NEW YORK— Now that Avendra, the independent procurement company launched by Marriott International, Hyatt Hotels Corp., ClubCorp USA, Bass Hotels & Resorts and Fairmont Hotels & Resorts, is officially up and running, the companies are working to combine their operations and form new money-saving partnerships. Dennis Baker, president/ COO, Avendra, said that all of its founding member representatives were present in a meeting last month, to discuss integration and priorities. “Right now— we are such a new company— we are trying to identify the needs of our members and organize our systems properly to give them the greatest benefit,” said Baker. “Each founder has such different immediate priorities; we are working on identifying those and developing an account [client]management system to handle them in the best way possible,” he said. The company expects to add a significant amount of new employees to handle the procurement for what now totals some 1,600 hotels. The first of these new appointments was also announced last month, with the appointment of Jane Dunigan as Avendra’s new CIO. Meanwhile, as part of its quest to save dollars, the e-procurement venture has inked a multi-year deal with Avista Advantage to receive energy management services that will hopefully cut down on rising energy costs. Given the current energy situation in California, and the possibility of similar crises occurring in other parts of the country, Avendra has formed an agreement with Avista to receive tools and services designed to provide energy management information, such as energy usages, costs and areas to seek immediate cost savings. During phase one of the roll-out, which is currently underway at Marriott International, participating properties will send copies of their energy statements to Avista, which will then check and load the bills onto a web-based platform that can be accessed by the corporate hotel headquarters for analysis and comparison. “Corporations can look at all of their properties and know who’s using the most energy, identify them as targets and immediately begin to cut costs,” said Dennis Moran, energy team leader, Avendra. Consolidate Utility Bills Phase two of the Avista program will have all utility bills sent directly to Avista, which will then load them into a database that will consolidate the bills and forward a single statement to each hotel chain headquarters within Avendra. “It cuts down on the number of checks sent,” noted Moran. Moran noted that while the program is voluntary, Avendra is strongly suggesting its use to all of its clients. “Energy is one of the most visible ways to save costs,” said Moran. “The Avista program will help hotels develop a strategy to maximize their savings.” Currently, Marriott is the only chain within Avendra to have begun implementing the Avista program. The hotel chain has already beta-tested the program in a domestic region known for high energy rates, and is now in the process of enrolling most of the properties within its portfolio, and creating a 12-month energy history for all of the hotels that are participating. “Avista is definitely a way to cut costs. It generates the information that you need before you can even begin to do anything to cut energy costs,” said Moran. “You can’t cut costs if you don’t know what you’re using or how much you’re spending.” He noted that hotel chains should quickly see savings from an administrative standpoint, due to the reduction in checks written, and should soon get the information for cost savings from an energy standpoint.
