A US-based company is hoping to put an end to the problem of hotel guests stealing linen and cotton with its radio frequency identification chips.
Designed by Linen Technology Tracking, hotels in the US are already making savings and “busting thieves”, according to the company’s executive vice president William Serbin.
Serbin said that hotels can lose 5% to 20% of towels, sheets and robes a month.
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According to housekeeping manager for Grand Hyatt Dubai, Tatjana Ahmed, the property loses up to US $4000 a month on pilfered linen and towels.
“There are quite some significant losses, especially for linen. Bathrobes are among the favorite item to take, as well as the oversized bath sheets,” she explains.
“Face cloths, which are provided in public rest rooms are inventoried on a daily basis and our property looses up to 2000 pieces a month, which we have to budget for.”
Ahmed has tested the chipping technology that can go through more than 3000 wash cycles, and acknowledged it worked well.
However, she said the hotel didn’t want to “upset guests by making the alarm ring when they exit the hotel”.
“We are a five star hotel and cater to the distinguished guest. If they decide to pack the towels and robes, we would advise them of the charges posted,” she added.
But she said that the system could be added if the market demanded it and with the significant rise in the price of cotton it couldn’t be ruled out.
“Cotton prices have increased by 40 % over the last six months as there is a general shortage of linen word wide at the moment,” she explained.
“We hope that the prices will come down by next year, as the increase has come as a surprise to us and takes a real toll on the budget.”
President and CEO of global textile distribution company Texlynx, Imran Lateef, offered a ray of hope for hoteliers struggling with the high price of cotton.
He said that the increase was due to stock companies buying futures in cotton following China’s mass buying of the majority of Pakistan’s crop in 2009.
India and Pakistan also suffered from a virus in the crops, which created further speculation on the price of cotton.
“This year Pakistan has a bumper crop with no virus in India as well,” he said.
“Overall cotton has grown 20%, because Africa and Brazil have produced more, and Pakistan and India have grown more because of the high price. I am assuming when the crop starts coming in at the end of August, that in September things will get better.”
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