Khun Pichai Arayatada, our managing director gave an interview to Hotel Management magazine on December 07. Brand Isn’t Important But Brand Quality Is   During the current  economic situation in Thailand,  the hotel or resort operators need to be careful when they look for products. They need to consider quality, price, safety and above all, value while shopping for amenities for their property.  There are a number of suppliers  available to choose from these days, but with a slogan of “Brand isn’t important but brand quality is,”  Horeca Intertrade Co., Ltd.  is a great source to check. Mr. Pichai Arayatada, the Managing Director of Horeca Intertrade, has had 15 years of experience in the field and he recognized what  he market needs and what value should be. Why is Horeca a leader in the industry? One hundred percent of Horeca Intertrade’s products are imported from France, America, Australia or China in bulk quantities, thus giving the consumer the option of getting quality products at a cheap price. All the products that Horeca imports have been tested by the Horeca team or their customers before being distributed to the market. Who are your major customers? Our major customers are three and four star hotels who aren’t as concerned about expensive brand names but still want to have good quality products at reasonable prices. If you don’t offer brand names, how do the hotels know that you have quality products? “Our products are manufactured from original equipment manufacturers (OEM). Most of these factories from which we source also make famous brand products so our customers are getting brand quality. Has it been difficult convincing the hotel customers that you offer quality? In the early years, we had to order a lot of products for our customers to see and test. However, these days we have a very strong reputation and the industry knows that we only have high quality products. They can trust our company. Over the years, customers have been recommending us through word of mouth and the reputation of our products has grown accordingly.   Do you supply five star properties as well? About three years ago, five star hotels and resorts began using our products because the owners and operators learned where they can save money and still get value. In these tough economic times, what does Horeca plan to do get by? Whatever happens, we always work hard to keep our cost per unit down. We also have good business partners that support us so we don’t worry much about the economic situation. However, I don’t think the economy will have that much impact on the Thai tourism industry because there is still a steady stream of tourists coming to the country. Hotels and resorts are still reporting good occupancy rates so we are still getting orders. Mr. Pichai recognizes that the hotel and resort industry is growing rapidly so the company has decided to open a new showroom in Pattaya Thailand in 2008. This follows on the heals of successful showroom openings in Phuket and Koh Samui. He said that, “We chose Pattaya because the tourism industry is booming there. For the past two years we’ve had customers in the province as well as in nearby provinces so we felt that it would be better to have a physical presence in 2008. It will allow us to serve them better”. “Horeca Intertrade is also launching a new line of tables and chairs for the hotel industry. This is due to the fact that many hotel and resort businesses are focusing on banqueting and MICE functions. They are in need of quality products at an affordable price,” added Mr. Pichai. In addition to our strength in quality and price, we also pay attention to the needs of our customers. My team and I work hard to understand the customer so that we can offer them whatever they ask for. If we can do it we will. Thus our customers trust us.   Will the rising price of oil have an affect on your prices? No, we know how to handle it. The high price of oil and transportation cost will not affect our aim to be a price leader. Do you feel you will need assistance from the government during these rough times? I don’t think it is necessary because we are satisfied with the current laws. We don’t feel that there is any unfair policy affecting us. I think the government should focus on helping the exporters and manufacturers in the country. The government can also help in the tourism industry. They should strongly promote Thailand and do it continuously. They need to work to find the right solutions to help the tourism number grow both in quality and in quantity. What challenges do you face now? Our challenge is to please our customers and get them to buy our products from their first hotel to the second and so on. We want to be in a place where people trust us. I think that’s more important than anything else and our biggest challenge.
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	Horeca Intertrade Co., Ltd. 386 Soi Pattanakarn 44, Suanluang, Bangkok 10250 Tel : 0 2722 8657-9 Fax : 0 2722 8660