CVC Hospitality : Turn the Key
Hospitality Solutions
Written by Jill Rose   
Sunday, 01 March 2009
CVC Hospitality : Turn the Key
Providing all the services hotels need to quickly outfit new and existing operations has brought this Florida-based company tremendous success.
Premier Business Partners:

Fairmont Designs
Jose Leaf Enterprises
In this economy, it’s good to have a key differentiator, and it’s even better to have a long list of satisfied customers. CVC Hospitality has both, which goes a long way toward explaining how, in the midst of a deep recession, January was the best sales month this design and furnishing company has had in its 24-year history.

Given how complicated it can be to outfit or renovate a large hotel, it seems only common sense to have architecture, construction, design, purchasing, warehousing, and installation under one roof. Yet that’s not usually the case in the hospitality industry, and it’s one reason Orlando, Fla.-based CVC is so successful.

CVC Hospitality : Turn the Key
Craig Cook, president
In his down-to-earth style, Craig Cook is quick to point out that it was customer demand rather than a grand vision that led him down this path. In the 1980s, Cook was calling on national hotel accounts as a factory representative for furniture, carpets, and bedding. He recalls the day Holiday Inn laid off 1,500 designers and shut down its purchasing department.

“The comptroller looked at the numbers and realized that paying for health insurance, retirement benefits, and offices for these designers and purchasers was not cost effective,” said Cook, president of CVC. Thus began an outsourcing trend, and as Cook called on the hospitality companies now responsible for purchasing, they wanted to know who would receive, warehouse, and install the products he was selling. “They needed me to be more turnkey,” he said.

Cook hired designers to work with clients since his expertise was in sales. He hired an architect to help with permitting and ADA issues and a licensed contractor to handle pull permits and oversee construction.
 
Today, CVC is a booming full-service company doing business in 12 states and spending $30 million a year with more than 500 manufacturers globally. “We don’t build the hotel, but we do everything else—from drywall, tile, paint, and texture to adding a roof on a renovation project. We provide everything for the interiors such as cabinets, countertops, linens, and furniture, lowering our margins by bundling multiple categories,” said Cook, adding that CVC works only with hospitality companies.

Padding doorways
The latest addition to CVC, which now employs 35, is warehousing and installation. Up until two years ago, the company outsourced that function, but Cook realized he could better satisfy his customers by taking on this service.

“After doing our usual great job with design, construction, and purchasing, the last thing our clients saw was the people moving the furniture. We were using reputable, national movers, but they still hire what we call rent-a-bums, and we were getting chargebacks for repainting the doorways they were banging up,” Cook explained.

In his usual style, Cook went all out and now runs one of the most sophisticated warehouses in Florida. Electric wires buried in the cement floor guide lift trucks, eliminating damage to boxed furniture, and special rollers mean a single lift operator can slide a 1,000-pound box off the shelf. “It used to take us four hours to load a truck. Now we can do it in an hour,” said Cook.

Employing movers means efficient, uniformed workers who care about the property and are trained never to act inappropriately toward guests, ensuring a positive impression at the end of each job. “We know how to work in occupied environments,” Cook said. And a specially designed velcro pad system eliminated those costly chargebacks. “The materials were expensive, but we can use the system time and again, and there is no way you can scrape the door jambs when they’re on.”

Thoughtful hiring
Although CVC has always been profitable, it did not always have the high percentage of customer satisfaction Cook was looking for. The main reason, he said, was a reluctance to pay the higher salaries it takes to hire top-notch employees.

“I thought if I had low overhead, I would be more competitive and get more jobs,” said Cook. “But I found that you get what you pay for. I could keep my overhead down by hiring a $40,000 employee, but I’ve realized that if I hire a more experienced person for $65,000, that person will end up saving me $100,000 in better decisions.”

Cook is understandably proud of the fact that he now hands out a list of his past 12 customers as references. Most people pick and choose the customers they give prospective clients to call, he pointed out. “We are achieving 100% satisfaction.”

In an industry where a job well done is almost always rewarded with more work, that’s critical for success. “The hospitality business is very loyal,” said Cook. “If you do a good job, they want you for their next project. Often, that’s in another state, so we’ve branched out geographically.”

CVC is also branching out to help its clients make good choices for the environment. “Every day, green is becoming more of a priority for our customers,” said Cook, adding that he and his team are concentrating on helping them find environmentally beneficial choices that save money or offer a fast return on investment.

“Almost everyone is going with energy efficient lighting,” he said. “It costs more per bulb, but it saves a tremendous amount in electricity.” The same goes for low-flow toilets; recycled carpet and carpet padding and bamboo flooring are also popular choices. “Our clients are starting to demand this more and more, which is good.”
CVC’s ability to successfully advise clients in this new area is no surprise, since Cook places a huge emphasis on all of the departments working together. Although he hesitated to reveal the tremendous success this strategy has brought to the company, in the end, he realized it would be almost impossible for competitors to duplicate.

“The truth is, it’s not easy. It’s taken me 24 years to get all these departments working together. It’s capital intensive, and it takes time.”
 
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