The Hotelier Middle East Supplier Survey 2014 uncovers a worrying trend as corruption and bribery plays a greater part in the market’s growing competition for hotel contracts

Middle East hotel suppliers are more concerned than ever about the rising levels of corruption in the region’s hospitality industry, with suppliers admitting to being approached for or considering offering a bribe to secure a hotel contract.

That is just one of the findings of the Hotelier Middle East Supplier Survey 2014, which for the last five years has been an outlet for the region’s hospitality suppliers to share their views and experiences of the Middle East hotel business.

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For example, back in 2012 our suppliers’ minds were very much on the market’s continuing economic struggles, as some reported they were clinging to existence as invoices went unpaid. Last year, however, the story was very different, with suppliers noticing a marked improvement in business, while also becoming wary of rising levels of competition.

This increasing level of optimism from suppliers regarding performance appears to have continued this year, with 86.4% of our respondents expecting their annual turnover to be higher in 2014 than in 2013.

This is in spite of the fact that the majority of our suppliers (65%) have insisted that their prices are remaining the same this year as in 2013, while of those that have raised their prices, 77% claim that they will only go up by a maximum of 10%.

However, suppliers also expressed concerns about the rising levels of competition in the market and when our respondents were asked about potential challenges for the next 12 months, there was only one clear winner, with increased competition taking a clear 40% of the vote and the increased cost of materials in second place, with 21% of respondents citing this as the biggest challenge.

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