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Amenities put the TLC in hospitality

It’s a $400 million industry for motels through five-star resorts. The flexibility needed to package in-room ‘freebies’ provides insights into contract packagers’ work.

Pw 8684 Guest Amenities 01

Here’s an easy way to get acquainted with the work of contract packagers: The next time you’re in a hotel room, look at the complimentary products on your countertop, from shampoo and bar soap to shoe polishers and sewing kits.

Blending and packaging of these products for motels, hotels, and resorts, known in the hospitality industry as “guest amenities,” is a $400 million industry. The demand for guest amenities is growing as more facilities are built.

The lodging industry often turns to contract fillers and packagers to produce these products, and the packaging needs of the hospitality market share similarities with those for retail. Both industries are highly segmented, competition for brand presence is stiff, and products customized to create differentiation are among tactics for improving guest loyalty and identifying the “players.”

Similarities with retail

Amenities also present contract manufacturers and packagers with many of the same production challenges as retail. Foremost, products are proliferating. But many variables impact the amenities that are presented in guest rooms—and how. At the lowest end, these are usually stock product formulations and packaging. At the highest end, they are more likely custom-blended products in customer-specific packaging. The range also includes licensed products for national brands, and some contract manufacturers develop and market their own brands.

Many variables affect the options that hotels select. A luxury resort wants a strikingly different product and package than a motel. Mid-tier hotels want contrast between both the high and low ends of the market. In addition, independent operators face a different set of economics than conglomerates operating multiple chains of hotels in different tiers of the industry. Different product quality and packaging parameters signal each level, and hotel chains often have more product-formula and package-decorating options at lower per-unit costs than independents because they order in much larger quantities.

Beyond the expanding product variety, contract manufacturers and packagers of amenities also face the challenge of satisfying hotels’ increased need for speed to market. With reduced storage space and tight cash flows, hotels can’t maintain large product inventories. Instead, they often turn to fillers and packagers to produce what they need, when they need it. The hospitality industry’s demands are shrinking the turnaround time for generic products in stock packaging. A few years ago the cycle was a week, but today it’s as little as two days. Custom orders can require three months or more.

In this scenario, co-manufacturers and packagers of amenities also must be adept at distribution. Marietta Corp. (www.mariettacorp.com), a major contract manufacturer and packager of personal-care guest amenities, oversees a global network of 400 distributors who make frequent product deliveries that enable hotels to manage just-in-time inventories.

There’s one other consideration that taxes contract fillers and packagers in the amenities market. Ordering volume is tied as closely to the economy as to filling and packaging issues. When times are good, hotels tend to offer guests more amenities, and contract fillers and packagers must be ready for spikes in demand.

All of these variables must be weighed in developing any successful guest-amenities program, says Bruce Brandel, president of The Packaging Team (847/438-8849). His firm is a sales representative for companies such as American Blending and Filling (www.blendandfill.com), Visual Pak (www.visualpak.com), and Klocke of America (www.klocke.com), which fill and package products for the hospitality industry.

“It used to be all round bottles with stock closures, with different labels or decoration,” Brandel says. “Now, the product is defined by the uniqueness and decoration of packaging and identity to contents. The cap, bottle, and products are specific to hotels.

“This means many more SKUs and tooling changes to meet package variances. All bottles and caps no longer fit on the standard high-speed line. The product runs are shorter, forcing manufacturers to run high-speed lines as well as mid- and small-run lines to accommodate market changes.”

Many hotels and national brands have confidentiality agreements with their vendors to protect proprietary product formulas and packaging strategies, and they hesitate to discuss their amenities programs. But in general, they say the best results are achieved in producing amenities by accomplishing two goals: first, balancing the need for the right product in the right package for the right guest and second, simplifying production line complexity.

 Market segments

Guest amenities are one tactic for separating each tier of the hospitality industry, because they support guests’ different cost-value expectations. Contract fillers and packagers broadly identify four segments of amenities products that they produce.

1. Private-label products. At motels, guest amenities are often generic product formulas in stock packaging. The extent of package decoration may be simply the motel’s name or logo printed on a bar soap wrapper. But at high-end hotels, private-label amenity programs can be as grandiose as gift baskets of shampoo, shoe polish, and an array of toiletries with exclusive products in one-of-a-kind bottles and cartons.

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