Unlocking Hospitality: Purchasing for a Shifting Service Landscape

Unclear economic forecasts, rising inflation, and uncertain supply chains continue to place upward pressure on operating costs and menu prices. While consumer demand for dining experiences has remained relatively steady despite these challenges — falling less than 10% compared to 2019 — ongoing supply constraints and labor shortages are pushing many restaurant and hospitality organizations to find both operational and cost efficiencies.

For purchasing teams, this means arming their employees with easy, agile procurement that use real-time data to find cost-effective supplies that will arrive on time, when they need them, so that they can continue delivering reliable experiences. Here are examples of companies that enhanced their purchasing with digital solutions, spending less time sourcing and more time satisfying and delighting patrons.

Finding a wide range of specialty items in one place

Vacasa, a leading vacation rental company, keeps their properties stocked and furnished by shopping on Amazon Business. Vacasa includes authorized buyers across 12,000 properties on a single Amazon Business account to reduce administrative burden and increase spend visibility. By comparing pricing and delivery promises of multiple sellers in one place, Vacasa is able to source the best deals on specialty products while maintaining supply availability.

“Our purchasing has to be decentralized because managers across the country and beyond buy specialty products for unique properties at the direction of the owners—such as a specialty lightbulb for a unique floor lamp,” says Sarah Henderson, supplies specialist at Vacasa.

Getting what you need, faster

Red River Brewing Company, a family-owned craft brewery in New Mexico, consolidates purchasing with Amazon Business to streamline operations, generate holistic spend reports, and automate workflows. By using the Amazon Business mobile shopping app, buyers can quickly purchase the items they need in real-time, without having to be in front of a computer.

“It’s difficult for businesses in Red River to get what they need efficiently, given we’re a few hours from the city. With features such as Business Prime and reorder lists, I just keep a list of my commonly purchased items, and in a push of a button anywhere on site, I’m restocked in two days without spending hours leafing through catalogs, or worse, driving to and from Albuquerque,” said Michael Calhoun, Owner, Red River Brewing Company. “I also use the Business Analytics tool to quickly pull spend reports and reconcile my credit card transactions. As an engineer, this efficiency is what attracts me to Amazon Business.”

Sourcing innovative technology at scale
Wynn Las Vegas uses Alexa for Hospitality to deliver touchless experiences for their guests. Guests can use Alexa to control room lights and temperature, access information, and personalize their resort experience. Alexa for Hospitality allows organizations to deploy and manage a fleet of Alexa enabled Echo devices and voice AI experiences. Administrators can easily configure settings, enable skills, and assign property contacts at scale. Alexa for Hospitality works with Amazon Echo devices, which can be ordered in bulk through Amazon Business. The Alexa for Hospitality console can be accessed using Amazon Business account credentials.

“Alexa is powerful because it provides natural voice experiences that offers guests an intuitive way to interact. It’s helpful, it’s personal, and it’s smart,” said the COO of Wynn Las Vegas. “Because our guests are comfortable with using Alexa, it helps them to easily access information that allows them to personalize their resort experience and fully enjoy the restaurants, spa, golf, shopping, salon, pool and lounge venues we have at Wynn Las Vegas.”

Sourcing innovative technology at scale

Wynn Las Vegas uses Alexa for Hospitality to deliver touchless experiences for their guests. Guests can use Alexa to control room lights and temperature, access information, and personalize their resort experience. Alexa for Hospitality allows organizations to deploy and manage a fleet of Alexa enabled Echo devices and voice AI experiences. Administrators can easily configure settings, enable skills, and assign property contacts at scale. Alexa for Hospitality works with Amazon Echo devices, which can be ordered in bulk through Amazon Business. The Alexa for Hospitality console can be accessed using Amazon Business account credentials.

“Alexa is powerful because it provides natural voice experiences that offers guests an intuitive way to interact. It’s helpful, it’s personal, and it’s smart,” said the COO of Wynn Las Vegas. “Because our guests are comfortable with using Alexa, it helps them to easily access information that allows them to personalize their resort experience and fully enjoy the restaurants, spa, golf, shopping, salon, pool and lounge venues we have at Wynn Las Vegas.”

Looking ahead

As consumers and the hospitality industry begin to feel the effects of rising inflation, organizations may have a window of opportunity to recoup profitability by embracing smarter, more efficient processes. Procurement leaders can help build a more resilient business that is ready to flex and respond to sourcing needs and emerge from these uncertain economic times even stronger.