Content about Orlando

ORLANDO, Fla. — Hospitality linen may be one of the most sought-after areas of business in the laundry industry. Low soil levels, a manageable number of inventory items, and an established client base not currently in line for government takeover all contribute to a profitable business climate.

But unlike the wave of outsourcing and shared-service mega-plants that has made the healthcare on-premise laundry (OPL) an endangered species, many hospitality companies continue to process their own work in-house and on-premise.

OPL PHILOSOPHY

Westgate Resorts, a timeshare subsidiary of Orlando-based Central Florida Investments, is a large hospitality operation with 30 resorts in 10 states. Its philosophy on laundry processing continues to utilize an OPL model.

Jim Bauer, laundry director at Westgate’s 2,900-unit Villas property just outside Disney World, says there are a lot of reasons that the company chooses to keep the laundry operations in-house. Some are financial, and some are quality-related.

“We have a lot more flexibility with an OPL,” Bauer says. His laundry processes approximately 11 million pounds annually for three local CFI properties. “Much of our business is timeshare. Just the logistics of building our distribution carts in an OPL environment improves our overall productivity.

“The linen distribution component of laundry is an area that can be overlooked in evaluating laundry processing costs,” he adds. “Although there may be qualified linen-service providers, our process works best in an OPL model.”

Bauer highlighted another cost related to distribution: required par levels. “The added cost of the additional par required to send linen out for processing is big money. We operate on three par for most items, which meets our needs. Adding another par would cost hundreds of thousands of dollars.”

Westgate’s internal quality control system catches stained linen before it is distributed to the units, according to Bauer. “A good-quality linen service with a similar reject rate would deliver the stained items mixed in with our linen delivery. That stained linen would end up in our rooms, or we would have to overstock our distribution system.”

Flexibility is another advantage of on-premise processing, according to Bauer. In the hospitality industry, available linen can mean the difference between a rented room and a vacant room. “Last week, we turned bed skirts for 500 units and had them all back on the beds the same day. We just couldn’t coordinate that (by) sending linen off-site for processing.”

CFI’s second Orlando-area laundry is located at the Westgate Lakes property just off Orlando’s popular International Drive. The plant managed by Eva Eberle processes approximately 8 million pounds of linen annually.

Westgate Lakes recently installed a new Milnor six-module PulseFlow® tunnel washer.

“Keeping the equipment operating in good order is one of our biggest challenges,” Eberle says. The laundry’s small footprint requires significant production in a small space. Tunnel processing provides an improved production-to-square-foot ratio, but also adds risk should equipment fail. “We are looking forward to the reliability and the water savings that the new tunnel will bring,” she says.

Coordination and backup service between the two Westgate laundries has prevented either property from requiring outside linen support for nearly four years, according to Eberle.

ANOTHER PERSPECTIVE

Although hospitality OPLs are plentiful, linen suppliers contend that most hospitality companies do not fully evaluate the total cost of in-house linen processing.

Laundry Plus, Bradenton, Fla., specializes in hospitality linen processing. “My company is based on the fact that we can process hospitality linen for less than our customers, and still make a profit,” says Laundry Plus President Rick Rone.

“My biggest challenge is getting hotels to take an honest, legitimate look at all of their costs, including the cost of the OPL space requirement,” he says. “For properties on the beach, or other premium locations, that space can be worth a fortune.”

In the current economic climate, many hoteliers are looking for line-item budget reductions, according to Rone. “Our investment in the most efficient equipment available allows us to process at lower costs and in turn provide hotels an immediate reduction in their cost of operations.”

In addition to cost savings, Rone points out a linen service provider’s ability to properly process high-end categories of linen. Higher-thread counts and super-sized king sheets need to be processed on specific finishing equipment for quality results, he says. “There are not many OPL operations with 138-inch working-width finishing systems that can process at 120 feet per minute.”

Laundry Plus now offers RFID (radio frequency identification) technology to track customer linen. “Our technology can provide an instantaneous inventory of linen throughout a property,” Rone says. “The web-based client interface not only tells you how many you have, but where they are, and where they have been.”

Besides inventory access, RFID provides actual linen longevity figures, he adds. “Historically, linen longevity provided by trade associations was general in nature.”

RFID can track how many washes a specific piece of linen has been exposed to, Rone says. “This data can help a general manager evaluate a linen product that costs more, but lasts longer. Now, our clients can have real data to determine what is best for their property.”

Meeting customers’ goals of reducing costs has kept his business on a steady 10-20% annual growth rate, Rone claims, and Laundry Plus is pursuing options for additional plant expansion.

Clearly, there are advantages to both on-premise and contracted laundry services. Additional factors to consider include available OPL space, equipment purchase requirements, and the competitiveness of a particular laundry service market.

The best decision requires a thorough evaluation of all the pertinent information for each particular application.

WINTER HAVEN, Fla. — In the hospitality business, flatwork finishing truly communicates a level of quality, in both rooms and food-and-beverage services. Competition continues to be a central theme in operating a profitable hotel property. In that competitive environment, discerning customers look for flat-screen TVs, Wi-Fi and linen quality in a well-dressed hotel room.

My consulting practice offers interaction with hotel operators of many different types of properties. From roadside family operations to chic boutique and full-service resorts, linen quality oftentimes defines the level of quality and service in the hospitality industry. The big divider is whether or not the bed and F&B linen is ironed.

Not unlike the hospitality business, laundry and linen service options have changed and then changed back over the last several decades. Older boutique properties often have little back-of-the-house square footage, and no room for an ironer. The 100% cotton bed linen of the day when these properties were originally built was likely sent out to a full-service commercial laundry. 

The pre-permanent press commercial laundries utilized a hand-fed “mangle” for flatwork finishing. Before the advent of spreader-feeders and appropriate safety devices, there was a reason why ironers were referred to as mangles. It is true but unsettling to recall the origins of the flatwork ironer nickname. Possibly by referring to the machine as a mangle, operators were reminded of the need to be careful when feeding the machine.

With the advent of wash-and-dry fabrics, much of the hospitality industry abandoned outside linen services in the 1970s. Although larger properties often featured a laundry room adjacent to housekeeping in a remote corner of the property, it would not be unusual for a small hotel to require the night clerk to also pull laundry duty with machines located in a room behind the front desk. On-premise wash and dry significantly reduced costs compared to commercial laundry services.

Competition, however, has a way of changing things. How about a pillow-top bed that requires a super king-sized sheet?  How about 400-thread-count, 100% cotton linen? How about duvet covers on all the beds?

Flatwork finishing in the hospitality industry is back. As competition continues to be strong, senior managers have sought ways to differentiate their properties in areas of quality. Linen quality and finish is now a major benchmark. Although many successful business-class properties continue to prosper with wash-and-fold operations, full-service and coveted four-star designations require quality that can only come from ironed bed and F&B linen.

Processing volume for high-end hospitality flatwork is currently divided between OPL operations and mostly local commercial laundries. Although laundry services are not their core businesses, many hotel operators prefer to operate on-premise operations, in order to better control quality and reduce inventory requirements.

The Wyndham Orlando Resort operates an OPL at this popular conference resort destination. Dave Falzarano, director of rooms, says that providing ironed rooms linen increases the cleanliness of the rooms. Wyndham also dresses every bed with duvet covers; duvets in all the rooms are a brand standard. “Our duvets are washed and ironed after every guest, improving the quality and cleanliness of the room,” Falzarano says.

Besides improving quality, Falzarano believes the in-house ironing line actually reduces processing costs. “The machine automation does the work faster and better than if we dried the flatwork in a dryer and folded by hand,” he explains. “Although the original equipment purchase was significant, over time, flatwork finishing automation yields higher revenue.”

In addition to controlling quality, the on-premise laundry can reduce the cost of inventory. Given the time required to transport and process goods off-site, the average property will need to increase its par level by 1.5 to meet a similar level of service. High-end rooms linen can run several hundred dollars per room set. The added cost of increased par linen inventory in a 500-room property can easily exceed $200,000 per year.

The advantage of a professional outside linen service is just that—it is professional. Many facilities have spent the big bucks to operate the latest in automation and energy-efficient equipment. It is extremely difficult for an on-premise laundry to compete with the economies of scale and level of competence provided by well-managed linen service suppliers.

The lowest cost for linen service can vary between OPL and linen service. Linen services have the added expense of transportation. Depending on your delivery requirements, these charges can be significant. Plus, everybody needs to make a profit.

Many professional linen service providers, however, are dramatically more efficient than most on-premise hospitality operators.

It is difficult for many hospitality operations to accurately determine their linen processing costs. True costs not only include direct utilities, chemicals, maintenance and direct labor, but also the costs for heat and air, supervision, insurance, and the value of an alternate use of the space.

Whether linen is processed on-premise or off-site, quality is a major indicator of the overall quality of any hotel property.

ORLANDO, Fla. — The North-American Association of Uniform Manufacturers & Distributors (NAUMD) recently selected the winners of its annual Image of the Year Awards (IOY), a competition that honors excellence in both the design and wear of image and corporate apparel programs.

The awards honor the best corporate and image apparel programs produced over the last year by North America’s most sought after suppliers and distributors of such designs. The award is the industry’s highest achievement, says the organization, and is sponsored by the Image Apparel Institute, a division of the NAUMD.

For more than 31 years, the NAUMD’s Image of the Year Awards has honored uniform manufacturers and distributors that have mastered the concept of fashion and function within image and market planning. Winners in each category represent apparel programs with distinct purposes or functions within their industry.

The 2011 Image of the Year recipients and their winning programs by category are:

Casino: Unisync for Caesar’s Casino

Healthcare: Cintas for Stanford Hospital

Hotel Multi-Unit: Cintas for The Renaissance

Hotel Single-Unit: Cintas for The Gaylord Opryland

Fast Food Restaurant: Unisync for Yogen Fruz

Fine Dining: Disney for Hollywood & Vine

Retail Establishment: Lion Uniform Group for Fueling Awareness

Cruise Lines: Omega Uniform Systems for Holland America

Transportation: Unisync for Orng Medical Transport

Theme Park or Arena: Disney for DCA California Screaming Attraction

Service: Galls, an Aramark Company for Pepsi

Entertainment: Superior Uniform Group for AMC Theatres

Special Recognition: Girl Guides/Boy Scouts of America – Unisync

“As businesses seek a competitive edge in an uncertain economy, providing employees with a fresh look can be a cost-effective way to appeal to existing and new customers,” says NAUMD President Richard Lerman.

“What planning and training must a laundry manager or textile rental operator coordinate to prepare his/her employees to react safely and swiftly during a crisis in the facility, such as a fire or other life-threatening event?”

Hotel/Motel/Resort Laundry: Phil Jones, Sheraton Vistana Resort, Orlando, Fla.

CHICAGO — Each year, American Laundry News selects a Panel of Experts, a group of individuals representing different segments of the textile services industry. These professionals and tradesmen respond to various management and production questions throughout the year. Let’s meet some of our contributors for 2011:

Hotel/Motel/Resort Laundry: Phil Jones, Sheraton Vistana Resort, Orlando, Fla.

BENTON HARBOR, Mich. — Maytag Commercial Laundry recently honored its exceptional distributors, including top award-winner Equipment Marketers, during the company’s 52nd Annual Meeting in Orlando, Fla.