HONOLULU HOSPITALITY: COMMITTEE MEETS IN HAWAII

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HONOLULU HOSPITALITY: COMMITTEE MEETS IN HAWAII

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TRSA’s Hospitality Committee completed its tour of Oahu with a high-level meeting of hotel laundry specialists on the morning of March 3 at The Royal Hawaiian in Waikiki, the host hotel of the event.

The meeting kicked off with a question-and-answer session with Harris Chan, area vice president, Hawaii and French Polynesia, Marriott International Inc. Chan took over this position in Nov. 2016, after previously serving as regional vice president of operations for Starwood Hotels & Resorts in Hawaii and French Polynesia. Chan took a number of questions from Hospitality Committee members during a lengthy discussion on topics that included:

  • The Marriott/Starwood merger and its ramifications for commercial laundries
  • Navigating the vendor partnership with Avendra, a hotel procurement and hospitality supply company based in Rockville, MD, that is used by Marriott
  • New guest initiatives, including technological advances and “green” programs
  • Health concerns regarding hotel rooms and guests
  • The merged company’s commitment to outsourced laundry service

After the discussion with Chan, TRSA Hospitality Committee Chair Harry Kertenian, Magic Laundry Services Inc., Montebello, CA, discussed the possibility of forming a captive insurance plan amongst hotel launderers. The committee also contemplated how to better the relationships in their respective markets with hotel property staff, and discussed at length the TRSA OPL Calculator developed for the hospitality market and the rollout of Hygienically Clean Hospitality.

The following executives attended the meeting:

  • Greg Anderson, Campus Laundry, La Selva Beach, CA
  • Bob Brill, American Textile Maintenance, Los Angeles
  • Vicky Cayetano, United Laundry Services, Honolulu
  • Norbert Gittard, JENSEN USA, Panama City, FL
  • Phil Hart, Kannegiesser USA, Grand Prairie, TX
  • Harry Kertenian, Magic Laundry Services, Montebello, CA
  • Charles LeBourgeois, TLC Linen Services, New Orleans
  • Helen LeBourgeois, TLC Linen Services, New Orleans
  • Don Luckenbach, Royal Laundry, San Francisco
  • Terry Satchwell, Brady Linen Services, Las Vegas
  • Seth Willer, Girbau Industrial, Oshkosh, WI
  • John Yarbrough, BTG Textiles, Vernon, CA

The committee made tentative plans to meet again at the TRSA Annual Conference this September in Miami.

Click link for blog article from TRSA: Honolulu Hospitality: Committee Meets in Hawaii

ALOHA: HOSPITALITY COMM. TOURS OAHU LAUNDRIES

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ALOHA: HOSPITALITY COMM. TOURS OAHU LAUNDRIES

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TRSA’s Hospitality Committee recently convened in Honolulu for two days of meetings and tours of local laundry facilities. The first day of the agenda featured a pair of tours at TRSA operator member facilities, a group outing to visit Pearl Harbor and a Hawaiian luau on March 2.

Day 1 began with a trip to Alsco Inc.’s plant, which runs seven days a week, 365 days per year processing a mix of food and beverage (F&B), healthcare, hospitality and industrial goods for its customers. After meeting with Honolulu General Manager Brian Arkle, Operations Manager Terry Seagraves and Production Manager Barrett Gamble in a second-story conference room, the TRSA group walked the plant’s production floor. The facility processes roughly 100,000 lbs. of linen daily. Alsco uses several machines to wash its mix of goods. These include two tunnel washers, a Milnor PulseFlow® and a Kannegiesser tunnel; six 900 lb. Ellis washers; and four 450 lb. JENSEN machines.

Following the tour at Alsco’s Honolulu location, the group made the short trip to the United Laundry Services plant on Oahu. The location in Honolulu services a mixture of healthcare and hospitality customers. United Laundry processes linens for 13 hospitals on Oahu, which is all of the hospitals on the island except for one military hospital, as well as 40 healthcare clinics and a total of 54 hotels. The Oahu operation is split into two buildings – the original building purchased in 1988 processes the company’s hospitality work, while a newer building purchased in 2014 is solely dedicated to healthcare laundering. The TRSA group got a chance to tour both buildings and see the contrast in the operations. Between the two buildings, the company has six tunnel washers and the TRSA group got to see many of these Kannegiesser PowerTrans machines in action during the visit.

After the plant tour, the TRSA group had lunch with United Laundry Services’ President & CEO Vicky Cayetano and her staff before departing on a bus to Pearl Harbor for a tour of the USS Arizona Memorial. The night ended with a Hawaiian luau at Paradise Cove.

 

Click link for blog article from TRSA: Aloha: Hospitality Comm. Tours Oahu Laundries