- What is a hospitality procurement company?
- A hospitality procurement company sources and buys the furniture, fixtures, and equipment (FF&E) and operating supplies and equipment (OS&E) that fill a hotel, resort, or restaurant. As an independent procurement firm, GS Associates acts as the owner's purchasing agent: we budget, competitively source, buy, expedite, and install every item, managing the schedule and the money from concept to closeout.
- What does a hospitality purchasing agent do, and how is that different from a vendor?
- A purchasing agent represents the owner, not the manufacturer. We hold no vendor financial ties and take no kickbacks, so every recommendation and every dollar is in your interest. Our value is advisory and risk mitigation as much as buying: flagging a lead-time or budget risk before it costs you an opening is part of the job.
- What is the difference between FF&E and OS&E?
- FF&E is furniture, fixtures, and equipment: the casegoods, seating, lighting, and finishes that define a space. OS&E is operating supplies and equipment: the linens, smallwares, and back-of-house items a property needs to open. GS Associates procures FF&E, and our sister company handles OS&E, so a property is covered end to end.
- What size hospitality projects do you take on?
- Any size. We manage the largest and most complex FF&E programs in the industry, from thousand-key flagships and ground-up luxury towers to multi-property portfolios, and we bring the identical process and transparency to boutique hotels and mid-luxury refreshes.
- Where is GS Associates located, and what regions do you serve?
- We are based in Newburyport, Massachusetts, and have delivered hospitality procurement on more than 600 projects across two dozen countries since 1994. We serve four- and five-star hotels, resorts, residences, and restaurants worldwide.
- How does your hospitality procurement process work?
- We manage the full lifecycle: budgeting, competitive sourcing and bidding, purchasing, value engineering, expediting across more than sixty points of action, logistics and installation, and closeout. Our proprietary software, Kira, tracks every item and every dollar in real time so nothing slips.