EXCLUSIVE: Atlantis Dubai's stance against bribery

With the Hotelier Middle East Supplier Survey 2014 revealing a startling increase in levels of bribery and corruption in the hotel procurement business, Hotelier Middle East asked Atlantis The Palm’s director of procurement Bhanu Pratap Singh for his advice on what hotels can do to take a stand against corruption — ultimately to eliminate cases of bribery in the future.

1. What is Atlantis’ stance on corruption and bribery in hotel procurement?
It is the responsibility of the hotel that is procuring to demonstrate procurement maturity and isolate undue influences on their decision making. This is only possible if a hotel places a particular emphasis on using the best available electronic tools and technology to improve speed, efficiency and effectiveness of buying decisions, and continues to innovate the process to adapt to the ever changing business environment.

Of course, it is also imperative for a company to demonstrate deterrents to such unsolicited activities to highlight the fact they will not be tolerated and to minimize such activities within the entire hotel industry.

At Atlantis we have a strict procurement processes to isolate and minimise unsolicited activities, this includes:
Selection of right partners: All new partners have to pass through a rigorous selection process and provide acceptance to Atlantis Terms and Conditions
Competitive Bidding through an online bidding process, which includes eBidding, Reverse Auctions & Forward Auctions.

 During the ebidding process individual bidder have no other option but to submit their best possible offer to win the bid.
Based on the bidding result; Bidding committee (comprising of Head of Finance, User department and Head of Procurement) have to make decision based on facts.
All commercial contracts are for minimum 12 months long, which provides stability to the overall process.
Periodic “Supplier Performance Evaluation” is also a strong deterrence to ensure quality is maintained throughout contracted period.

We follow a very logical but stringent procurement process from initial vendors selection, competitive bidding, risk mitigation and vendor performance evaluation.

2. Why would you stop working with a supplier that sought this sort of deal?
At Atlantis, The Palm, we have strong standards and strict procurement policies in place. Having strong standards is important, but on their own, may not be enough to guarantee that all suppliers are living up to Atlantis’ expectations. Our programme of consistent risk assessment, due diligence and onsite audit helps us to monitor supplier performances. If a supplier can’t or won’t meet our standards we stop working with them.

Click through to next page to find out how the industry can eliminate bribery.

3. What does the industry need to do to eliminate this problem?
There are four key main factors involved, these are;
Transparent and collaborative decision making
Electronic Bidding process is there to improve speed, efficiency and effectiveness of overall buying decisions
Create strong legal and administrative deterrents
Conduct transparent and open discussion when such cases are identified

4. Will bribery ever stop in hospitality?
Yes – if the hotel industry as whole, continues to improve and innovate the decision making process, adapting to new tools and technology available for use to facilitate the process.

5. What role should heads of receiving play?
Receiving plays a very important role as they are the gatekeeper. Considering the sensitivity this position need to be represented by a middle level management person.The role of the Head of Procurement is quite an important and responsible one. The Head of Procurement works closely with chief financial and executive officers to make major key decisions for a company. He or she is involved with evaluating the successes and failures of the hotel, and coming up with ways to improve efficiency and productivity.

The head of procurement provides overall leadership to the purchasing team and ensures that procurement policies and procedures are followed. Typically, he also is constantly in search of better quality products and better prices. The role is thought to have grown more strategic in recent years as a result of globalization, compliance factors, and other key industry changes that have triggered a trend toward centralisation of the procurement function for the purposes of standardization and leverage.