The Spanish hotel management company Sol Meliá has recently signed two international purchasing agreements with the North American companies Rubbermaid, a manufacturer of plastic food storage containers as well as cleaning and maintenance materials, and Carrier, a specialist in air-conditioning and heating installations.

The agreements were signed for Sol Meliá by the Chief Executive Officer, Sebastián Escarrer, and the Chairman of Rubbermaid Europe, David Gibbons, and the Chief Executive Officer of Carrier Spain, Rafael López Miranda.

Sol Meliá aims to improve the quality of the service provided to its customers and the owners of the Company’s hotels through these global purchasing agreements with market leading suppliers able to provide their products or services on a world-wide basis.

The Company thus aims to guarantee the standardisation of the final product and generate economies of scales which will have a positive effect on hotel profitability.

Rubbermaid employs 13,000 people world-wide and generated revenues in 1997 of 400,000 million pesetas. carrier is the leading company in the world in the supply of climate control installations.

In the first quarter of 1998, Sol Meliá registered net profits of 1,475 million pesetas, an increase of 21.6% over the previous year. During the same period, Company hotel management fee revenues rose to 3,265 million pesetas, an increase of 15.1%.

The Spanish company currently operates 245 hotels in 25 countries on 4 continents and in recent times has signed international purchasing agreements with more than 25 companies providing products and services for the hotel industry.

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