Hotels Can Bid for Supplies Using Internet

Irvine-based Auto-By-Tel has simplified the car-buying process by allowing consumers to comparison shop using the Internet. Now an Anaheim company is attempting a similar venture that allows hotel managers to get competing online bids for everything from floor wax to chandeliers.

Launched in December, hotelsupplies.com, inc. (www.hotelsupplies.com) is the hotel industry’s first Internet-based purchasing system, according to A.S. Oberoi, vice president of hotel operations. He says the fledgling company has signed up more than 1,000 hotels and 1,500 vendors so far.

Here’s how it works:

A hotelier fills out an online order form for a specific product or service, such as bed linens or exterminator service. The hotelsupplies.com service then routes the order to participating vendors, who respond with online bids that are relayed back to the hotel. The innkeeper then chooses the best deal from among the quotes--or shops around for a better bargain.

At present, hotels can sign up for free, while vendors pay $69 a year to register with the service, which also is also selling advertising space on its Web site.

Making money on the Web has proven elusive for most entrepreneurs. But Oberoi says Internet purchasing will eventually become the standard in a wired world.

“The response we’re getting is amazing,” Oberoi said. “Everyone likes the idea of one-stop shopping at the touch of a button. This is how commerce will be conducted in the next millennium.”

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Marla Dickerson covers tourism for The Times. She can be reached at (714) 966-5670 and at marla.dickerson@latimes.com