Repurposed Hotel Furniture Goes to Needy Families
Clift Royal Sonesta Hotel in cooperation with JLL created a program to donate furniture from 150 guest rooms that will be matched by Compass Family Services with San Francisco and East Bay families in need.
SAN FRANCISCO—The Clift Royal Sonesta Hotel is undergoing a large-scale renovation and JLL is managing the process. Part of the renovation includes repurposing old furniture no longer being used by the hotel.
Clift Royal Sonesta, in cooperation with JLL, has put a program in place to donate the furniture to Compass Family Services, a local organization that helps homeless and at risk families become stably housed. The pieces of furniture, which include beds, desks, chairs and armoires from 150 guest rooms, will be matched by Compass Family Services with San Francisco and East Bay families in need. In turn, this will help more than 100 local families furnish new homes, and redirect an estimated 12 tons and 400 cubic yards of useable furniture away from landfills.
“We are excited that The Clift’s furniture will have a new life in the homes of these deserving families,” says Carlos Flores, president and chief executive officer of Sonesta. “This initiative is directly in line with our core values and our culture of caring philosophy. Every Sonesta hotel provides more than just a warm and welcoming experience for guests. We also strive to be a window into the local community and a force for good in the towns and cities that our hotels call home.”
The (re)Purpose Furniture Initiative will take place during the coming year, with the Clift Royal Sonesta Hotel and JLL overseeing the project alongside Compass Family Services. The furniture will be stored at Reliable Furniture.
“We couldn’t be more grateful for the teams The Clift, Sonesta and JLL who are taking on this project that will have a big impact for so many homeless families for which we help to secure housing,” says Erica Kisch, Compass Family Services executive director. “Everyone needs a lease and a key, but so many of the families we help to house move into their new units without a stick of furniture. The partnership means that a family securing housing is truly able to turn their house into a home.”
Every month, a portion of the pieces will be delivered to five or six families, with some of the furniture also going to the Compass Clara House, a transitional housing program for homeless families. All storage and delivery expenses are being funded in part by Sonesta as well as Services Properties Trust, a real estate investment trust that manages hotel properties in 45 different states including the Clift Royal Sonesta Hotel.
“In the past, when we would try to resell old furniture from the hotels we worked with, the market was so saturated that it would just end up going to landfills,” says Matthew Boone, a senior project manager at JLL who is spearheading the project. “Now, in addition to helping out the environment, we are also helping families in need create a safe and stable home environment. Many of these families do not currently have a bed to sleep in, a desk to do homework on or a table where they can eat family dinners.”
Sonesta encourages its hotels to practice individual philanthropic endeavors in a way that best serves areas of need in each respective region, adds Flores.
“We are in the business of providing safe, clean, places for people to stay while they away from homes,” Flores tells GlobeSt.com. “How fitting it is that we can provide similar assistance to deserving families in the Bay Area who are creating a new home for themselves? I am thrilled to be part of this unique and rewarding opportunity, made possible by our custodianship of The Clift, a San Francisco landmark, and our partnership with JLL and Compass Family. My gratitude and honor for being a part of this effort is only amplified by the fact that San Francisco is my hometown.”
In addition, The Clift will donate some of its iconic wheelbarrow chairs to local artists to be reimagined. In the spring of 2020, the chairs will be auctioned off at a fundraiser at The Clift to be held in conjunction with JLL and Compass Family Services. All of the proceeds will go to support the furniture redistribution program and Compass Family Services. Further details around the auction event will be announced at a later date.
Increasingly, hotels are combining renovations with liquidations/resale, reuse/recycling and philanthropy to keep old furniture from landfills, and provide more cost-effective renovations in the process, according to Green Lodging Today.