HotelsMag March-April 2022 | Page 69

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Slaw : Lighting and outdoor furniture . Even with domestic lighting fabricators , so many parts still come from overseas and those overseas factories and shipping bring more timeline risk than domestic . Generally speaking , outdoor furniture continues to have the longest lead times I ’ m seeing on any category of products .
We ’ re being adaptable and either having designers reselect goods or planning on temporary furniture layouts , and in some cases temporary specifications until all goods deliver .
H : What happens next ? Long : The supply chain normalizes . A normally functioning supply chain in the hospitality industry is predicated on predictable project activity . We are seeing momentum build to new development , reconstruction / conversion of existing buildings , and renovations and that momentum will enable predictability .
As the design and construction industry begins to be able to reasonably forecast where their activity is going to be the manufacturers and suppliers will be able to place orders in advance of the coming work . There will be more attention paid to proper sourcing due diligence and an integrated project sourcing strategy .
McIntyre : Manufacturers and distributors will continue to hire labor and increase production . Along with this , freight companies will continue to hire labor to help ease the transportation bottlenecks . Our expectation is that occupancies will remain strong , so it really is a matter of us helping supply to catch up with demand and then get some safety stock in the system .
Zeitner : Some people have suggested shifting manufacturing back to North America , but the time , space , cost and work force availability will continue to make this unattainable . We will continue to work with our network of vendors throughout the world and leverage the relationships we have built in the industry to limit our clients cost and time exposure .
Javed : We continue to work with suppliers , brands and owners to implement the most appropriate sourcing strategy to ensure completion of projects on time and to support day-to-day hotel operations without any disruption .