Monday 4 June 2018
Case Study – SuperCity – Smarter Business
Smarter Business saves SuperCity Hotel Chain £250,000 through energy contract alignment
True energy solutions with tangible results:
With expertise covering large, multi-site, energy-intensive clients, Smarter Business devised an effective energy strategy to fit in with SuperCity’s existing infrastructure and expansion plans.
Eliminating complexity for a consolidated approach to energy
SuperCity is a rapidly growing, multi-award-winning chain of luxury serviced hotels with locations in London, Manchester, and Brighton. Extensively reviewed by business and lifestyle magazines, SuperCity is a popular accommodation choice amongst business travellers and has a growing network of aparthotels across different locations. Their latest acquisition, ‘The light Aparthotel’ – an 81 000 sq. ft, mixed-use development of 172 apartments set in Manchester’s vibrant northern quarter – is the sixth addition. Their current portfolio includes three London aparthotels, with two further openings planned for 2018 in London and Brighton, including the old ice rink in Brighton which has planning permission for a 59-suite aparthotel and restaurant.
Turning challenges into opportunities through energy strategy
Ryan Mason is the financial director at SuperCity and is responsible for all of the aparthotels’ energy contracts in the UK. Prior to working with Smarter Business, he found himself managing a range of contracts with different start and end dates across different suppliers – an unnecessarily time-consuming task in the energy-intensive hotel industry.
“We have over 150 rooms, as well as kitchens and restaurants, each needing heating, lighting, and refrigeration. Energy is a big expense in our business and we had multiple contracts with various suppliers.”
At the time of partnering with Smarter Business, SuperCity had just been rolled over, without their knowledge or any communication from their old supplier and were on out of contract rates. “We needed to get better business gas and electricity rates and make savings while retendering the contracts. The challenge was to try to make as many savings as possible. We’d just been rolled over and discovered we could make a big saving when Smarter Business was brought in – without them charging a fee.”
Holistic corporate energy solutions and extensive savings with Smarter Business
In plotting the best course of action for SuperCity, Smarter Business looked at their operations holistically to best advise them on their energy contract alignment and strategy. As a company predicated on transparency and service excellence, Smarter Business took the reins to offer a value-added comprehensive energy service.
“They did everything,” Ryan said. “I previously had to do everything myself when tendering an energy contract and ensuring energy contract alignment, but they took the whole thing on and handled all aspects of it. Their communication was brilliant and it was done effortlessly. It was just so easy. As a business, it saved us valuable time.
Offering a seamless customer journey, tailored advice, and support, Smarter Business was able to negotiate and secure savings through retendering in line with SuperCity’s aims in terms of its money-saving strategy.
“Through Smarter Business and their effective energy contract alignment, we could make a £250, 000 saving straight away by switching with them. Subsequently, they have been extremely helpful – Anyone would have struggled to achieve these savings without them.”
With more than 150 meters over three sites and a spend in excess of £1 million a year on energy contracts, SuperCity now operates on a streamlined system suited to their operations, saving time and resources when it comes to their energy contracts with the help of Smarter Business.
“Smarter Business helped us with electricity, as well as gas. They have provided an excellent service with regards to consolidating our contract end dates which were all unaligned. Smarter Business managed to save us a significant amount of money by placing us on a five-year fully fixed contract. The main benefit of this type of contract is that your prices are locked in for five years and are unaffected by inevitable price increases. This process has saved us a significant amount of time and effort.”
Superlative service is the standard at Smarter Business
Working with Smarter Business is a partnership in the true sense, with a dedicated account manager ready and waiting to get results on behalf of the clients they represent. In the case of SuperCity, this is a relationship which has extended in line with their expansion plans. SuperCity is currently in the process of building their fourth aparthotel at the old ice rink and a requirement is to have new meter solutions installed on the property – a process which is being handled by Smarter Business.
“As an intermediary, Smarter Business got the ball rolling very quickly because of their contacts within the industry and their understanding of what was required. Alister Board from Smarter Business has been fielding things for us at the drop of a hat and sorting things out with the new electricity and gas meters. He has dealt with things that are beyond our experiences and those of my principal contractors.”
These projects hold crucial significance to the firm’s operations, but Smarter Business has met every need with a corresponding solution, implementing an energy strategy that best fits SuperCity’s requirements.
“We’ve got a launch date for the opening of our new hotel, so the projects could be showstoppers if they are not delivered in the correct time and manner, but Alister has been fantastic and dealt with them formidably.”
Smarter Business has also implemented a half-hourly energy meter service, which eliminates the need for manual readings and results in an extremely accurate and up-to-date business energy bill. These benefit larger, more energy-intensive firms, and SuperCity took advantage of these services as part of their expansion plans.
Off the back of SuperCity’s savings and service, Ryan recommends partnering with Smarter Business, saying, “They are highly rated from my perspective. I’ve been really impressed by the way they’ve provided a detailed breakdown of the offers that were available to us. I would highly recommend their services.”
About Smarter Business
Smarter Business is one of the UK’s leading independent consultancies, helping businesses secure the most comprehensive savings solutions from utilities contract management and procurement to business loans and facilities maintenance.
01444 220060
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