POMPANO BEACH, Florida — Valley Forge is rolling out ‘High Roller™’ its first roller shade mechanism and decorative roller shade fabric program designed specifically for hospitality applications according to Dan Dobin, founder and Chairman of the 150-employee hospitality jobber.

“The roller shade business is in its infancy. We expect to accelerate this business with the new products we offer the hotel owner and designer but we’ll be selling it through the workroom for the first time and encourage the owners and designers to install our products,” Dobin says.  “We’re offering a 15 year guarantee on our steel and aluminum roller shade mechanisms.” Dan Dobin

At the same time, the hotel owner is catering to ‘Millennials’ who “prefer roller shades to the fullness of draperies,” he adds. “Valley Forge had to develop a new steel clutch –not plastic--for the hotel industry to insure that the weight of 96 inch roller shades do not strain what were largely plastic residential mechanisms. Hotel owners have been burned in the past with residential mechanisms but we solved that problem by designing a steel and aluminum mechanism tailored for the hotel room,” he said.

“Our clutch, the XD clutch, is the best clutch in the business today,” he feels. He’ll be leading the charge to sell the new roller shade program to workrooms which are morphing into engineered product manufacturers.”

After 18 months of test marketing and a soft rollout, Valley Forge has committed itself to the “High Roller” program with three new collections of engineered fabrics, mostly imports including FR fabrics, including “very decorative blackout and solar shades” being presented to workrooms in March, May and July.  

“No window is the same size. You need to take measurements in six places to insure the finished roller shade will fit properly. You cannot be a quarter of an inch off in the measurements or the product won’t fit.”

“The hotel industry is changing again,” the senior pitchman said. Fresh from several weeks at sea in the Bahamas, Dobin has not lost any of his enthusiasm for promoting new business at Valley Forge. Yet, he credits his son Michael, for developing the roller shade program.  

In explaining the movement towards roller shades, Dobin looks at other in-room changes: “I’d hate to be in the carpet business. The hotel room is going towards hard floors due to ease of cleaning, cleanliness and cost saving. You can also kiss the armoire and hotel bathroom goodbye. “It’s all about the shower—not the bathtub. Furniture is now getting smaller in the room. In fact, it’s designed to be built into the room itself.”

“Our customers today can’t afford to take chances. They can’t afford the cost of time—which is more expensive than the cost of money,” Dobin says. The hotel industry has matured. This forces FF&E suppliers to make wiser investments.”

“Innovating roller shades and mechanisms represents a huge investment for us because of the new technology incorporated in the product,” Dobin explains. “It’s all on one track, both decorative sheer plus separate blackout shade with engineered fabrics in 118 inch to 54 inch widths. The fabrics have to roll up but still lie flat and there is much engineering involved in doing this right. “

Dobin says this is where the window covering business is headed in hospitality with the continued evolution of the guestroom. In terms of aesthetics and cleanliness.” Dobin points out that four and five star hotels are signing up for the roller shade programs.

“The initial cost of the roller shade hardware is the investment. There is less cost in the fabric than with full draperies. “The only thing the hotel guest will see of the mechanism is the fascia over the window which we can powder coat to any color. Like Valley Forge’s new digital printing program for conventional fabrics, the roller shade business is driven by color, he says.