�This is a unique announcement for the hotel industry,� said Mohanbir Sawhney, the McCormick Tribune Professor for Electronic Commerce & Technology at the Kellogg Graduate School of Management, Northwestern University.  �The real buying power in the hotel industry lies with the franchisees, so the franchisee association is the logical sponsor of a business-to-business consortium.  The hotel owners that comprise AAHOA are loyal to the association and will follow their lead in making electronic procurement decisions.� Sawhney noted that an association teaming up with an impartial third-party e-marketplace is at an advantage relative to brand-specific marketplaces because it combines the neutrality and execution capability of a startup firm with the liquidity that the industry association brings.

�In a fragmented industry like hospitality, there are a number of players
franchisors, management companies, distributors�that have either direct purchasing power or influence over it.  For example, franchisors typically control product standards, such as quality/brand of soap, but it�s the management company that decides who they buy it from.  This isn�t an industry like the automotive where the �big 3� buyers control the bulk of the purchasing power,� Sawhney added.

Almost 7,000 strong, AAHOA members own and operate nearly one million rooms in the United States and are licensed brands of leading franchisors such as, Cendant, Bass, Carlson, Hilton, ACCOR, and Choice Hotels.  �Responding to requests from our membership, we conducted a thorough review of e-procurement solutions and selected hsupply.com for our association�s portal,� said Buggsi Patel, chairman of AAHOA.  �AAHOA wants to offer members an easy to use yet sophisticated solution.  AAHOA also wants to partner with hsupply.com because it is neutral, not brand or franchisor specific.  What most people don�t know is that hotel owners manage properties under multiple brands.  With hsupply, we have a team that has successfully implemented numerous custom marketplaces for many management companies and understands the market.�

Added Patel, �hsupply.com will prove itself to be a long-term winner because it doesn�t control distribution, it enhances it.  It�s another great channel for suppliers to conduct business.  Everybody wins in their marketplace.�  AAHOA has a strong relationship with nearly 400 major hospitality suppliers, distributors, and manufacturing companies.  Ensuring a smooth transition between current procurement methods and the new marketplace was critical to AAHOA.  �hsupply can deliver the speed and scalability our marketplace needs to get current and new members up and running quickly,� added Patel.

AAHOA�s membership is growing fast. Today, 60 percent of all new hotels, across all brands, are built by AAHOA members.

�This is a tremendous opportunity for hsupply.com to showcase our ability to totally revolutionize what has been an archaic people and paper intensive procurement process for buyers, while still bringing new efficiencies to suppliers,� said Ravi Kalakota, CEO hsupply.com.  �Unlike traditional software solutions, our Internet-based model is easy to customize and configure in short timeframes.  Also, many different brands can all be consolidated into one customized marketplace through hsupply�an option that wouldn�t be easily available through other solutions, which is why AAHOA and management companies across the board are finding hsupply so attractive.�

One such example is Tharaldson Companies, the top franchisee of Marriott hotels, where hsupply.com has implemented up to 50 properties in less than two weeks. In addition to the Marriott brands, this diverse management company owns properties under the Choice and Holiday Inn brands just to name a few, and needed a solution that could easily serve the needs of all their properties.

Because of its relentless focus on the customer, hsupply has had an overwhelming high customer adoption rate rivaling any of the top B2B exchanges with more than 200 properties purchasing through its Marketplace year-to-date and another 1400 scheduled to go online over the next few months.  The management companies currently signed with hsupply.com represent 33 hotel brands and counting-more than any other hospitality e-procurement solution.