As boutique hotels gear up for the increasingly busy summer season, it is easy for hotel supplies to get overlooked in the bustle. Planning ahead and properly managing your inventory is the best way to make sure that your hotel has the supplies it needs to sustain your business through the season and your hotel avoids high expedited fees for shipping.
As a leading hotel supplier out of San Diego, the team at Front Desk Supply has partnered with boutique and independent hotels to help them manage their supply inventory. Below are some of our favorite tips for organization and reordering.
Top Five Tips for Managing Your Hotel’s Supply Inventory
Planning is the best way to make sure that nothing falls through the cracks. If you follow a regular cadence when it comes to managing your inventory, you are less likely to find yourself stuck in a corner when the busy season hits. Some of the best ways to manage your inventory are:
1. Inventory Management Software
Your CRM may have an inventory extension that you can put to work for your hotel. The software can offer you real-time data, can help you make predictions about your inventory, and can help you maximize your return by tracking patterns. Much of your business relies on the success of your tools, so we suggest taking your time and trying out different products to find the right fit for your business. Of course the tried and true method of glancing at a few of the most important items (key cards!) ensures you don’t run out.
2. Perform Regular Audits
Routinely taking note of which hotel supplies are used and how frequently can help you manage your inventory and make better buying decisions the next time you need to order new hotel supplies. Additionally, auditing your inventory regularly means that you are less likely to be surprised by certain supply shortages. Adding a reminder to your calendar to check once a week during the busy months, likely will save you the frustration of running out and running around in a panic.
3. Make Use of Reporting
Open communication with your entire hotel staff ensures everyone is aware of inventory needs and can adapt quickly. Asking other team members to keep the person ordering up to date makes sure more than one person is keeping an eye on supplies. The best way to do this is with reporting tools. Review inventory reports at your regularly scheduled meetings and get the entire team’s input.
4. Pay Attention to Demand
Keeping your ear to the ground and following industry trends is a great way to predict growing and falling demand. This can help you manage your inventory and plan for the future. If you know you have a high capacity week, means your stock will go down and thus regularly checking supplies after a busy week ensures you can endure a few weeks of occupancy near capacity.
5. Warehousing
If physical storage space is an issue when storing your hotel inventory, consider investing in warehousing. Warehouse storage means that you can have the hotel supplies you need close by without taking up valuable space on your hotel property.
When you order hotel supplies in bulk at Front Desk Supply, you gain access to free warehousing for your product. If you run low on your product, warehousing allows you to call and have your order shipped without needing to resubmit the project, saving you time and money.
Your Partner in Hotel Supply Inventory
At Front Desk Supply, we help hotels manage their hotel supply inventory, so they can have a successful and efficient travel season. Take advantage of our warehousing services when you order in bulk.
Front Desk Supply is a leading hotel supplier for the hospitality industry. We offer a wide range of hotel supply products, such as custom pens, hotel key cards, key card sleeves, and more. From boutique hotels to nationwide hotel chains, we have a selection of generic hotel supplies and offer custom hotel supply orders.
If you have a question or need a quote for a custom order, you can get in touch with our team through our contact form or by calling (888)-859-2061.
