins.
- Eco-friendly and biodegradable packaging where you want a greener profile.
Decide your packaging policy early, because it shapes both cost and brand perception. Eco packaging is easiest to adopt at opening, before guests and staff get used to a different format.
Set a replenishment cadence and consolidate your vendors
The opening order is the easy part. The harder discipline is keeping shelves stocked without either running dry or hoarding. Set a replenishment cadence per category: fast-movers like tissue, amenities and chemicals on a frequent cycle, slower items like linen on a longer one. Tie each reorder to a minimum stock level rather than to memory, so the trigger is a number on a shelf, not someone noticing the cupboard is bare.
- Fix a reorder point for each consumable based on its consumption rate.
- Schedule regular stock counts so reorders fire on time.
- Keep specifications locked so every reorder matches what is in use.
- Review consumption against occupancy each season and adjust par levels.
The single biggest overhead reducer for a new owner is vendor consolidation. Managing a dozen separate suppliers means a dozen relationships, a dozen delivery schedules, and a dozen invoices to reconcile. A supplier that covers many categories at once cuts that administrative load sharply and makes your purchasing predictable. SGS Sales spans more than thirteen categories, from amenities and linen to chemicals, disposables and grocery, which lets a property route most of its procurement categories through a single point of contact. For owners and purchase managers specifically setting up a new property, the solutions for hotels bring these supply lines together rather than leaving you to stitch them yourself.
Bringing the checklist together
A hotel runs on hundreds of small consumables, and the properties that open smoothly are the ones that treated procurement as a system from day one: quantities driven by room count, specifications locked, reorder points set, and vendors consolidated. Work through the categories above, build your par-stock sheet, and decide who is going to supply each line before you open the doors. If you are setting up a new property or reviewing your current supply lines, SGS Sales can help you scope quantities across these categories and put together a single, consistent supply plan. Request a quote or send your room count and requirements over WhatsApp, and we will help you build the order from the ground up.