Supplier roundtable: In-room amenities

Meet the experts

Britta Hadler, sales director Middle East for ADA Cosmetics International.

Britta Hadler has more than 10 years of experience in the international hospitality industry. Prior to joining ADA, she held various sales and marketing positions in private and governmental sectors.

Nicolas König, managing director, GFS Global General Trading LLC.

GFS has a creative and innovative approach with the aim of delivering products and services that will differentiate from the norm and ensures its place as one of the market leaders.

Lal TR, business development manager – Middle East Sysco Guest Supply.

With 12 years experience in the Middle East hotel and leisure industry, Lal TR brings a significant depth of understanding in terms of brand awareness and the requirements of high end properties.

Farah Aslam, managing director – Dimara International.

With more than 12 years of exposure to guest amenities that carry a global appeal, Farah Aslam is able to provide hotels with a brand/product that is in-line with their concepts.

Michele Sweeting, senior vice president, capital planning & procurement, Four Seasons

With more than 25 years of experience in procurement and supply chain management, Michele guides a diverse team of more than 50 professionals and is responsible for Four Seasons’ global procurement services. Sweeting’s experience and strategic insight has developed Four Seasons’ CP&P team into the leading hotel procurement service provider it is today.

Jan Hellfritz, managing partner, Aliseo Germany

Hellfritz has an innate feeling for serviceable designs that combine technological innovations and cutting- edge aesthetics in developing products that embrace a new culture of hospitality.

Alana Crossan, business development, Truebell Marketing and Trading LLC —Groupe GM portfolio of brands

Originally from New Zealand, Crossan has become an expert in the field of hotel amenities and in-room requirements and is building her network of contacts internationally and regionally.

Victoria Lee, EMEA Business Manager at Concept Amenities

Victoria has worked for more than 10 years in the supply of guest amenities. Working for a global company for five of these years, she has worked with some of the largest hotel groups in the world.

Vinayak C Mahtani CEO, Unique Precise International

Unique Precise was established in 2005 with the vision to set up a one-stop solution company to tackle clients’ design, development and procurement needs.

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Q: HOW DOES THE DESIGN OF A ROOM AFFECT THE CHOICE OF GUEST AMENITIES?
BRITTA HADLER: It affects it to a great extent. Imagine a modern hotel in the city centre, with many young, cosmopolitan, international guests and a relaxed but stylish room and bathroom ambiance. Furnishing this room with a product line with a traditional rose fragrance would be completely out of place.

Instead, a fresh and inspiring cosmetic series is fitting. The bottom line therefore, is that a hotel cosmetics line must be perfectly aligned with the hotel’s style while providing a holistic body care concept that is based on the industry’s latest scientific knowledge.

VINAYAK MAHTANI: A luxury room looks for a luxury product, which means they will want larger sized bottles and tubes. Smaller simple rooms go for a more basic looking product. A traditional Arabic room demands Arabic brands and fragrances.

MICHELE SWEETING: Four Seasons recently launched a customised amenity programme that brings this personality to the forefront in a memorable way, allowing properties to choose from a selection of brands that offer varying degrees of customisation.

Using amenities to evoke a sense of place, hotels and resorts can extend the guest experience by creating customised, memorable collections that guests can take home. Many of the new Four Seasons amenity programmes have retail line extensions that their hotels and resorts can choose to sell in their spas or gift shops.

JAN HELLFRITZ: The design of the room provides the synergistic rethinking of the whole guestroom experience where the sum of the products creates an aesthetic functional refuge for the enjoyment of their guest.

LAL TR: Everything in the room should fall into place within the grand scheme of the interior theme. This fact has pushed amenity suppliers to come out with unique and elegant packaging. However, hoteliers shouldn’t compromise in the quality of the product inside and brand value just for the sake of a package choice.

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Q:WHAT ARE SOME OF THE CURRENT TRENDS IN IN-ROOM AMENITIES?
HELLFRITZ: The guestroom has emerged from a ‘utilitarian needs-only space’ into an area where the celebration of essentials and the luxuries they bestow becomes not only the centre piece of the guestroom experience but also a key selling point for the hotel.

MAHTANI: We have some clients who are now offering their customers amenity menus, where their guests can choose the amenity they want. We help our customers by offering to hold the stocks for them.

ASLAM: Mass market, off-the-shelf brands are passé and guests are looking for something that has personality and will create a unique experience for them.

Having a branded product is not enough, it must be taken to the next level in terms of fragrances, designs, and packaging. Luxury hotel brands such as the Four Seasons Hotels and Rosewood Hotels have set the trend for other hotels to follow.

Though they are true to the ‘corporate decision’ and agreements for guest amenities, each individual property is allowed to select a brand/packaging/concept that is unique for their property.

TR: During the past couple of years, we have seen a massive shift towards major retail brands. Ten years back or so, major independent properties or chains wanted their logoed, bespoke amenities.

But things have changed a lot since then. Individuals are increasingly brand conscious and they will use only the cosmetic brands they know or trust. Experienced hoteliers have understood this shift of trend and they have moved towards branded amenities.

SWEETING: More and more luxury hospitality companies are moving toward offering guests one amenity brand across the portfolio. Four Seasons is moving in the opposite direction, focusing instead on tailoring the amenity experience for each property, extending the brand’s commitment to highly customised services and experiences. Ultimately, the goal of the custom amenity programme is to enhance the guest experience, and evoke vivid memories when the amenities are used again in the future.

VICTORIA LEE: No matter what the trend is, hoteliers need to think very carefully when choosing an amenity programme. The guest is paying for their view, the 100% Egyptian cotton sheets, the flat screen TV, but the only thing they get to take away with them are the amenities. It is a gift from the hotel to their guest to thank them for staying with them.
ALANA CROSSAN: The international market trends are towards more masculine fragrances, nature inspired and beauty brand products. In the UAE specifically, brand recognition is ever-important and some hotels like to incorporate local inspired fragrances such as Oud. We have most recently launched an amenities line in conjunction with Italian fashion house Missoni, offering a range that is colourful, eccentric and chic.

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Q: WHAT ARE THE PROS AND CONS OF CREATING BESPOKE guest AMENITIES?
MAHTANI: The time it takes to get a bespoke programme up and running if tied up with a retail brand can take six months before anything is delivered. If it is part of their existing design however, it can be done within eight weeks.

HADLER: By offering a customised cosmetic series a hotel is assured that these body care items perfectly match its own image and have been designed according to its specific requirements. Hotel guests perceive this customisation as something special and exclusive that cannot be found anywhere else — an added value that complements the hotel’s style. But if the hotel selects a well-known brand, then it does not even have to build customer trust.
SWEETING: It’s critical for the amenity programme to reflect the property in all its forms. Being able to create a collection that speaks to the property’s location whether it be culinary aspects, architecture, or scent — the guest is left with lasting memories when using the product long after their stay.

TR: Bespoke amenities was a trend years ago and now the hospitality world is moving away from this into the world of brands. Increased retail awareness of the end users, hotel guests, have been a major factor in this shift. When we talk about customisation, nowadays hotels may like to have a renowned amenity brand slightly modified in terms of packaging or size. Nothing more. It is a win-win situation by coupling the synergies of two brands.

LEE: It is a well-known fact that guest expectations regarding amenities will vary depending on a hotel they decide to stay in. Saying that, we also know that one of the first things they do when entering the hotel room is to check what kind of goodies are waiting there for them. Guests often prefer the quality of brand amenities from a trusted name or look for amenities that sum up the hotel’s own identity, which can be seen as a great souvenir. It is that little bit of luxury offered when being away from home.

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Q: HOW DOES THE AMENITY BUSINESS IN THE MIDDLE EAST DIFFER FROM ELSEWHERE?
HELLFRITZ: My experience is that the owner or ownership groups are more involved than their counterparts in Europe. Their participation in the decision and purchasing process often ensures a much better value to price ratio where the monies spent are viewed more as an investment versus a mere expenditure. They know the value of quality.

NICOLAS KONIG: The Middle East market in comparison with the rest of the world is enjoying steady growth and occupancies are still high. Furthermore, the region offers much more luxury and a large variety of accommodation, therefore in-room amenities benefit from this market.
TR: The Middle East is a unique market with strong preferences in terms of brands, fragrances and presentation. The strong presence of the major luxury brands in the retail sector reflects in the hospitality sector too. The guests are very specific about their choice of amenities and brands so the market is very competitive.

CROSSAN: The Middle East is driven more by brand recognition, they also prefer larger sizes and a wider range of accessory items including luxury turndown gifts for VIP guests and suites. Guerlain have captured this with their newly launched VIP box which includes a 100ml bottle of the Eau de Cologne Imperiale perfume which was originally created for French royalty in 1853 by Pierre Francois Pascal Guerlain.

HADLER: In the Middle East, the luxury segment is most significant, everything has to have lots of ‘bling’, more gold, more glamorous. Western Europeans tend to prefer understated elements. Where fragrances are concerned, the markets also vary from each other. Fresh, citrus-oriented aromas dissipate quickly in warm climates. That is why people in the Middle East prefer the heavier, vanilla-dominated notes with plenty of ambergris and musk. The opposite is true for Asian people. They favour subtle, elegant scents with delicate floral notes.

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Q: ARE PEOPLE CONCERNED ABOUT ‘ECOLOGICAL/GREEN’ ISSUES WHEN IT COMES TO IN-ROOM AMENITIES?
MAHTANI: Yes very much so. Our collection Eco Kind is very successful in the GCC because of the attributes it has to being friendly to the environment.

CROSSAN: Hotel guests and the hotels themselves are becoming more concerned with the eco option and do have concerns regarding parabens and other ingredients. However, the demand from hotels for ‘ecological/green’ products in the UAE is substantially less than in Europe where environmental legislation has had an immediate impact forcing the market to adopt standard practices.

However, the MENA region is evolving and we expect the need for more environmental and organic products to increase dramatically in the future. We are prepared for this with organic ranges such as Damana Organic and N-Ki or Ecolabel ranges such as Scandinavian White.

HADLER: Natural cosmetics continue to grow in popularity. ADA offers an ecologically-oriented series called ‘Green Collection’, which includes many certified hotel cosmetics. In the Middle East, environmental awareness also continues to grow — perhaps not at the same pace as in Western Europe, but there is a distinct emphasis on natural products that harm neither the skin nor the environment.

There is still a need for more experience with regard to the definition of real hotel cosmetics and how they differ from green-washed cosmetics. ADA has initiated a blog to educate people about this very topic: www.keepingnaturebeautiful.com.

KONIG: As part of the in-room amenities development, being ‘ecological/green’ is the trend to be respected. GFS works closely with factories and laboratories to develop green products to better respond to this fast growing demand.

ASLAM: The concern of the guests and hotels seem to fluctuate with the market trend and it was very much a concern about two years ago. Though all of our products are natural, organic, free from animal testing, and recyclable, it does not seem like a primary concern for buyers at the moment.

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Q: HOW ARE AMENITIES LINKED TO HOTEL SPAS AND WHAT ARE THE ADVANTAGES OF HAVING THEM IN-ROOM?
TR: This is a sub trend evident in the market where the spa products extend to the in room amenities as well. So there is a continuity in the fragrance used during a stay.

KONIG: Spa capture ratios are generally low in comparison with guest turnover, therefore having spa-related amenities in the hotel room could become an effective teaser by allowing the customer to experience the spa’s products.

HELLFRITZ: In many respects, the trend towards a ‘spa experience’ has transformed the guestroom; the barriers between the bedroom and bathroom are rapidly beginning to dissolve. A hybrid spatial and visual makeover has embraced a new generation of guest expectations where the bath area has evolved into a personal sanctuary for relaxation and well-being and is now an integral part of the hotel’s brand identity.

CROSSAN: Having the same brand in-room is the perfect marketing tool for the brand and the hotel spa. Spa Business magazine reported that a trial at a Florida resort showed in-room amenity brand interaction increased enquiries at its spa by 83%, ‘lending support to the idea of amenities’ business benefits’.

For brand visibility, thousands of hotel guests a year are seeing and using their brand. We have seen evidence of this first hand by developing an exclusive range of Anne Semonin amenities for Radisson Blu hotels worldwide.

HADLER: Wellness hotels and resorts pay great attention to the link between the body care products in the hotel bathroom and those that guests expect to see in the hotel’s spa or pool area.

A case in point: the Travel Charme Hotel & Resorts in Europe, for whom this is the main objective. For this client, ADA developed the PURIA series, which is offered in both areas, thus already initiating the wellness idea in the bathroom. The bathroom products practically invite guests to enjoy the hotel’s wellness offerings and have a guiding function.