USA
EN
Hotel leaders continue to navigate changing costs, labor pressures and evolving guest expectations. The challenge is not to predict every disruption. It is to build an operation that responds to change without sacrificing profitability, risking staff burn out or compromising the guest experience.
That was the focus of the recent Hotel Business Hot Topics webinar, Planning Through Uncertainty: A Resilience Playbook for Hotel Leaders. Industry leaders explored how hotels can strengthen their fundamentals, make smarter purchasing and operational decisions with the help of a GPO (Group Purchasing Organization), empower property teams and use technology more effectively.
Practical tips from the webinar include:
Here is a closer look at six takeaways hotel owners and operators can put into practice.
When margins tighten, your instinct may be to immediately reduce labor or services. But a better starting point is to identify the everyday friction keeping staff from working efficiently.
Dan Block, SVP of Operations with Hotel Equities, encouraged hotel leaders to focus on labor productivity rather than labor dollars. Diving deeper, Beau Benton, president of LBA Hospitality, pointed out that by organizing storage rooms, properly stocking housekeeping carts, and providing working equipment and adequate linen supplies, inefficiencies can be avoided – and employees become more effective.
The takeaway: Look for the operational obstacles costing teams time before reducing staffing or guest-facing services. Strong hotel operational resilience starts with strengthening the fundamentals. .
Explore Entegra's lodging solutions.
In food and beverage, controlling costs should not come at the cost of diminish the guest experience.
To continue to offer best-in class F&B, analyze menu complexity, prep requirements, inventory and purchasing decisions. Evaluate what is selling so you can reduce unnecessary inventory; simplifying menus will get you closer to your savings goals. Benton also highlighted cross-utilizing products and using specials to adapt when certain ingredients become more expensive or difficult to source.
Look beyond unit price. Delivery timing, labor and preparation can change the true operational cost of a purchasing decision. For example, a delivery scheduled too close to a large banquet can drive additional kitchen overtime, even when the purchasing program itself appears cost-effective.
The takeaway: Focusing on simplification — not only on cost — makes an operation more efficient and consistent. Evaluate the total operational impact of every decision, from labor to waste, yield and timing.
Cost control becomes risky when it reaches the parts of the hotel experience guests notice most.
During the webinar, Amar Doshi, VP of Supply Growth and Procurement with Entegra, identified examples of guest-experience fundamentals to safeguard. “There are a couple of things that are pillars to the guest experience that you’re not going to want to mess with, right, bedding, coffee. Everyone wants coffee at a hotel, right? You don’t want to mess those up.” Amar Doshi, VP of Supply Growth and Procurement, Entegra
That same principle applies to food and beverage savings and purchasing programs. Maintaining product quality while simplifying menus, reducing waste and using products across multiple applications remain top operational goals
Guest value can also come from small, personalized experiences rather than expensive amenities. Benton and Eric Rubino, founder and principal of Extreme Hospitality, emphasized empowering employees to respond to individual guest needs and create meaningful, human-first moments. .
The takeaway: Remove low-value complexity. Protect the products, services and human touches that have the greatest impact on how guests perceive value.
For hotel management companies in particular, resilience requires finding the right balance between centralized support and local decision-making.
Centralizing appropriate back-office work can give property teams more time to focus on operations and guests. But customer-facing decisions often benefit from local knowledge.
Activities such as cash management, cash-flow forecasting and accounting can be handled centrally when appropriate, while customer-facing choices remain with GMs who understand their guests.
The takeaway: Centralize where it removes administrative burden or creates useful visibility. Keep guest-facing decisions close enough to the property to reflect local needs.
Explore Entegra's data and digital tools.
Undeniably, AI is a useful tool for increasing hotel efficiencies, from comparing lengthy contracts and analyzing guest comments to reviewing menus, improving communications, automating workflows but technology shouldn't replace the operational know-how that the staff needs to perform at their best.
The takeaway: Use AI to accelerate analysis and repetitive work but pair it with human-first critical thinking and hospitality expertise.
Resilient hotel operations don't have to tackle every challenge alone.
Partners can provide broader data, specialized expertise and resources that supplement the knowledge of property and corporate teams.
Doshi described how Entegra uses digital resources and supply expertise to identify purchasing opportunities while also supporting tailored property needs.
Part of its advisory offerings, Entegra Culinary Consulting can also support areas such as menu development, nutrition targets, product innovation, labor efficiency and waste reduction.
Ensuring that your teams see partners relationships – like the one with your GPO – as a valuable extension of your team is a key step in boosting resiliency.
The takeaway: Look beyond price alone when evaluating procurement and supplier relationships. The right partner can bring data, expertise and resources that help teams identify risks and opportunities earlier.
There is no single lever that makes a hotel resilient. Strong fundamentals, empowered teams, thoughtful cost management and continuous evaluation were key takeaways from the Hotel Business webinar.
Hotel leaders may not be able to control what comes next. They can, however, build stronger operations to adapt and pivot when necessary.
Want to hear the full conversation? Watch the webinar replay to learn how hotel leaders are planning through uncertainty and building more resilient operations.
Explore how Entegra supports lodging organizations with purchasing expertise, industry insights and operational resources.
GPO stands for group purchasing organization.
When you partner with a GPO, you join other buyers in leveraging your collective purchasing power — in Entegra’s case, totaling over $50 billion globally.
That purchasing power enables your business to access better prices and a broader selection of high-quality items, services and support than would typically be accessible to an individual business.
A procurement service, or GPO, is a company that provides hotel operators with everything needed to help businesses deliver high-quality customer experiences. When you’re looking to reduce overall costs, securing more savings, deeper discounts and better contracts can make a significant impact on your margins.
You can use a hotel procurement service company to help you lock in cost savings on nearly everything your business needs, from the food on your menu to the furniture, fixtures and equipment (FF&E) to build out your space to the uniforms your team wears (and so much more). While it’s certainly possible for hotel operators to negotiate directly with suppliers, the process can be extensive and complex, taking up valuable time and resulting in high retail costs.
To reduce costs, save time and simplify the purchasing process, many operators leverage a procurement service. As your GPO, Entegra negotiates contracts on your behalf, helping you access better prices, more reliable supply agreements and deeper discounts. Entegra currently serves the following types of businesses: restaurants, lodging, golf, senior living, leisure, faith-based, education, acute care and more.
No! Entegra supports clients of all sizes and industries, with no membership fees or purchasing minimums required. In other words, you don’t need to pay us to purchase from any of our 2,700+ contracted suppliers. When you’re ready to start saving up to 30%, access deeper discounts and secure a stable supplier network, getting started with Entegra is a simple three-step process.
You can save up to 30% when compared to supplier list prices. As a client, you also gain access to deeper discounts, AI-powered product swaps that reduce costs and a team of industry experts negotiating supplier contracts on your behalf.
Entegra works with multiple distribution partners and over 2,700 supplier partners, providing access to the selections you trust. And if you can’t find what you need, we offer flexible custom contracting.
Want more information about Entegra's hotel GPO puurchasing programs? Contact us.