Amelia Island Plantation, Amelia Island, Florida
Walther Vliegen, Vice President/General Manager

As general manager for this AAA Four Diamond resort in north Florida, Walther Vliegen looks at big numbers. He oversees the purchasing for what is essentially a small village: more than 900 rooms and a villa community surrounded by three 18-hole golf courses, 23 tennis courts, a spa and nearly 50,000 square feet of function space.

With this scale of property, it didn’t take Walther long to realize what Avendra’s purchasing program could offer. “With $20 million spent annually,” he says, “double-digit savings become very significant.”

Avendra uses its expertise in purchasing to the tune of a $2 billion volume advantage to offer customers the lowest prices available - while allowing customers to control their own purchasing process.

The Value of Multiples
An example? Amelia Island Plantation’s beautiful landscaping features 23 swimming pools - so the savings offered by using Ecolab (Avendra’s preferred supplier) for pool and spa chemicals added up. “Avendra’s prices for the same Ecolab products the hotel was already using were about 3-4% below what we had been paying.  This savings rate multiplied by 23 pools represented a sizeable savings to us,” said Walther.

To supply the 9 restaurants on-site, ranging from casual to fine dining, the property led off with Avendra’s food and beverage program. Making the executive chefs part of the decision-making process helped the transition. The chefs were happy to learn that Avendra also had relationships with some of their key regional suppliers, allowing them to maintain current relationships and also validating their satisfaction with these vendors. “They were very pleased with both the cost incentives and the quality,” summarizes Walther. “Their concern was that we have a reputation to protect and guests to please.”

More to Come
Plans call for Amelia Island Plantation to rely on Avendra even more heavily next year, once the property begins a major renovation. Walther reports they’ve already had a good experience sourcing 310-count sheets through Avendra at prices lower than ever before.

As Amelia Island Plantation moves forward, Walther is enthusiastic about how Avendra can help make both operational and renovation budgets do even more. “It’s great, having Avendra on our side - they do our homework for us and we see higher levels of customer service from Avendra suppliers versus non-Avendra suppliers - it has been a very profitable choice for us so far,” comments Walther.