UKHospitality
and TSA form collaborate partnership at Round Table, Round One
The first Round Table summit
between leading hospitality groups and commercial laundries ended in a series
of pointers that will help plan for a sustainable and successful future. Hosted by the TSA (Textile Services
Association) and UKHospitality, the event was the first step in establishing a
collaborative partnership to tackle the extreme pressures that confront both
industries. Two key areas under
discussion were the difficulties in the current operational model, with the
need to take into account the increasing unpredictability of hotel occupancy,
and the drive to be more sustainable. However, alongside these ‘big picture’
issues more day-to-day topics were discussed – such as the establishment of
standard sizes for bed linen.
Co-chairs of the discussions
were David Stevens, CEO of the TSA, and Tony Sophoclides, Strategic Affairs
Director of UKHospitality. Leading
organisations from both hospitality and the laundry industry were represented,
including Accor, Clean Linen Services, Fishers Services, Georgian House Hotel,
IHG, Johnsons Hotel Linen, Marriott, and Travelodge. The event took place at the London Marriott
Hotel Regents Park on 24th March 2022.
The importance of laundries to
the hotel sector was underlined by Andrew Towns of Marriott and Emmanuel
Poignant of Accor, who both confirmed, “Linen is critical, without it we can’t
sell our rooms.”
Summer 2022 vs. summer 2021
brought lively discussion, underlining the occupancy issue. While London hotels are reporting levels
ahead of 2021, for the rest of the UK the figures remain in line with last year. Meanwhile, there has been a surge in
last-minute booking, exacerbating the volatility of the market – and making it
nigh on impossible to predict requirements for linen. The combination of staffing issues and
irregular capacity is adding to the problems laundries are facing.
On a positive note, Kevin
Godley of Clean noted that laundries are better prepared this year than they
had been in summer 2021, when business went from zero to 100% almost
overnight. However, he added a proviso:
“Success this summer will only be achieved if
laundries and hotels work together in partnership to overcome these ongoing
challenges of irregular occupancies, recruitment shortages and availability of
linen.”
It was agreed that better
communications between laundries and hotels could help reduce the issue of sharp
peaks and fast declines in linen requirements.
However, there may be a need to invest in more linen – as one delegate
pointed out, for a hotel, the cost of investment is likely to be less than the
cost if they had no linen.
Sustainability is an ongoing
issue and one that hotels and laundries must tackle together. TSA’s ‘Infinite Textiles’ scheme, which looks
to extend the life of linens and then recycle instead of sending them to
landfill, was welcomed by the hospitality industry. Meanwhile there was also consensus to move
away from single use plastic to wrap clean linens: with discussions well
underway, the initiative is expected to be agreed shortly.
Another question brought to
the table was, should there be set sizing for linen? Currently there are very
different types and sizes of linen, depending either on what the hotel wants or
what the laundries supply. Would a simplified bedlinen sizing structure help?
It was agreed that the topic would be investigated further at the next Round
Table.
“The Round Table discussions
were candid, sincere and have moved us forward,” says David Stevens. “We all agree on the need to work in closer
cooperation if we are to survive and thrive.
This was round one and it has sown seeds and set up a map for future
progress.”
The image accompanying this
press release shows, from the left:
1. Florence Alloing,
General Manager (Georgian House Hotel)
2. Kevin Godley, CEO (CLEAN
Linen Services)
3. Michael Simpson-Jones,
Head of Category (Travelodge)
4. Helen Wood, Managing
Director (Johnsons Hotel Linen)
5. Tony Sophoclides,
Strategic Affairs Director (UK Hospitality)
6. David Stevens, CEO (TSA)
7. Michael Jones, Managing
Director (Fishers Services)
8.
Emmanuel Poignant, North Europe Procurement
(Accor)
9. Andrew Towns, Senior
Manager, Procurement United Kingdom & Ireland (Marriott)
The TSA is the trade association for the textile care
services industry. The TSA represents commercial laundry and textile
rental businesses. Membership ranges from family-run operations through to
large, multi-national companies. Visit www.tsa-uk.org
for more information.
Press Enquiries:
The
Publicity Works: 01263 761000; tim@publicityworks.biz
David Stevens, CEO, Textile Services Association,
T: +44 (0)20 3151 5600 M:
+44 (0)7966 531954 E:
david.stevens@tsa-uk.org