The Hotelier Middle East Supplier Survey 2013 uncovers a tug of war as competition for hotel contracts increases but rising overheads makes it difficult for some vendors to compete on price – leading them to dirty tactics

Last year’s Hotelier Middle East Supplier Survey exposed a fight for survival as the economic woes of hotel developers and operators left many vendors unpaid.

Fortunately this year, hoteliers appear to have cleared some of their debts. However, the New Year brought new challenges with rising overheads and increasing competition for hotel contracts.

Story continues below
Advertisement

But before we look closer at the politics surrounding this latest supplier war, let’s first get to know the players. Once again, 50 suppliers took part in the 2013 survey. As is usually the case – most are based in the UAE (74%), with others in Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Europe.

Thankfully, for the purposes of the Hotelier ‘Middle East’ Supplier Survey, they all supply the regional market.

Unsurprisingly, considering that nearly three quarters of suppliers (74%) say hotels account for more than 40% of your business, the biggest market is the thriving tourist destination that is the UAE, with as many as 88% of survey participants claiming to do business here.

The next biggest markets are Qatar (where 70% of vendors are already active), Oman (66%), Saudi Arabia (66%), Kuwait (52%), Jordan (48%), Lebanon (44%) and Egypt (38%). More than 15% of participants continue to have business in more turbulent markets including Syria, Libya, Yemen and Iraq.

The 2013 survey is skewed towards the F&B sector considering a staggering 90% of participants’ main business is in the supply of food, beverages, restaurant equipment, kitchen equipment and other F&B lines.

The other 10% of participants supply everything from design and interior fit-out services, to indoor and outdoor furniture, soft furnishings, flooring, amenities, IT, reservations, building management systems, in-room technology, spa and recreation equipment, laundry services, cleaning and housekeeping products, uniforms and more.

Companies range in size from up to five employees to 1000 plus, though the majority of you fall into the 101-200 employees brackets. That is including those 6.3% of companies who said they had made a significant percentage of redundancies in 2012, and the 28.1% who had made some.

Meanwhile, 15.6% of suppliers stayed the same size in 2012, due to company-wide recruitment freezes.

Fortunately, 2013 looks more positive for suppliers and job hunters, with 67.7% of respondents planning to recruit this year.

Stat attack
- 15 The average number of years’ experience our suppliers have in the industry.
- 67.7% of suppliers intend to recruit in 2013.
- 34.4% of buyers have asked suppliers for a bribe to secure a deal.
- 15.6% of suppliers would consider offering a monetary bribe to secure a deal.
- 90% of suppliers said they have increased prices on last year to cover rising costs

Article continues on next page ...