Tuesday, July 3, 2012

Should You Outsource Your Floral Operations?

What does it take for a hotel to “wow” its guests and clients with incredible floral décor? Recruitment, training, procurement, waste management…these are just a few of the expenses a hotel must add to its bottom line when it handles its own floral needs. And that’s not all; other costs include wages, uniforms, accommodation and food allowances, stock of accessories (vases, pots, decorative elements, etc) and stock of perishables (fresh cut flowers and foliage).


Obviously, the total spend for all of this varies from one property to another depending on the size and scope of the work. But the implication is clear: a hotel contributes a sizeable chunk of its money, time and effort when it employs its own team of florists.

But what if a hotel outsources its entire floral operation to a knowledgeable team of floral professionals? “ALISSAR® has developed a total floral solution whereby we take over the entire flower operation within a property,” explains Charif Mzayek, Managing Director of ALISSAR® Flowers International. “We come in with our designers, with the florist, with all the accessories and we blend within the team of the hotel.”


After assembling a team of full-time, professional florists for a specific property, Mzayek explains that ALISSAR® starts with “the designers, the GM and the high level management. GMs are very adamant about what they like and what they don’t like," Mzayek continues. “We take their vision of how they would like their hotel to look and create a product that brings the best out of a property.”


Another benefit of working with ALISSAR® is a constant flow of creative ideas. Where in-house hotel florists working alone often struggle to come up with new ideas, ALISSAR®’s design team is constantly working to find new themes and new trends and sharing them with one another. With the design created, the next step is to install the displays, not to mention ensuring that they last. 
Offering comprehensive services at competitive prices, ALISSAR® provides the best value to outsourced hotel floral operations. We believe that by offering flowers that are fresher and last longer, we are actually more cost-effective than other suppliers. This is something that has resonated well with hotels when they test our cut flowers against the competition. 

“When we put our entire team into a hotel and offer a full package of services, the cost is quite competitive when you compare it to the costs of a hotel hiring a florist and managing its own stock,” Mzayek concludes.
ALISSAR®’s product offerings for hotels:
  • Total Floral Solutions
  • Floral Supply
  • Plant / Pot Supply & Rentals
  • Seasonal Decorations
  • Design & Training Services (for in-house teams of florists

Fact or Fiction? Flowers with a 12-day Vase Life

Temperature is crucial in determining the quality and vase life of cut flowers when they reach the final consumer. This begins when the flowers are cut and applies throughout the delivery process: Proper packaging is important to avoid mechanical damage, and timely transportation in refrigerated containers results in a longer vase life once a flower is placed in an arrangement. Large deviations have a severe impact and a steady temperature must be maintained for optimum flower performance.


Based at the Dubai Flower Centre’s state of the art facility, ALISSAR® ensures that the integrated cool chain is maintained while processing both inbound and outbound shipments. We are able to shorten the handling cycle and get the flowers unpacked, hydrated and ready for trade in a record time.  Cut flowers are transported within the United Arab Emirates via refrigerated trucks, and we store our flowers in specialized buckets in a solution of water and special environmentally friendly products that properly hydrate the flowers and give them the push to bloom.


ALISSAR® flowers are guaranteed to last a week for private use. In fact, the last vase we sent to one of the housekeepers in town lasted 12 days! How is that possible? Because we work with the best suppliers in the industry and maintain an integrated cool chain.

Flower hydration with special post-harvest solutions and cool chain management are just two ways ALISSAR® goes above and beyond other floral suppliers to provide fabulous products that look great, last a long time and offer the best value.

But seeing is believing, which is why we're excited to share this amazing time-lapse video. There's no sound, so just click "Play" and enjoy.