Reference
What a PIP asks of the furniture
A Property Improvement Plan asks for furniture in the same chapters the brand standard uses: the bed, the closet or armoire, the seating, the desk, the bathroom. The franchise contract splits those lines into soft goods and case goods and renews them on different clocks. Hilton's 2026 disclosure for a 134-room Hilton Garden Inn puts the whole FF&E line at $2.37 million to $3.48 million, covering guest rooms, corridors, public areas, kitchen and laundry.
A PIP lands as a list with a date. The furniture part of that list is written in the brand book's own chapter numbers, and the same chapters travel to the factory as the specification behind the drawings. Hilton Garden Inn's global standards, dated 05 January 2026, file the guest room under chapter 300: 302.00 Closet / Armoire, 304.00 Guest Room Accessories, 305.00 The Bed, 306.00 Sofa Bed. Marriott's Autograph Collection contract asks its owners for “the replacement of soft goods FF&E, and case goods FF&E periodically”. This page reads those lines from the bench: what each one is, which clock it sits on, and what it costs to bring into the United States.
The lines, as the book files them
Chapter numbers are Hilton Garden Inn's global brand standards, Exhibit H-1 of Hilton's 2026 US franchise disclosure. The soft-goods and case-goods column follows the two guestroom tiers in Nehmer and HVS Design's Hotel Cost Estimating Guide. The duty column is the US line for goods of Turkish origin under HTSUS Revision 15, as read on 5 August 2026.
| Line | Where the book files it | Contract tier | At the bench | US duty, Turkish origin |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Headboard wall and bed base | 305.00 The Bed | Case goods | Upholstered or veneered panel, fixed to the wall on a French cleat; the base is a joinery box or a steel frame. Made in Gemlik. | Wooden bedroom furniture 12.5% |
| Mattress and bedding | 305.00 The Bed | Soft goods | Supplied against the brand's named specification, not made. | Mattresses 12.5% plus an anti-dumping duty of 20.03% |
| Wardrobe, closet or armoire, luggage bench | 302.00 Closet / Armoire | Case goods | Carcass, doors and shelf as fixed joinery or a freestanding armoire; the luggage bench is a joinery frame with an upholstered top. | 12.5% |
| Desk, nightstands, dresser, minibar cabinet | 304.00 Guest Room Accessories | Case goods | The longest-cycle items in the room. Veneer, lacquer or laminate over a board carcass; the minibar cabinet carries the ventilation cut-out the book specifies. | 12.5% |
| Lounge chair, desk chair, sofa bed | 306.00 Sofa Bed | Case goods (frame) and soft goods (cover) | Wooden frame, foam build-up and fabric to the named fire standard; the sofa bed carries a bought-in mechanism. | Upholstered wooden-frame seating 25% under the section 232 wood line; metal-frame seating 12.5% |
| Window treatments, carpet, wallcovering, lamps | 304.00 Guest Room Accessories; 2500 Design, Construction & Renovation | Soft goods | Supplied and fitted under the fit-out contract; the carpet and wallcovering are finishing trades we carry, not furniture we make. | Outside Chapter 94; classified per item |
| Bathroom vanity | 300 Guest Room and Bathroom | Case goods | A joinery cabinet with a stone or solid-surface top and a bought-in basin. The one line where the classification decides the duty. | Vanities 25% under the wood line, rising to 50% on 1 January 2027; a cabinet entered as general furniture is 12.5% |
Soft goods and case goods are contract terms, not trade slang
Marriott's 2024 franchise disclosure for Autograph Collection makes the split a clause. Item 8 obliges the owner to “accomplish a significant renovation of guestrooms, guestroom corridors, and public facilities, including the replacement of soft goods FF&E, and case goods FF&E periodically as required by our then-current standards”, and to hold a reserve account at a bank Marriott accepts for it. Item 6 of the same document prices the two tiers apart: an owner who retains an interior design firm off Marriott's recommended list pays $30,000 in connection with a soft goods renovation or PIP and $50,000 for a new build or a case goods renovation.
Nehmer and HVS Design's Hotel Cost Estimating Guide, now in its 18th edition, follows the same two tiers inside the guest room. The 2024 edition's softgoods renovation lists demolition, FF&E installation, artwork and mirrors, carpet and pad, lamps, the seating with its fabric, paint, vinyl wallcovering and window treatments. Its add-for-a-full-renovation tier is the case goods: the bed set, the headboard, the nightstands, the desk, the closet rack, plus the entry flooring and the television. When an owner says the PIP is “soft goods this time”, that is the list he means.
What the FF&E line covers in the brand's own budget
Hilton's 2026 US franchise disclosure for Hilton Garden Inn estimates furniture, fixtures and equipment at $2,366,737 to $3,484,640 for a 134-room hotel, inside a total of $25.5 million to $37.4 million excluding land. Its Note 7 says what that line contains: “furniture, fixtures and equipment for guest rooms, corridors, all public areas, kitchen equipment, laundry equipment, and telephone systems”, and that the cost “will depend on the number and type of guest rooms (for example, double rooms versus king rooms), the extent of the food and beverage service offered”. Divided by Hilton's own room count that is $17,700 to $26,000 per key, and the guest room is one part of it.
The same note says a conversion “will most likely be lower, but you must conform guest rooms, public areas, the exterior, and all other areas to our Brand Standards”. Note 6 names what moves a conversion budget: the age of the building, code compliance, the condition of the structure, and “the state of all accoutrements (including the furniture, fixtures, equipment, and finishes) in relationship to conformance with our Brand Standards”. A PIP is the document that turns Note 6 into line items with a date.
What each line passes through before it is furniture
Every case goods line on a PIP passes three gates at the bench, and the gates are the same whichever flag issued the list. The submittal: shop drawings, the material samples, the hardware schedule and the cut-for-approval fabrics travel as one package and come back stamped. The control samples: a veneer flitch, a lacquer panel, a fabric with its foam build-up, signed physically before a room is built. The model room: one complete key, built and approved by owner, brand and designer together, and from then on the benchmark every other room is measured against.
Hilton's disclosure describes the approval route from the other side. A franchisee who wants to use a product or supplier the brand has not already specified “can submit a written request for us to approve the product or supplier”, may be asked for samples, and should expect a review that “typically takes 60 to 90 days to complete”. On a PIP with a completion date, that window is part of the programme, and it is why the sample stage comes first.
Who chooses the supplier
Hilton's 2026 disclosure answers this in one sentence: “you may purchase the furniture, fixtures, and equipment (“FF&E”) and other supplies for your Hotel from any source as long as the Standards are met”, with the reservation that the brand may in future require an approved supplier for particular items. Hilton Supply Management negotiates with manufacturers on the franchisee's behalf and charges a procurement fee of 4% to 10% of the project cost when an owner buys through it; the disclosure states plainly that the owner “may but [is] not obligated to”. Marriott's Autograph disclosure carries the same shape: its Design & Construction arm procures for a fee of roughly 4.5% to 5%, and the owner may choose it or not.
So the furniture on a PIP is bought by the owner, to the standard, from a source of the owner's choosing that can meet it. We have manufactured to Hilton's standard at Hilton Garden Inn Jeddah, 206 keys, delivered in 2024, and at DoubleTree by Hilton Jeddah, 112 keys, in 2023; to IHG's at Holiday Inn Al Khobar; to Marriott's in Belgrade. Those are delivered programmes, not approval status, and the difference is the point of this section.
The duty line, if the property is in the United States
Furniture of Turkish origin enters the United States on the line its HTS classification puts it on, and the PIP's lines do not all land on the same one. Wooden casegoods under 9403.50 and 9403.60 pay 12.5% under heading 9903.05.79. Upholstered wooden-frame seating under 9401.61 pays 25% under the section 232 wood line, and the two do not stack. A bathroom vanity is 25% now and 50% from 1 January 2027, while the same cabinet entered as general furniture is 12.5%: a ten-digit line moves the rate by up to 37.5 points, and no origin certificate moves it at all. These are the HTSUS Revision 15 rates as read on 5 August 2026; they carry that date.
For a US property the goods are manufactured in Gemlik and delivered to the port or the site; the classification is settled line by line at the quotation, before the container is booked, because it is a cost of the furniture and not of the freight.
Asked most
- Does a PIP tell me which furniture supplier to use?
- Under Hilton's 2026 US franchise disclosure the owner may buy FF&E “from any source as long as the Standards are met”, and buying through Hilton Supply Management is optional for all but one brand. A product the brand has not specified can be submitted for approval, with a review Hilton says typically takes 60 to 90 days.
- Which PIP items are soft goods and which are case goods?
- Soft goods are the carpet, window treatments, wallcovering, lamps, bedding and the fabric on the seating. Case goods are the headboard, bed base, wardrobe, desk, nightstands, dresser and the seating frames. Marriott's Autograph contract renews the two “periodically as required by our then-current standards”, and its design-firm fee prices them apart at $30,000 and $50,000.
- What does the FF&E line in a franchise budget include?
- Hilton's Note 7 lists furniture, fixtures and equipment for guest rooms, corridors, all public areas, kitchen equipment, laundry equipment and telephone systems, and puts the line at $2.37 million to $3.48 million for a 134-room Hilton Garden Inn in 2026. The guest-room furniture is one part of that figure.
Related
A PIP with a date on it?
Send the list and the drawings if you have them, or the list alone. We price the furniture lines one by one, name the duty line for each, and tell you which items can go to sample this month.
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