The high class segment of four
and five star hotels comprises approximatly12000 hotels in Europe.
They are of special interest to textile suppliers, because high
class hotels invest far more in textile interior decoration
than hotels of lower categories. Four and five star hotels invest
in design and top quality textiles, and often replace textile
items already after 3 – 5 years. They need to use more
sophisticated and exclusive textiles to offer a comfortable,
even luxurious stay to their guests. “Many guests find
more comfort and luxury in their hotel rooms than at home, because
five star hotels must satisfy all expectations of high class
interieur. They need to match the combined expectations of top
businessmen, well situated best agers, baby boomers, and celebrities
of all kinds”, says Dr. Geert Böttger, Expo+Consulting
Associates, Düsseldorf/Germany. “High class hotels
are the most attractive target group in the contract market
for textiles”, he stated.
Expo+Consulting Associates sponsored the study
“Textile Interior Decoration of High Class Hotels in Europe”,
covering Austria, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, United Kingdom,
and Switzerland. These countries cover 95 % of hotels in EU15+CH.
Hotel capacities, hotel rooms and beds are the
determining factors of textile demand. They remained remarkably
stable in the last years: the number of beds in the selected
countries is around 10 million since 2000, and the number of
hotels decreased only slightly by 2,1 % between 2000 and 2004
(charts 2 and 3 attached).
However this stagnation in capacities and mild
concentration in hotels hides how tough those years had been
for the hospitality industry in Europe. Looking at key figures
of profitability we see a significant decrease in utilization,
room rates, and revenue per room (chart 4). This led to postponements
of refurbishments and postponements or cancellations of new
hotel projects, thus hitting also the contract market for textiles.
This weakness was caused by the soft economic
growth in Western Europe. But not only the soft development
of income led to a decline in business travel expenditures and
tourism expenditures, also September 11th, the Iraq war, and
SARS dampened especially the international travel expenditures.
2003 seemed to be the bottom of the decrease, and since 2004
the indicators for a profitable hotel business show an upward
development. This will be also beneficial for the textile contract
market.
The study provides market models to describe
the quantitative mechanism of markets by product group. For
example all European four and five star hotels use currently
8 – 10 million meter of drapes (1,50 width). As they replace
or refurbish in average all 4 – 5 years, the annual market
quantity is estimated to be between 1,9 and 2,4 mill. running
meters (chart 5). But the rough size is only an indicator of
the quantitative attractiveness of the market. For a successful
business it is more important to understand the decision structures
and product requirements.
The
hotel contract market for textiles is driven by three different
motors (chart 6):
(1) new hotel projects
(2) refurbishment of rooms, or parts of the hotel
(3) replacement of single items to secure quality.
Replacement especially is important in the five
star segment, because most five star hotels follow the 100 %
quality rule: Replacement is necessary, whenever an item shows
signs of damage or being run down.
Coming to the order of hotel textiles Böttger
said: “There is no blue print of the decision process
for orders to textile suppliers. A branded chain hotel buys
differently than a family run hotel, a design oriented boutique
hotel buys differently than a modern business hotel.”
Especially of interest is the role of architects,
specifiers and interior designers (chart 8). It is important
to know them very well for new projects of hotels, because they
specify the articles and very often manage the tendering. For
refurbishment projects interior designers can be quite of importance,
but the buying department of the hotel or the hotel chain gains
importance. For replacement the interior architect/designer
is only sometimes important, but most frequently it is the buying
department.
Most important contacts also differ by product group: design
driven products like drapery, upholstery, throws and cushions
are bought in cooperation with the interior architect. Towels,
and bed linen are usually an issue of the buying departments,
which very often use textile service providers based on the
leasing model.
The study is completed with a buyers directory,
which includes contact details of hotel chains, specialized
architects/interior architects, and textile lease providers.
“The
Market for Textile Interior Decoration of European High Class
Hotels” is going to be finalized in October 2005. It can
be ordered at Expo+Consulting Associates, Düsseldorf (fax:
+49 211 6549456; email info@expoandconsulting.com). Price without
buyers directory is 360 €. Price with buyers directory
is 480 €.
+info:
www.expoandconsulting.com |
