By Félix Martí
When I joined Resuinsa 30 years ago, we did not export our products. Nowadays we work in over 150 countries and speak to hotels about issues we could barely imagine back then: how to track the path for each linen item; how to lengthen life cycles; or how to recover material to manufacture new products. On looking back, I think about how much we have changed and in changing, how much we have learnt from those who work at hotels day in day out.
Spanish hotel chains were closely tied to our journey. When they started to expand abroad, we accompanied them to the Caribbean, Mexico and other markets where we saw that not all hotels operated in the same way or expected the same thing from their linens. This was our first foray into international schooling!
May details surprise us still, even today. In Spain we tend to talk about the thread count for sheets whilst other European countries look more at grams. Here we have a clear preference for cotton, whilst the US uses a polycotton blend more as it makes ironing easier. Even hand towels are differently sized depending on which side of the Atlantic we are on. It may seem anecdotal but, as far as I’m concerned, it explains our business fairly well. You need to know the hotel industry inside out in order to work in it.
There is an even more interesting shift for me. When I started out, hotels wanted to offer the same comforts guests had at home. Nowadays, it is almost the opposite. When we travel, we expect to have a better bed. We know this as we have had enquiries from guests who, after staying at a hotel, had looked at the label on a pillow or on the sheets to find out where they could purchase them. This is what drove us to set up Resuinsa Home.
Nevertheless, guests only see one part of what is required from hotel linens. Professionals who buy, use and wash them need to ensure long-lasting comfort over time and through industrial laundry processes. When we talk to hotels, other questions come up more frequently now than ever: how long will an item last? How much will it cost to maintain? What will happen to it when we no longer use it?
Listening to these requirements has enabled us to identify where the sector is heading and to come up with solutions for the future. We started to include RFID technology into textiles over a decade ago to manage traceability. Something as common as taking inventory at a hotel went from counting sheets one by one to simply ‘pushing a button’. More recently, we have been working on textile recovery for items at the end of their lifecycle at hotels, incorporating the post-consumer raw material into new collections that continue to offer the same features required in professional use.
Resuinsa is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year, as well as its centenary as a business group. Both anniversaries entice us to look back, as well as ask ourselves what we need to preserve. Every generation has contributed something different. Mine focused on professionalising the business, expanding internationally and competing in an increasingly global marketplace. Today’s fourth generation will need to make its own decisions since continuing as a family business is not about doing the same thing over a hundred years. Remaining close to those who work with our linens and textiles every single day is worth protecting.
I do not know what hotels will look like 50 years down the line. Future questions will likely come from where so many others have: a guest room, a laundry or a conversation with the people who make sure a hotel works on a daily basis. After 50 years, we continue to listen.