Sunstone Expects $40M In BuyEfficient Sales

SAN CLEMENTE, CA— HOTEL BUSINESS® has learned Sunstone Hotel Investors LLC expects to close out fiscal 2001 with an estimated $40 million in proprietary transactions via BuyEfficient, its Internet-based purchasing consortium. According to John Noller, BuyEfficient’s COO and Sunstone’s vp/corporate purchasing, Sunstone in fiscal 2000 transacted “$14 million and change” through the electronic platform and anticipated completing fiscal 2001 “at about $40 million” for its owned and/or managed properties. “So over the course of a year we’ve gone from about a 30% capture rate on our OS&E (operating supplies & equipment) to close to 70%, which gives us real valuable information as to who’s buying what where, where we need to focus on creating national contracts or programs, making sure that our participating owned and managed properties are buying from the best programs possible and participating in the required items that may be brand specific and/or ownership specific.” Originally started in 1999 as a proprietary purchasing platform for Sunstone’s mixed-bag of hotels, BuyEfficient now has 212 member hotels and is expected to continuing growing at an average rate of six properties per week. Members pay an upfront fee, which Noller said could be recaptured in under two months depending on activity. Noller would not discuss the dollar transaction volume of members, BuyEfficient also on track to implement an electronic funds transfer in second-quarter 2002, said Noller, noting most of the receiving functionality has been installed. The system is geared to eliminate the need and expense of check writing and processing. —Stefani C. O’Connor