Used furniture in hotels

Check out this post on Fast Company Now, where intrepid intern Tonya Garcia was sent out to determine if hotels were buying used furniture from other hotels through a company called Cooper Used Hotel Furniture. The company gave her a lead on a hotel it said it had sold furniture to, but they denied it. From her post:

In January 2005, he said, Cooper sold furniture to a Ramada on South Lake Shore Drive that originally belonged to a Chicago-area Hilton. He moved the furniture 40 blocks to its new home. Karchmer gave me the name and phone number of the general manager at the Ramada, Roy Patel, saying he would speak with me about the transaction.





I called Patel three times, but ultimately never heard back. Soon, I figured out why.





I heard back from Cendant’s Senior Director of Design and Development, Mike Bruce. Bruce is not directly responsible for decorating the rooms at Cendant-franchise properties. But he could tell me this: Cendant does not allow used furniture at its properties. The rule against used furniture, he said, is written into Cendant’s standards manual and there is a review process written into the franchise agreement that oversees improvements and upgrades. “Our franchisees don’t want to spend a lot of money, so it’s up to the brand to provide some sort of direction,” he said.

I don't have a problem with used furniture, as long as it's been used gently (i.e., the bed frame won't collapse when I sit on it). It's not like what's in there hasn't been used anyway, so I'm not sure what the problem with it might be.