TRSA HOSPITALITY COMMITTEE CONVENES IN LA

 

Following its Production Summit and Plant Tours in Los Angeles, TRSA hosted a CEO Roundtable for Hospitality on March 20 at the J.W. Marriott LA Live in downtown Los Angeles. The Roundtable included 14 TRSA operator member executives and featured a tour of Magic Laundry Services in Montebello, CA.

In the morning, attendees gathered in the atrium of the J.W. Marriott, located in a popular downtown area of the city, near the Staples Center and several trendy restaurants and nightclubs. The group boarded a bus to make the 20-minute trip to nearby Montebello to visit Magic’s plant. After arriving at the plant, owner Harry Kertenian and several staff members greeted the group and provided an overview of the company’s operations. They also displayed a promotional video about the company’s laundry services.

Following the meeting, the group toured the plant floor, with stops in the soil sorting area, wash floor, finishing area and packout. Magic recently expanded its operations and now runs out of two plants, with the buildings located next to each other. Attendees were able to walk through both plants and notice the differences in layout and technology in each building.

After the plant tour, the group boarded the bus for the trip back to the J.W. Marriott, where they reconvened in a meeting room to discuss issues specific to the hospitality sector of the textile services industry. Several action items were developed from the lively discussion that took place among members of the group, including:

• Continuing to gather data for an on-premise laundry (OPL) cost calculator to compare the costs of a hotel processing its laundry in-house versus outsourcing the work to a commercial laundry service
• Updating TRSA’s recent Hospitality Linen Loss article/white paper
• Partnering with the American Hotel & Lodging Association (AH&LA) to develop hospitality textile services standards for handling and processing linens, including recommended par levels

The group wrapped up the meeting by tentatively agreeing to hold its next meeting in late September or early October, with a plant tour tied in with the meeting. In addition to the meeting and tour this fall, another opportunity to tour facilities will present itself at TRSA’s European Laundry Tour, scheduled for June 15-17 in London, with three hospitality plants on the agenda.