Crestline Hotels & Resorts, Inc.
Dave Durbin, President and CEO
Crestline Hotels & Resorts has gone through many changes on its way to becoming one of the 20 largest independent hotel management companies in the US.
With a portfolio of 40 hotel, conference and convention center properties, Crestline today has a presence in 17 states and the District of Columbia. The company also has international ties through a merger with Barceló Corporación Empresarial, Owner of Barceló Hotels & Resorts, one of the world’s largest hospitality companies, headquartered in Spain.
Dave Durbin, president and CEO, has seen Avendra continue to be a viable solution for Crestline, an independent management company that allows properties a certain level of independence. “Without dedicated purchasing staff at the corporate level procurement is a decentralized function,” says Dave. “We needed an offering with great flexibility to be able to realize savings in all areas of purchasing.”
In 2002, Crestline asked Avendra to conduct a market study to evaluate if and how its programs could improve procurement corporate-wide. Summarizes Dave, “We conducted a rigorous decision-making process and in the end, we saw a 12% savings over what we had been doing, and over the alternatives.”
Meeting a Range of Needs
As the world’s largest hospitality procurement organization, Avendra offers the lowest pricing available from leading suppliers by negotiating contracts from a $2 billion annual volume. A large diversity in product offerings allows Avendra to also offer customer control over purchasing processes.
How does this combination benefit Crestline Hotels & Resorts? A recent example comes from Brasstown Valley Resort, a 134 - room property operated by Crestline and owned by the State of Georgia. In 2001, when Crestline first began its partnership with Avendra, a scheduled renovation on the property was planned - and already experiencing budget challenges. The savings offered by Avendra enabled the project to be completed on a cost efficient basis.
Today, after 18 months, Dave Durbin remains convinced of value. “The exact results vary by property and what people do, but in every test we’ve run, the overall trend of the results is the same. Avendra continues to provide the variety and flexibility we need, at consistently remarkable savings.”