VERNON HILLS, IL—For more than 145 years, American Hotel Register Company has provided operating supplies and equipment as well as furniture, fixtures and equipment (FF&E) to the hospitality industry. Now, the company is further increasing its capabilities to have more of a global reach by acquiring Intros Hotel Supplies.
Based in Amsterdam, Intros has 35 years of experience marketing, selling and servicing hotel products in Europe, the Middle East and Africa. The company also offers in-house design capabilities. Although it is now a wholly owned subsidiary of American Hotel Register, Intros will remain headquartered in the Netherlands.
According to American Hotel Register Co.’s president and CEO Larry Morse, the recent acquisition has been several years in the making. “I first met with Intros’ managing director Jan Wulf van Alkemade about three years ago and since then, we’ve been talking about our strategy for entering the global space,” he said. “As we got to know the company better, we realized it would be a good fit with what we do and wanted to accomplish.”
Regarding American Hotel Register’s decision to select Intros Hotel Supplies as a partner among the many suppliers in the industry, Morse noted it was based on compatibility. “There were really two key factors. First, although Intros sells hotel supplies on a smaller scale than we do, it has wonderful relationships with its customers and that is really what this business is about. Second, we share similar customer-focused values so we knew it would be a good fit,” he said.
That focus on better serving its customers is, in fact, the reason for the acquisition. As American Hotel Register’s clients have expanded their portfolios beyond North America, they were looking for a solution to service their international properties. “We had been receiving many requests from some of our key customers about supplying for their hotels overseas and over time, those requests were becoming louder and more frequent,” Morse commented. “To be a global company is very important because our customers are thinking globally with regards to expansion, and providing a consistent brand experience whether the hotel is in the U.S., London or Shanghai. This will allow us to better serve our customers in many different markets. Intros already works with some of our customers.”
Although Intros is now part of American Hotel Register, for both companies, the transition should be smooth and, as Morse noted, it will basically be business as usual. “Not much will change—Intros will keep its base in Amsterdam and will cover business in Europe, the Middle East and Africa. We’ll do some value-added initiatives and help them with their distribution,” he said. “American Hotel Register will now be able to provide global solutions via Intros.”
Through the acquisition, American Hotel Register also is gaining access to Intros’ affiliation with Strategic Amenity Alliance (SAA). Also based in Amsterdam, SAA is an alliance between Intros and two other major regional suppliers to the amenities market—Canada-based Hunter Amenities and Singapore-based Woleco. The alliance allows all three companies to meet worldwide supply demands under a unified umbrella. Now, American Hotel Register will be able to be part of, and benefit from, the alliance as well through Intros.
As it continues on the path to achieve a worldwide presence, Morse noted American Hotel Register’s acquisition of Intros will likely be followed by additional future partnerships with other suppliers. “This is really just step one for us, I think there will absolutely be more partnerships or acquisitions like this one,” he said.
Morse added that the partnership with Intros is coming at a particularly good time now that hoteliers are ramping up following the downturn. “With occupancy and RevPAR starting to go up, customers are buying more basic supplies. People really were not buying for a while, they had put a lot of things off because of the economy. Now we’re also seeing a lot of renovations starting in North America and that has resulted in increased demand for FF&E,” he said.