Diagnostic — 8 questions, scored out of 16
Eight questions to ask before choosing — or renewing — a guest amenity supplier. Immediate answer, no sign-up. Two of the eight are asked by almost nobody, and they are the two that cost money.
There is no comparison service for hotel guest amenities. Every brand declares itself the most environmentally sound and the highest quality, and the buyer ends up deciding on claims nobody can check. With no comparison tool, the only reliable method is to ask every supplier the same questions and compare the answers — not the brochures.
The first six questions here are about fit: does the product match the property, its positioning, the way it works. The last two are about what nobody asks before signing: the full real cost, and the exit cost.
This diagnostic assumes a format is already in place. If it is not, that question comes first, and the format guide settles it on three constraints.
The real cost per occupied room. Not the price per bottle or the price per litre: the full cost, including the labour of laying it out and the product thrown away. It is the only basis on which two formats compare honestly, and most buyers have never worked it out.
The exit cost. Minimum order quantity, lead times, committed stock, co-branding minimums, and what it costs to change your mind in eighteen months. No supplier raises it unprompted, and it is what decides whether you stay a customer by choice or by constraint.
On checkable facts, not on scores. Place of manufacture, certification and its expiry date, format and capacity, container material, decoration method, order minimums, quoted lead times. Every one of these can be verified, or refused — and a supplier who will not publish their minimums has already told you something.
A certification is authenticated with the body that issues it, not on the supplier's brochure.
Those same points filled in for three suppliers side by side is the comparison grid; the document that asks them for the answers is the RFP template.
Not necessarily, but if the subject matters to your property, not all certifications are equal. Some rest on demanding requirements, audited and renewed annually; others go no further than format criteria. Check what the certification actually requires before making it a selection criterion.
It is a way of reading the situation, not an audit. A high score means you know why you chose what you chose. A low score does not mean your products are bad — only that the decision was taken without these questions being asked, and that it is renewed every year without being re-examined.
Eight questions, three possible answers each, scored 2, 1 or 0. Sixteen in total, split into three bands.
The first six questions restate the fit criteria commonly cited in the trade. Questions 7 and 8 were added because they decide the matter and are almost always missing from selection grids — including the ones suppliers hand out themselves.
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