THE LEADING HOSPITALITY NEWS AUTHORITY SINCE 1875 November 2019

UPGRADE
SMART PURCHASING
DECISIONS FOR 2020

SPECIAL E-BOOK EDITION

2 CONTENTS November 2019 | HOTELMANAGEMENT.NET

INSIDE THIS E-BOOK

Miraval Austin (Texas)

UPGRADE
SMART PURCHASING
DECISIONS FOR 2020
SPECIAL E-BOOK EDITION

UP FRONT OPERATIONS TECHNOLOGY TECHNOLOGY DESIGN

4 | Hotel Management 6 | Purchasing budgets 7 | Locks, entertainment 8 | Hotels zero in on 10 | 3 rules for purchasing
continues 2019 e-book series largely unaffected by systems top the 2020 Wi-Fi upgrades to boost bedding and softgoods
By Amy Vaxman, VP Hospitality downturn fears upgrade list performance, satisfaction
Group
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4 UP FRONT
Hotel Management continues
2019 e-book series
Dear reader,
W
e’re back again this year
with our successful HOTEL
MANAGEMENT
E-BOOK SERIES and are enjoying
delivering another great set of six fresh
e-books filled with information that
will help you succeed in your business.
In doing so, the quality product we
bring to you monthly in print—and
daily online—again this year has
an additional digital component to
supplement our thought-provoking
news, survey information and opinions
concerning the hospitality industry.
In March we brought you
our HOUSEKEEPING &
MAINTENANCE E-BOOK. Filled
with information and products that
helps housekeepers complete their
responsibilities quickly, efficiently and
safely, it also explains how behind-the-
scenes housekeeping and maintenance
efforts can extend renovations and save
hotels money. We also touch base on
how the industry is addressing safety
and security for its line associates and managers.
In April we shared our THIRD-PARTY
MANAGEMENT REPORT, which includes our annual
Third-Party Management Companies Survey, one of our
most popular. All Hotel Management surveys include
contact information for key leaders and relevant data about
each company’s portfolio and performance. The e-book also
includes a look at how management companies are dealing
with the tight labor market and ways they can deliver
profits, among other topics. We trust this e-book will help
you select the right management company and increase your
profits.
August led off with WHO’S WHO IN
HOSPITALITY, a comprehensive list of hospitality-related
companies covering all aspects of the industry. The pages
of this e-book showcase their products, services and contact
information so you can reach them directly to receive
CONNECT WITH US! At Hotel Management, we are doing more and more each day to interact and engage with you—our loyal
readers. Join us on the following social-media platforms and join the discussion.
www.twitter.com/ www.facebook.com/
HotelMgmtMag HotelMgmt
EDITORIAL MISSION STATEMENT
HOTEL MANAGEMENT SUPPLIES THE CREDIBLE NEWS ANALYSIS AND OPERATING RESOURCES THE LODGING INDUSTRY NEEDS
TO PROSPER AMID CONSTANT CHANGE. COMPREHENSIVE REPORTING AND RESEARCH OFFER TOP-OF-MIND AND QUICK-HITTING
INSIGHTS WHILE INTRODUCING THE PEOPLE DRIVING THE FUTURE OF THE HOTEL COMMUNITY. STRATEGIES ABOUT MARKETING,
FINANCE, TECHNOLOGY, DESIGN AND PRODUCT PURCHASING GO BEYOND THE BRICKS AND MORTAR TO BRING READERS CLOSER TO
THE FUNDAMENTALS OF OPERATING IN THE LODGING BUSINESS.
November 2019 | HOTELMANAGEMENT.NET
additional information or to ask
questions. You also are able to search
for these companies by category.
We’re sure this feature will help make
researching products and services for
your hotel much easier.
September’s e-book showcased
the TOP HOTEL COMPANIES.
This survey ranks hotel ownership,
third-party management and
franchise companies by the number
of guestrooms open in their
respective portfolios. Like in our
THIRD-PARTY MANAGEMENT
REPORT, the survey includes
contact information and relevant
data about each company. We
know this will provide valuable
information when looking toward
your next deal.
This month’s e-book is
our UPGRADE: SMART
PURCHASING DECISIONS FOR
2020, which features a wealth of
information from our annual Voice
of the GM Survey. We take a look at
what categories or items hotels are looking to invest in next
year and what new products are available. This e-book is
bound to help you determine the best areas for spending as
we move forward into 2020.
Our final e-book in the series, A VIEW FROM THE
TOP: Q&A WITH TOP EXECUTIVES, will debut in
December. As its title explains, this e-book will contain a
variety of outlooks from a number of top hotel industry
leaders. We hope it gives you some insight on where the
industry stands and where it is headed.
I hope you enjoy our e-book series and find it informative
and useful in the daily operation of your business. Please
feel free to reach out to me with any questions or feedback at
avaxman@questex.com. HM
hotelmanagement@omeda.com | Toll Free: (866) 344-1315 | Intl: (847) 513-6024
Amy Vaxman is VP of Questex Hospitality Group
www.linkedin.com Download the
Search: Hotel Management Hotel Management app
EDITORIAL
685 Third Ave., 21st Floor, New York, NY 10017
Editor-in-Chief—Stefani C. O’Connor
scoconnor@questex.com | (212) 895-8236
Senior Managing Editor—Elaine Yetzer Simon
esimon@questex.com | (212) 895-8431
Associate Editor—Jena Tesse Fox
jfox@questex.com | (212) 895-8287
Associate Editor—Chuck Dobrosielski
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Art Director—Amy B. Witek
awitek@questex.com | (440) 540-4935
ADVERTISING/SALES/CIRCULATION
VP Hospitality Group—Amy B. Vaxman
avaxman@questex.com | (609) 257-3412 | Fax: (609) 257-0980
Dir. Business Development, West, Midwest, NJ—Cynthia Zucker
czucker@questex.com | (732) 845-0011 | Fax: (732) 358-0390
Dir. Business Development, East Coast—Jai Wallace
jwallace@questex.com | (212) 895-8409 | Fax: (212) 895-8219
Dir. Business Development—Mary Malloy
mmalloy@questex.com | (216) 402-9467
Audience Development Manager—Carol Hatcher | chatcher@questex.com
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Production Director—Hal Garstein
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Production Specialist—Sue Gigliotti
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Subscriptions, Customer Service, Back Issues, Single Current Copies
EXECUTIVES
Chief Executive Officer—Paul Miller
Chief Financial Officer—Patrick Nohilly
Chief Marketing Officer—Kate Spellman
Group President—John Siefert
EDITORIAL ADVISORY BOARD
Jim Butler, Partner, Jeffer Mangels Butler & Mitchell
Mike Cahill, CEO & Founder, HREC
Mary Beth Cutshall, SVP of Acquisitions & Business Development, HVMG
JP Ford, Principal, Lodging Econometrics
Naveen Kakarla, President & CEO, HHM
Bill Linehan, EVP & CMO, Red Lion Hotels Corp.
Ravi Patel, President, Hawkeye Hotels
Raj Trivedi, President, La Quinta brands, Wyndham Hotels & Resorts
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6 NEWS
Purchasing budgets largely unimpacted
by downturn fears
Hotel Equities EVP Bryan DeCort noted that there are pockets of softening performance around Houston, but some properties, such as the SpringHill Suites by
Marriott Houston Medical Center/NRG Park, are seeing significant revenue per available room growth.
BY CHUCK DOBROSIELSKI
@CHUCKDOBRO
As revenue per available room
growth continues to slow, the
cautious optimism of early 2019
appears to be shifting toward
just caution in many cases. At
Best Western Hotels & Resorts’
North American convention this
October, for example, President/
CEO David Kong told attend-
ees he was concerned there will
be a slowdown in the future.
Though he said he remained
hopeful the government’s fiscal
and monetary policies will keep
the economy going, he acknowl-
edged hope is not a strategy.
“This is the time to be pre-
pared for a downturn,” Kong
told Hotel Management. “It’s not
if it’s going to happen, it’s going
to be a matter of time.”
Operators, though they
recognize the possibility of a
decline in the future, expressed
little apprehension—at least for
the next year. “I would say there
is a storm out there,” said Bob
Habeeb, founder/CEO of Mav-
erick Hotels and Restaurants.
“I don’t know if it’s a Category
4 and I don’t know that I [can]
predict when it will make land-
fall, but my guess would be we’re
still a couple years away.”
PURCHASING IMPACT
Bryan DeCort, EVP at Hotel
Equities, said his company
doesn’t have any anxiety over
2020 in terms of hotel perfor-
mance. Though he said part of
this is related to the company’s
confidence in its expansion
plans, he added that the com-
pany also believes the economy
is ripe right now. “It’s as healthy
as it’s ever been and we continue
to be bullish around the future
in the hospitality space,” he said.
Compared to 2019, DeCort
To boost revenue but save on costs, Arbor Lodging Management is putting together a plan to provide roomservice
to guests at the Hampton Inn by Hilton/Homewood Suites by Hilton Chicago Downtown Magnificent Mile through a
third-party caterer.
said Hotel Equities’ 2020 pur-
chasing budgets are larger, but
he attributed that largely to
portfolio growth and inflation-
caused cost creep. “We’re cer-
tainly going back to our vendor
partners and our national ac-
count partners and asking them
to sharpen their pencils, but we
do that all the time anyways,”
he said. Given Hotel Equities’
expansion plans in the coming
years, DeCort said the company
expects—“short of any type of
black swan event”—that costs
November 2019 | HOTELMANAGEMENT.NET
will drop, not rise, beyond 2020.
Arbor Lodging Manage-
ment’s CEO Sheenal Patel also
described his company as not
anxious, but admitted it is pre-
paring for a downturn to hap-
pen. “We asked all our properties
[to] have plans together where,
say, if there’s a RevPAR drop of
10 percent, this is what we do;
if there’s a RevPAR drop of 15
percent, this is what we do,” said
Patel.
Arbor Lodging is making
changes to its purchasing bud-
gets, Patel added. However, he
attributed these adjustments
more to ongoing headwinds in
the industry—rising labor costs,
flattening revenue—than to
fears of what will happen next
year.
“Expenses are increasing even
if a downturn doesn’t happen,
and so the way that we’re look-
ing at it is we have to find places
to save on costs,” Patel said. “We
don’t think that it’s OK to just
provide a flat return because
there was flat revenue growth.
Our job as managers is to dive
into our properties and find
where we can find value.”
TRADE CLIMATE
Rather than downturn anxiety,
the trade climate with China
appears to be having the bigger
impact on hoteliers’ budgets.
For Hotel Equities, DeCort
estimated that the trade war has
led to increases in construction
material costs “to the tune of 20
to 25 percent.”
In terms of purchasing
specifically, Habeeb said recent
tariffs also have had a notable
impact on furniture, fixtures
and equipment. “Prices have
generally increased in China
and then add the tariff and now
Chinese goods have become very
expensive,” he said. “They still
are competitive with domestic,
but they’re not the bargain they
used to be and now we look to
markets like Vietnam, who isn’t
subject to the same tariffs and
has a much lower workforce
cost, labor cost.”
Arbor Lodging also has
found that the trade climate
has had a particular effect on its
renovation projects, according
to Patel. Whereas in the past the
company would buy everything
from China, it now is turning
to other countries where costs
may be similar, but lead times
are longer.
As for as how long hoteliers
can expect this to continue,
Habeeb said he’d be willing to
bet there will be a deal on tariffs
in the next 12 months: “I actu-
ally assume that at some point,
this government will play its
hand out to get the deal it wants
with tariffs and if it doesn’t get
the deal it wants closer to the
election, it will probably take a
different deal and claim it was
the deal it wanted.” HM
H OTELM A N AG EM EN T.NE T | Nove mb e r 2019
Locks, entertainment systems top 2020 tech upgrade list
BY ESTHER HERTZFELD
@ESTHERHERTZFELD
According to Hotel Manage-
ment’s 2019 Voice of the GM
Survey, 26 percent of hoteliers
will be upgrading door-locking
systems next year and 22 percent
of hoteliers will be upgrading
their televisions and TV systems.
As technology allows guests to
interact more and more with
hotels on their terms, hotels are
finding they need to upgrade
their older, legacy systems to at-
tract and retain guests.
LOCK OPTIONS
Mobile keyless entry is one of
those technology improvements
gaining popularity with guests
and hotels.
“Mobile key requires the
ability for a door lock to com-
municate with a digital device,
so many hotels with older door
locks are exploring upgrade op-
tions,” said Brian Shedd, VP of
sales and marketing at OpenKey.
Today’s door lock solutions
have continued to evolve rap-
idly to keep pace with both the
industry’s latest security needs as
well as growing guest demands
for enhanced convenience.
Lock upgrade options include
changing from magstripe to
radio frequency identification
technology, refreshing locks for
improved aesthetics and adding
Bluetooth capability to provide
mobile access.
“Hoteliers recognize that
their guests value expediency in
being able to arrive at the mo-
ment when they begin to enjoy
their hotel stay, with barriers
such as having to wait in long
front-desk lines ultimately lead-
ing to reduced satisfaction,”
said Nicolas Aznar, president,
Americas at Assa Abloy Global
Solutions. “Access-management
technology also is evolving
significantly to provide hoteliers
with even greater control over
their security operations as well
as enhanced protection against
newly arising threats.”
David Ginn, dormakaba VP
» 26 % of Hotel Management’s 2019 Voice of the
GM Survey respondents will be upgrading
door-locking systems next year.
Hotels are moving away from the traditional pay-per-use revenue model for in-room entertainment to a free-to-guest
mode that allows guests to use their home apps in the guestroom.  allows you to optimize system
of hospitality sales for North
America, suggests hotels really
evaluate the future-proofing of
their locks if they are upgrading
today. “It’s the basic challenge of
hotels today—how do you pro-
tect yourself from the future?”
he asked.
Some brands are implement-
ing mandates for locks, which
makes it clear what hoteliers
should be doing, but the upgrade
possibilities are not as clear for
independent or smaller brands,
Ginn continued.
Ideally, upgrades can be
implemented whenever a hotelier
needs change and in accordance
with budget needs, Aznar said.
Hoteliers ultimately can imple-
ment upgrades in stages and
without the need to replace pre-
existing hardware.
“For example, a hotelier may
first be able to upgrade to RFID
functionality by integrating an
RFID reader into existing door
lock hardware,” he continued.
“Should a hotelier later decide
to implement mobile access
functionality, a Bluetooth Low
Energy reader can also later be
seamlessly added. Some door
lock solutions may already have
mobile access BLE functionality
built in and simply need to be
activated with little to no addi-
tional investment.”
When planning an upgrade,
property owners should consider
initial capital costs and function-
ality as well as long-term operat-
ing costs and future functional-
ity, according to André Lalande,
VP of sales for Onity. “In gener-
al, hoteliers can overcome many
implementation challenges by
ensuring locking systems are
an integral part of their mobile
strategy and customer loyalty
programs,” he said. “Initially,
properties may not be planning
to provide mobile access to their
guests but selecting future-proof
locks for their upgrades will help
them avoid the disruption of an
upgrade to mobile key capability
down the road.”
ENTERTAINMENT OPTIONS
In today’s increasingly tech-
centric society, all hotels are
being challenged to provide
guests with an in-room tech-
nology experience that exceeds
the experience they currently
enjoy at home. Upgrading to
commercial-grade smart high-
definition and 4K displays
allows hoteliers to make full
use of all of the technologies
that guests expect to have ac-
cess to wherever they happen
to be—at home, at work or in a
hotel room. Hotels that provide
this kind of smart platform for
guests can expect to generate in-
creased customer loyalty, which
can directly lead to higher levels
of return business, said Michael
Kosla, hospitality VP, LG Busi-
ness Solutions USA.
Don’t make the mistake
of assuming that your current
information technology archi-
tecture is correct for your future
upgrade plans, warned Kosla.
“Talk to your integration part-
ner and listen carefully to what
they have to say about building
the future into all of your tech-
nology plans,” he said. “Pay care-
ful attention to what your guests
are telling you, too. If you don’t
offer them what they want or ex-
pect, they will find it elsewhere
at a hotel that understands how
important technology is to the
guest experience.”
Any TV infrastructure
upgrade is going to require fi-
nancial investment, said Trevor
Dowswell, chief technology of-
ficer at Hotel Internet Services.
“Some integrators seek to help
hotels by offering an operational
expenditure model, which allows
the upgrade costs to be spread
One of the most increasingly sought-after door lock upgrades is mobile
access functionality due to the instant service and personalization
opportunities that it can provide to guests.
NEWS 7
across years,” he said. “If a full
upgrade budget is not available,
there are methods of approaching
these upgrades modularly, such as
keeping the existing TV channel
cabling infrastructure or the cur-
rent television sets.”
The lines are beginning to
blur more and more for internet
protocol TV and over-the-top
video solutions now that they
reside on the same infrastructure
as network and voice solutions,
said Allbridge VP of Business
Development Shane Pierce.
“Partnering with an integrator
of converged network solutions
performance and reduce imple-
mentation costs,” he said. “It is
important to look at these solu-
tions holistically in addition to
scalability options to meet future
needs.”
Nick Clessuras, SVP of sales
for Sonifi, offered four recom-
mendations for hoteliers looking
to upgrade their entertainment
systems.
■1 Play to your guest prefer-
ences—for example, in-room
streaming is a must for millen-
nial travelers.
■2 Be aware of and meet
your brand standard require-
ments, if applicable.
■3 Ensure that your guest
internet infrastructure (band-
width, access point ratio, etc.)
is sufficient to meet guest needs,
especially because video drives
most internet traffic.
■4 Start early with planning.
Plan around your busy season
and budget cycles, and if you’re a
new-build, do not leave this as a
last-minute decision. HM
8 NEWS

Hotels zero in on Wi-Fi upgrades large uptick in [the Internet of

Things], location-based services

to boost performance, satisfaction

BY ESTHER HERTZFELD
@ESTHERHERTZFELD
Fast, reliable Wi-Fi continues
to be one of the main drivers of
guest satisfaction. It’s also an area
that respondents of Hotel Man-
agement’s 2019 Voice of the GM
Survey indicate is a major point
of interest going into 2020. With
guests expecting faster speeds
and the ability to instantly con-
nect multiple devices, hoteliers
are considering infrastructure
upgrades that improve their
ability to meet those increasing
guest Wi-Fi needs. Network
providers are continuing to
develop platform enhancements
that provide high-performance
internet while ensuring swift
and seamless access.
“Hotels have many options
and choices to make for infra-
structure upgrades due to the
and connected experience de-
vices,” said Christian Weinholtz,
Allbridge’s VP of network
technology and innovation.
“Upgrades such as the wired net-
work, wireless network, internet
protocol TV, video casting, staff
safety, room controls, wireless
charging and voice interaction
are some of the major options
presented to hoteliers currently.

Of these upgrades, almost all

of them require a solid founda-
tion on the first two network
elements in order to function
correctly.”

SETTING PRIORITIES
Effective property bandwidth
management also has been
proven to increase guest satis-
faction, said Nomadix CEO
Ted Helvey. “Guest bandwidth
usage has continued to increase
as new applications are adopted,
changing the patterns of internet
usage,” he said. “The onsite gate-
JW MARRIOTT MIAMI TURNBERRY RESORT & SPA ways can prioritize bandwidth
across an entire property accord-

HOTEC Design
ing to levels of priority between,
for example, conference spaces
and free users in the lobby. The
ability to prioritize a high-paying
06/28/20 – 06/30/20
conference group over free users
is critical, as is the need to ensure
the free users still have adequate
An Elite Event Crafted Specifically For bandwidth.”
Depending on the age of the
Hospitality Professionals. current network, hotels may
want to consider upgrading their
ONE-TO-ONE MEETINGS | RELAXED NETWORKING | INNOVATIVE INSIGHTS
cable runs, said Shaun Gardner,
technical sales engineer for Elev-
HOTEC Design brings designers, hoteliers, architects, management companies, purchasing firms and more
en. This includes fiber runs from
face-to-face with innovative suppliers for three days of one-to-one meetings and creative exchange. the main distribution frame to
each intermediate distribution
Whether you are a buyer or supplier, we invite you frame, as well as copper runs to
each room because networking
to discover the value of HOTEC Design. best practices recommend using
in-room access points versus
placing access points in common
areas such as the hallways. Gard-
ner advised that there is always
the option to upgrade switches to
full gigabit or multigig ports as
well as the latest 802.11ac/ax ac-
cess points, as well as install more
modern wireless controllers.
“Granted, there are a lot
of variables that would help
determine which switches and
APs would be necessary and I
always recommend having a
site survey and audit take place
during the bidding process,”
Gardner said. “Once the net-
HOTECDESIGN.COM
 NEWS 9

Network infrastructure up-
grades often are designed to be
fully scalable, allowing hoteliers
to implement additional fea-
tures and capabilities as needed,
Helvey said. “This ensures that
hotels can support bandwidth
levels and capabilities that match
their current needs and budgets
while being able to upgrade net-
work abilities as needs or guest
demands change,” he said.
Any upgrades to the network
19 %
» of Hotel Management’s 2019 Voice of the
GM survey respondents upgraded their
wireless infrastructure in 2019 and 16% plan
on upgrading it next year.
are a direct investment for the important  amenities for hotel IoT, a hotel can increase their
property to help drive guest satis- guests. “By implementing a con- [return on investment] by pro-
faction. The reliability and speed verged network that can handle viding their guests with a great
of the Wi-Fi network is continu- the growing number of network connected experience at a lower
ously ranked as one of the most endpoints from IPTV, voice and cost,” Weinholtz said. HM

work infrastructure has been

upgraded, hoteliers may want
to also consider upgrading
their [in-system programming]
circuits to compensate for the
higher capacity of the upgraded
network. Hoteliers don’t want to
spend an enormous amount of
money to upgrade their network
for it to have a bottleneck at the
ISP circuit.”

COST FACTORS
Any infrastructure upgrade is
going to require financial invest-
ment. Some integrators seek to
help hotels by offering an opera-
tional expenditure model, which
allows the upgrade costs to be
spread across years, said Trevor
Dowswell, chief technology of-
ficer at Hotel Internet Services.
“If a full upgrade budget is not
available, there are methods of
approaching these upgrades
modularly,” he continued. “If
any form of remodeling or
retrofitting takes place, take
advantage of walls being opened
to run copper Ethernet or fiber
cables in a far more cost-effective
fashion than during operating
periods.”
Adding new wiring generally
is one of the most costly aspects
when upgrading networks, but
this will future-proof the hotel
for later upgrades and allow
higher density AP placement,
Gardner said. This improvement
equates to higher signal strength
and higher throughput, which
helps to deliver a more depend-
able and faster Wi-Fi experience
for guests. Adding a wired run to
each room also gives the hotelier
the option to upgrade to more
modern internet protocol TVs
and IP phones later on.
“Wiring upgrades can be
costly but cutting corners in
the short term can create more
expensive remediation issues in
the future,” he continued.
10 NEWS November 2019 | HOTELMANAGEMENT.NET

3 guidelines for hotels upgrading bedding, softgoods

BY JENA TESSE FOX
@JENAFOX
When it comes to bedding and
softgoods for hotels, purchasing
specialists have a wider range of
options than ever—and higher
expectations to meet from guests
and owners alike. The topic is
top-of-mind for hoteliers: 48 per-
cent of the respondents to Hotel
Management’s 2019 Voice of the
GM Survey indicated they plan
to spend significantly more on
bedding and softgoods in 2020.
Design experts and hotel pro-
curement professionals shared
tips on how hospitality profes-
sionals can balance quality with
cost efficiency for their hotels.
Here are the three big rules to
remember.
for materials treated with Alta,
a water-based stain repellant, to
improve the product’s life. The
materials also need to be easy
for housekeeping to remove and
replace. To make sure materials
perform as expected, McGuin-
ness said, IHG occasionally
sends products home with col-
leagues who report back on what
they experience.
For upholstered seating,
Hiter added, hoteliers should
choose fabrics that include a
stronger backing to “provide
some stability.” Most of all,
Hiter said, any fabrics selected Miraval Group hotels use bedding that includes 300-thread-count, 100 percent pure cotton sheets and duvet, pillows
for a hotel—whether bedding produced in Italy, a featherbed constructed of a down/feather blend and a 366-thread-count Swiss Batiste cotton
or softgoods—must be washable cambric with a 650-fill-power Hungarian down comforter.
and durable.
While hotels always want ing a renovation or getting ready “hand-in-hand” and be willing shorter lead time,” she said. “We
cotton for sheets and towels, for a property improvement plan, to adapt. Gettys One, Gettys were able to work closely with

1 GO BEYOND
AESTHETICS
Yes, hotel bedding has to look
nice, but guests won’t be happy
with uncomfortable sheets and
owners won’t be happy if they
have to constantly replace dam-
aged or soiled textiles. For Brian
McGuinness, SVP of global
guest experience at IHG, the key
factors when choosing bedding
and softgoods are durability,
the supply chain and looking
at forward-thinking trends like
sustainability. While price is
important, McGuinness empha-
said Michelle Wildenhaus,
principal/director of marketing
for textile firm Studio Twist,
wool has “a level of luxury that
is unmatched.” For any knitted
product, she added, synthetic
yarns are best for hotels, “in large
part due to life-cycle costing ad-
vantages.”
2 DEVELOP
RELATIONSHIPS
Knowing the right vendors can
make all the difference when
it comes to selecting the right
materials for a guestroom. “I
especially when deadlines are
looming. Procurement experts
need to work carefully with ven-
dors and hoteliers to make sure
the right material is available at
the right time.  bedding pieces. This didn’t work
“When you’re talking
softgood renovations, a lot of
your lead times are going to be
dependent on fabrics,” Hiter
cautioned, noting all the differ-
ent parts of a guestroom that will
need different types of textiles
for different purposes. To meet
deadlines, teams need to work
Group’s interior design firm for
select-service hotels, for example,
is working on a Hyatt Place in
Salt Lake City and faced a lead
time of 10 to 12 weeks for some
with the project’s schedule—but
the procurement team was able
to get alternative options from
the vendors and bring them to
the designers. “Here’s something
similar that meets the same
requirements [in terms of] color,
treatments [and] durability and
it’s within budget and has a
them to keep the project on
track.” 
PIPs can be a bit less stressful
but being aware of the timeline
is no less important. “For key
items, brands will set a compli-
ance date and hotels then can
pick the best time to purchase,
typically based on a desire to
be an early adopter within a
brand, their inventory levels of
the earlier product, their budget
cycle and availability, renovation
schedule and occupancy levels,”
said McGuinness. HM

sized that hoteliers and designers
should look beyond the sticker
price. “The product may not wear
well or be acceptable to what a
guest expects from a hotel ex-
perience,” he said. “Guests have
more lodging options now than
ever, so hoteliers should strive for
updated, relevant looks.”  large database of vendors ... as
Residential bedding is not the
same as hotel bedding and can-
not be chosen in the same way.
“It’s important when specifying
and procuring to make sure the
fabrics inherently include (or
separately get treated) to provide
the proper soil and stain release,
durability [and] flame require-
ments and are washable, depend-
ing where in the guestroom the
fabric is being used,” said Anne
Hiter, procurement director for
» 48 %
constantly cultivate relationships
with the representatives of vari-
of Hotel Management’s 2019 Voice of the
ous manufacturers and vendors,” GM survey respondents said they plan to
said Philippe Brenot, senior
director, retail procurement for spend significantly more on bedding and
Miraval Group. “I also leverage
our Hyatt Corporate Purchasing
softgoods in 2020.
division at Rosemont with their
well as the power of contracts
negotiation through Avendra,
the group purchasing organiza-
tion we are part of.”
IHG, McGuinness said, will
push for vendors that provide
both high-quality products
for guests to use and good cus-
tomer service to the company’s
hotels, and also have “the right
manufacturing and distribution
capabilities and locations.”
DAVID MITCHELL

design firm The Gettys Group.

Hiter has purchased top-of-bed
items, soft seating, box springs
and bed skirts for guestrooms
at a range of hotels, and looks
3 GET THE TIMING
RIGHT (AND BE READY
FOR CHANGE)
Those relationships become vital Studio Twist collaborated with designers at Stonehill Taylor on the Saint Kate - The Arts Hotel in Milwaukee, providing
when opening a hotel, conduct- a bed throw inspired by a drawing from a local artist.
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