Composure Is the New Competitive Advantage: What Luxury Hotels Need to Know About Supply Chain Volatility

Presented in partnership with Berkshire Hospitality

The supply chain headlines say crisis. The operators who are winning say otherwise.

In the International Luxury Hotel Association's latest trends webinar, four senior leaders from across procurement, freight forwarding, European luxury operations, and F&B came together for a candid, interview-format conversation that cut through the noise. The picture they painted was more nuanced, and more actionable, than most of what's circulating in the industry right now.

Here's what they said.

The Market Is Turbulent. The Response Is the Real Variable

Dorien Murphy, Director of Strategic Luxury Accounts at Avendra International, opened the conversation with a clear-eyed read on where luxury hotel procurement actually stands: the biggest exposure is not shortages. It is tariff unpredictability and geopolitical freight pressure hitting the very suppliers that make luxury what it is.

"Luxury hotels largely rely on foreign imports to drive that sense of place," Murphy explains. "The aspects of their operations that are one-of-one and exclusive."

What he sees across portfolios is a split: procurement leaders reacting emotionally to headlines, and those quietly retooling their operations to stay adaptable. The difference between them comes down to a single question: is this a long-term strategy, or am I just reducing short-term anxiety?

The most expensive move right now? Locking in commodity pricing while the market is volatile. Hotels that aggressively price-locked proteins or linens during peak disruption are now holding above-market contracts as costs come down. Cash flow is a real concern, and spending those dollars wisely matters more than ever.

His advice: set your strategy and hold it. "Don't let the gust of wind blow you off your post."

What the Freight Layer Actually Looks Like

Ayaz Admani, CEO of Seagold Limited, operates in the layer most luxury hotel operators never see, between factories, ports, and hotel receiving docks. His read on the current state of freight was notably calmer than the industry narrative.

Capacity, he noted, is currently higher than demand. Rates, outside of fuel surcharges tied to ongoing geopolitical pressures, have been more stable than the COVID era left people expecting. The fear, he argued, is largely inherited from that one-in-a-century shock.

His practical framework for hotels: lock 50% of total freight volume on fixed contracts, leave 50% on spot. It gives shipping partners enough certainty to offer favorable terms, while keeping operators flexible enough to benefit when rates move down.

The question he says luxury operators almost never ask their logistics partners, but should: what does the outlook look like 90 to 120 days out? Capacity, incoming ships, demand patterns. A good logistics partner can answer all of it. If yours cannot, that is worth knowing.

The European Standard: Relationships Over Relief

Antonio Ducceschi, CEO of GB Thermae Hotels, one of Italy's leading luxury wellness and hospitality groups, brought a perspective that reframes the entire conversation.

In European luxury, the supply chain is not primarily a cost management exercise. It is a custodianship of experience. The same linen house. The same regional producer. The same wine supplier for decades. These are not inefficiencies. They are the product.

When volatility hits, Ducceschi's instinct is not to find cheaper alternatives. It is to have a different kind of conversation with suppliers: one that acknowledges mutual pressure, commits to the long term, and protects the relationship rather than the margin line.

"We move the conversation from price into long-term relation perspective," he said. "We both have pressure right now, but if we work through this together, we come out stronger."

For North American operators, it is a useful counterpoint. The instinct to swap suppliers under pressure can cost more than the savings it generates, in guest experience, in relationship capital, and in the institutional knowledge those suppliers carry.

F&B Is Where Supply Chain Gets Personal

Rich Garcia, Senior VP of Food & Beverage at Crescent Hotels & Resorts, closed the conversation with the most immediate version of this challenge: the F&B operation, where supply chain volatility hits the guest's plate in real time.

The data he cited is striking. The food producer price index was still 34% above prior-year levels as of March. And the relief has not been even. Eggs and dairy soften while beef and coffee move the other way, making it nearly impossible for operators to catch a clean break.

Crescent's response has been structural: investing in a dedicated SVP of Procurement and building a full team to support that function, because the F&B operation is now too complex, too portfolio-wide, and too guest-facing to absorb that volatility without dedicated expertise.

On menu engineering, which has become as much a supply chain tool as a financial one, Garcia's position is clear: the moment a luxury guest can see where you are cutting corners, you have already lost. Signature dishes get protected. Seasonal flexibility absorbs the adjustments. And every change needs a story to back it up.

"We need to protect the promise of the menu every single day," he said. "If a dish is signature, we protect it."

The Takeaway

Four conversations. One consistent thread.

The supply chain reroutes. It recalibrates. It absorbs shocks and stabilizes. What separates the operators who come out ahead is not speed. It is the judgment to pause before acting, the discipline to ask the right questions, and the relationships that hold when pricing does not.

Composure is not a passive stance. It is a competitive strategy.