Artificial Plants for Hotels: A Commercial Specification Guide
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Specify hotel greenery zone by zone, not plant by plant. Decide what each area needs (fire-retardant flag, UV flag, height band, a weighted base, how easily it cleans), then fill each zone from lines that carry those properties and record every SKU on one schedule that procurement, housekeeping and the fire risk assessor all work from.
This guide covers that schedule. It deliberately leaves species choice for the lobby, low-light planting and housekeeping routines to their own guides, and gives you the matrix and paperwork that hold a whole-estate scheme together.
Start with zones, then properties
A hotel is six or seven different environments under one roof, and each one sets different limits on what you can place there. Viewing distance decides how much realism you need. Circulation and escape routes decide whether you should restrict yourself to fire-retardant lines. Daylight through glazing, or open sky on a terrace, decides whether you need UV-stabilised stock. Footfall and housekeeping access decide what height, base and leaf texture will survive.
Work through the building in that order before you look at a single product. For each zone write down four things: the viewing distance, the height band that suits the space, the flags you will insist on, and any base or pot constraint. Only then open the catalogue. Our hotel and hospitality planting hub lets you filter live lines by height and flag, and shows current stock, so you can test each zone's requirements against what is actually available that day.
The single most common mistake on hotel schemes is choosing one attractive tree for the lobby and then repeating it through corridors and on the terrace. Each of those zones asks for a different property, and a tree that is right for one is often wrong for the next.
The hotel zone specification matrix
Use this matrix as the first page of your schedule. Heights, flags and pot sizes are taken from our live product data; the example lines are starting points, not the only options.
| Zone | Viewing distance | Height band | Flags to require | Base and pot note | Example line |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lobby and reception | 1 to 5 metres | 150 to 210cm floor trees, plus desk-level pieces | Fire-retardant where the lobby forms part of an escape route | Tall trees arrive in weighted pots about 22cm across and 18cm high; sit them inside a heavier decorative planter | 210cm fire-retardant areca palm |
| Restaurant, bar and lounge | Under 1 metre at tables | 45 to 180cm | Fire-retardant near circulation; keep all greenery clear of cooking equipment and candles | Choose smoother leaves near food service; they wipe down faster | 180cm fire-retardant black olive tree |
| Corridors and lift lobbies | Passing, 1 to 2 metres | Wall and shelf height; trailing lengths 68 to 128cm | Fire-retardant, since corridors are usually escape routes | Hanging lines are bare stem; fix them into your own containers or brackets | 71cm hanging pothos, UV and fire-retardant |
| Guest rooms and suites | Under 1 metre for hours | 30 to 45cm | None required by default; follow the fire risk assessment | Small weighted pots around 11cm across that housekeeping can lift | 35cm potted trailing pothos |
| Spa and pool | Close, in bright or humid air | 45 to 120cm | Ask us about materials first; we don't publish a humidity rating | Keep pots off wet floors | 80cm fire-retardant aglaonema bush |
| Terrace and entrance | Arrival, 2 to 10 metres | 90 to 155cm | UV resistant and outdoor suitable | Ballast the weighted pot inside a heavy planter; tall shapes catch wind | 120cm UV-resistant buxus ball cone |
Two rows need a caveat. First, the "flags to require" column is a starting position: the building's fire strategy and risk assessment may be stricter or more relaxed for a particular location. Second, no line in our range currently carries both a UV flag and a fire-retardant flag other than hanging trailing plants, so a terrace that is also an escape route usually means trailing lines on walls and railings rather than floor-standing trees.
Fire documentation: what to request and who decides
Only lines carrying our fire-retardant flag should be described as fire-retardant on your schedule. There are 36 of them: tall trees and palms at 165 to 210cm (areca, phoenix, olive, lychee, ruscus, retusa ficus, bamboo, cherry blossom), bushes and stems such as aglaonema, caladium, peacock foliage and Boston fern, a 190cm palm garland, and a family of hanging trailing plants. Orchids, flower stems, wisteria, bonsai, bay and planters are not fire-retardant, and your schedule should not imply they are.
Our fire-retardant lines are made from fully tested fire-retardant materials. Testing is carried out at material level to EN 13501-1 (reaction to fire, classification B-s2, d0) and NFPA 701, and the same tested material is used across the range's styles. Test reports are available to trade customers on request, and your venue's fire risk assessment decides what is acceptable in a given location. Wherever they stand, keep all artificial plants clear of heaters, candles, cooking equipment and naked flames.
For a hotel pack, request the reports once and file them against every fire-flagged SKU on the schedule, so the assessor sees one document set rather than a folder of product pages. The fire-retardant artificial plants hub lists every flagged line with live stock, and Fire-Rated Artificial Plants: What Commercial Buyers Need to Know explains the terminology in full. A dedicated guide to fire-rated planting for hotels and public buildings follows later in this series.
UV and outdoor positions
Terraces, entrance canopies and heavily glazed lounges are the zones where fade matters. UV-stabilised lines contain UV inhibitors that slow colour fade in bright and outdoor positions. All artificial foliage fades gradually in prolonged direct sun; UV-stabilised stock fades far more slowly than untreated stock. We don't publish a lifespan.
Around 67 lines carry our UV resistant flag, and almost all are also marked outdoor suitable. They are mostly structural evergreens: buxus balls and spirals, cedar cypress, bay laurel, yucca, traveller banana palms and potted grasses. For a hotel entrance, matched pairs read as deliberate. The 90cm UV-resistant cedar cypress topiary suits a narrow door surround; the 120cm buxus ball cone in the matrix suits a wider portico.
Olive trees, wisteria, orchids and flower arrangements are not UV-flagged, so keep them indoors and away from south-facing glass. For the full outdoor method, including ballast and drainage, read Outdoor & UV-Resistant Artificial Plants: The Complete Trade Guide or filter the UV-stabilised and outdoor plants hub.
Building the SKU schedule
A schedule is only useful if everyone reads the same thing from it. Give each line one row and use these columns:
- Zone and location code, for example "L1-03, lift lobby level 1, left of doors".
- SKU and product title, copied from the product page, not a description.
- Height and spread in centimetres, from the product data.
- Pot type and pot dimensions, so you can size the decorative planter. Our plant and planter fit finder helps match the two.
- Flags: fire-retardant, UV resistant, outdoor suitable. Leave the cell blank if the product page does not show the flag.
- Quantity. Every line is sold individually, including trees, hanging plants and flower and foliage stems.
- Cleaning note: smooth leaf, textured leaf or trailing at height. This is where cleanability enters the specification; the routine itself belongs to housekeeping.
- Report reference for fire-flagged lines, pointing to the report pack you requested.
Registered trade customers can use the gated resource library, which carries product photography and descriptions plus an hourly stock and price feed. Pulling SKUs and stock from the feed keeps a long schedule honest while it moves through design sign-off. The commercial specification hub sets out the same approach for other building types.
Worked example: a 60-room hotel, ordered in phases
This is an illustrative scheme, not a quotation. It shows how the matrix turns into orders.
- Phase 1, front of house. Two 210cm fire-retardant areca palms flanking the reception desk, a 200cm fire-retardant bamboo tree screening the lounge, and two 120cm UV-resistant buxus ball cones at the entrance.
- Phase 2, circulation. One hanging trailing line per lift lobby across four floors, mixing the 71cm pothos with the 75cm hanging string of pearls, UV and fire-retardant for texture.
- Phase 3, rooms. A 35cm potted trailing pothos per room, with a 45cm fire-retardant mini ficus topiary ball in suites where a more formal shape suits the furniture.
Each phase clears the £150 ex VAT minimum on its own, and the larger phases pass the £300 ex VAT free-delivery threshold for UK mainland addresses. Before each later phase, check live stock and the SKU on the product page rather than assuming the first phase's lines are still available; if continuity matters across a long refurbishment, tell us about the project at the outset.
Delivery, payment and seeing the range
Orders are paid up front (card, bank transfer, PayPal or card by phone) and dispatched within one working day of cleared funds. UK mainland delivery is £14.99 under £300 ex VAT and free at £300 or more; a paid next-working-day service is available for orders placed before 10am on weekdays. Large orders, which most tree-heavy hotel phases are, travel palletised, so confirm access and a delivery contact on site. Remote areas, the Scottish Highlands and islands carry surcharges; full terms are on our ordering and delivery page.
If the design team wants to judge realism before signing off statement trees, our trade showroom in Louth is open to trade customers by appointment. Orchids for suites and spa reception desks are covered in Artificial Orchids for Hotels, Spas and Reception Areas, and our realism checklist helps at the showroom.
Frequently asked questions
Do all our hotel plants need to be fire-retardant?
Not automatically. The fire risk assessment for each location decides. Many hotels restrict escape routes, lobbies and corridors to fire-retardant lines and allow a wider choice in guest rooms. Mark the requirement per zone on your schedule rather than applying one rule to the whole building.
Can we get fire test reports for every product on the schedule?
Reports are available for our fire-retardant lines, on request, to trade customers. They relate to the fire-retardant material, which is used across the range's styles. Products without the fire-retardant flag have no fire report and should not be scheduled as fire-retardant.
Which lines can go on a terrace that is also an escape route?
The only lines carrying both UV and fire-retardant flags are our hanging trailing plants, between 68cm and 128cm long. They work on railings, pergolas and wall brackets. Floor-standing trees are either UV-flagged or fire-retardant, not both, so take this to the fire risk assessor early.
How do we keep a phased scheme consistent across floors?
Order each zone's full quantity in one go, record the exact SKU on the schedule, and check live stock before each later phase. We do not reserve stock, and lines can sell out, so contact us early about continuity on a long refurbishment.
Can a hotel group open one account for several properties?
Register online, log in to see trade prices. Delivery is to the address on each order, so a group can send each phase directly to the property concerned.
Next steps for your hotel schedule
Filter live lines by zone in the hotel and hospitality planting hub, then shortlist from the fire-retardant trees, fire-retardant plants, UV-resistant and extra-large trees collections, and pair them with a planter from the planters and vases range. Register online, log in to see trade prices. For fire reports or a Louth showroom appointment, email sales@leafdesignwholesale.co.uk or use our contact page.
