Suppliers: Cleaning, laundry, and housekeeping

In this issue of Hotelier Middle East’s Suppliers You Should Know feature, we focus on cleaning, housekeeping, and laundry, which falls under the broad category of facilities management in hospitality.

The cleaning, housekeeping, and laundry industry is an integral part of hospitality without which it cannot function. However, housekeeping is a thankless, invisible function, participants in a workshop entitled “Empowering Your Housekeeping Team to Shine” at the 2017 Hospitality Summit noted.

Having said that, the housekeeping department is the largest and the biggest production department in a hotel, according to Cristal Hotels & Resorts corporate executive housekeeper Tushara Rathnayake. Over the next few pages, Hotelier Middle East profiles suppliers in the cleaning, housekeeping, and laundry sector in the Middle East.

Guest Supply

Guest Supply regional manager MENA Chloe Shine talks about the new amenities the firm has acquired to enhance its offering to housekeepers

Have you introduced any new product ranges in 2017?

As a fully integrated supplier of hotel guest amenities, textiles, and in-room operational supplies to the hotel and travel industry, Guest Supply is continuing to grow its brand profile worldwide, recently acquiring Gilchrist & Soames in order to further enhance its premium luxury tier offering within the amenities industry.

What is your core business concept?

As a global company, Guest Supply provides branded hotel amenities, including Salvatore Ferragamo, La Perla, Korres, Ungaro, Aromatherapy Associates, Tara Smith, Acca Kappa, Cochine, Institut Karité, and many more to major hotel groups around the world through its offices in the UK, US, Canada, China, UAE and the Asia Pacific. We are also a key global supplier of textiles, accessories, and in-room electrical goods. We are a wholly owned subsidiary of the Sysco Corporation, a publicly traded Fortune 500 company, with 25,000 clients in 111 countries with more than 30 distribution locations worldwide; and the only vertically integrated company in the industry, with capabilities in product development, product design, manufacturing, direct sales, and distribution.

Have you expanded the company?

With continued global investment in research and development, Guest Supply is able to relate to its markets with region-specific knowledge. That applies to both the luxury and mid-market arena. Therefore, as a company we will constantly be developing and expanding.

Have you developed any new initiatives?

We are extremely excited to reveal that Guest Supply has been working very closely with a high-end locally relevant brand to develop single amenities for the hospitality industry. Identifying a strong image through fragrance and design for the Arabic market which reflects the cultural heritage of the Middle East is fundamental to development within the region. Ajmal is a brand whose name means ‘most beautiful’ in Arabic; it is synonymous with captivating perfumes and beauty products, as well as high-quality traditional Arabic fragrance products for the body and home. Ajmal has a rich heritage and more than 65 years of experience and know-how in the intricate art of perfumery.

What else is new?

We’ve recently introduced offerings from La Perla and Emanuel Ungaro, brands that represent exceptional Italian craftsmanship, and Cochine, which elegantly fuses the East and West.

Kraft Procurement

Sandeep Indulkar, CEO and founder of the Dubai-based firm, says Kraft has opened a new factory in China to expand its reach to Southeast Asia

Have you introduced any new  product ranges in 2017?

We have introduced new room accessories like hair dryer, iron, iron stand, kettles, minibars, and mirrors under our brand Hoteline.

What is your core business concept?

Our core business is to manufacture high quality products and deliver them at reasonable prices, while looking at a long-term sustainable business in the region.

Which hotels have you recently partnered with?

In the last one year we have partnered with Hilton, Rotana, Fairmont, Rixos, Roda, and a few others.

Have you developed any new customer service initiatives?

We have created an automatic response to all emails within 24 hours of receipt and to resolve issues within 48 hours. For any manufacturing defect, we first replace and then check. We believe that our client’s service should not suffer, and since we manufacture most of our products in the UAE, it allows us to replace products quickly.

Have you expanded the company?

Yes, in the first year of operations itself we expanded to a 50,000ft2 factory in the emirate of Ras Al Khaimah.

What else is new?

We have opened another factory in China to cater to the Asian markets as imports from UAE is high and there is tough competition from local Chinese companies in Asia.

Alliance

Alliance Laundry director Middle East and Africa Tim Bacon talks about the company’s innovations and new technologies in conservation of water and energy whilst managing quality

Have you introduced any new products or services  in 2017?

Our product ranges are continuously updated and improved with innovative features to ensure they remain ‘best in class’ when it comes to meeting the criteria of water and energy conservation — whilst still maintaining the longevity and ruggedness that we are known for. With that in mind we recommend machines from our well-known brands; Primus, IPSO, Unimac, and Speed Queen, in addition to our regional brands; Lavamac and Huebsch, all of which contain technology that focuses on being more energy efficient and reducing water consumption.

What is your core business concept?

The evolution of the market confirms that our customers have a greater need of suppliers who are reliable, organised, and have the ability to adapt to changing needs and in doing so, always keep pace with market trends and customer needs. This understanding is what led to Alliance Laundry Systems opening an office in Dubai, where the customer will find commercial consulting, technical assistance, and a local team of professionals across all sectors. Our focus is on providing an exceptional customer experience: professionalism and partnership, together with high quality long-lasting machines.

What is your company’s annual turnover?

Alliance Laundry’s annual turnover is US $880 million.

Have you expanded the company?

In June 2016, we opened our new STAR R&D (science, technology, and research) Centre in Pribor (Czech Republic), employing more than 200 engineers and other staff who are constantly inventing and improving laundry solutions to make the laundry process more efficient, more productive and more user friendly. In addition we are also in the process of finalising the largest expansion of our Ripon (WI, US) facility. This project adds 2.09ha of new buildings, includes the construction of a new North America sales and marketing headquarters, and the conversion of an existing warehouse into a manufacturing facility.

Has Alliance developed any new customer service initiatives?

The Alliance Customer One programme combines local personnel resources with the best international web-based accessible tools. The aftersales service of our brands is provided by a highly skilled team of service managers and service technicians of our distributors, all of whom are provided with comprehensive training at our customer service centre in Dubai.

Hyla

Tamara Hribar, general manager, Hyla, explains the launch of the new Hyla EST

Have you introduced any new products in 2017?

In 2017, Hyla International launched an improved Hyla EST which stands for evolution in separator technology. The new Hyla EST can be used to clean and purify the air, deep clean, shampoo, and wet clean all kinds of surfaces such as mattresses, carpets, upholstery, and hard floors. Hyla EST removes fine dust, gases, allergens, dirt, sand, dust mites, during normal cleaning with the help of a water filter. The vacuumed dust and dirt are no longer collected in bags or containers but bound in water and, subsequently, directly disposed of with the water.

What is your core business concept?

The core business concept of Hyla is providing multipurpose cleaning equipment to hotels around the Middle East. We are working closely with more than 200 hotels in the region.

Which hotels have you recently partnered with?

Some of the hotels and hotel groups that we are working together include all properties from Jumeirah Group, all Address Hotels (Emaar),  Hilton, Intercontinental, One&Only, and Rotana, among others.

Have you expanded the company?

The company has grown and expanded. Hyla has been in the Middle East more specifically, in the UAE for more than 14 years. Due to our trustworthy product, reputation, and recognition, reaching out to hotels and other clients has become easier than in the past causing a snowball effect meaning the company is growing faster than ever before.

Xeros

Mike Ferrand, director commercial laundry EMEA region, speaks about the new laundry products introduced in 2017

Have you introduced any new product ranges in 2017?

2017 has been a very exciting year for us at Xeros, we have launched two new products to the market and both are generating significant interest from hotels of all sizes as well as commercial launderers. In early 2017, Xeros introduced a 16kg capacity eco-friendly, near waterless laundry system that is ideal for smaller hotels and spas where size and space is a consideration. In April, we launched the planet’s first sustainable collaborative laundry project, The Symphony Project. This project provides manufacturers of conventional commercial washing machines with ‘open source’ access to Xeros’ polymer technology.

How does the product work?

Xeros’ polymer technology transforms many water intense processes by reducing their dependence on water, chemicals, and energy while improving performance. Polymer replaces water and chemicals in the laundry wash, gently lifting stains away and soaking up dirt and stray dyes. The result is superior cleaning performance, with less shrinkage, creasing, and colour transfer. This leads to extended linen life and reduces the reject rate which provides a cost saving solution for our customers.

What is your company’s annual turnover?

The comany’s annual turnover is around £1.8m (US $2.35m).

Could you tell us about any new initiatives the firm has undertaken?

Xeros offers a solution for laundry cost management called Sbeadycare Connect. This programme allows customers instant access to key data such as the consumption of water, electricity, and chemicals and their carbon footprint as well. With Sbeadycare Connect, hotels gain access to key laundry metrics.

What else is new?

2017 is an exciting year for Xeros Cleaning Technologies as we are entering the Middle Eastern market with our sustainable laundry solution. Our UAE launch will begin in September at The Hotel Show Dubai.