Apex Facilities invests £1.5m to expand offering to Scottish hotels

Apex Facilities, the largest hotel-owned laundry company in the UK, has announced it is to branch out and secure new business laundering its own products following further investment. The facility, owned by Apex Hotels and based in Livingston, has seen £1.5m spent on the plant since its launch in 2013, allowing the hotel group to take its laundry requirements in-house due to being “let down” by contractors and a” lack of quality control” from laundry providers. However, the past few months has seen more than £150,000 spent to allow the business to continue providing the best quality linen to not only its own hotels, but expand and take on extra business from hotels and similar clients within central Scotland and beyond. The recent six figure investment has seen an upgrade to its boiler system and four energy efficient dryers installed within the plant, allowing it to launder up to 10 million items per year. The investment follows on from another consecutive year of growth for the business, which saw more than 3.1 million items laundered in 2017 – up 13.5% on the previous year. Its £1.5m facility has gone from strength to strength since its launch and current reject rates are around 1.5% - down from a peak of 20% with its previous linen suppliers. With such low reject rates, a key issue in the hotel linen market, and years of experience within the hotel industry, Apex Facilities believes it can “diversify and clean up in other markets”. Andrew Taylor, group project director for Apex Hotels, said: “Laundry and linen is not only one of the biggest external costs for a hotel – it is also one of the riskiest. Poor quality linen can slow productivity in a hotel and at Apex, we were keen to be in full control to ensure it meets the high standards we expect for our guests at all times. “As hoteliers we understand the value of great linen, both in terms of positive guest feedback and efficiency, so our continued investment in Apex Facilities means that we are able to launder more than three million items per year with ease and offer our services to other hotels and businesses who deal with high volumes of laundry." He added: “This is truly a service by hoteliers for hoteliers and our aim is to take on new, like-minded hotel clients who share our focus on quality and are keen to utilise our experience to ensure their linens are laundered to an exceptionally high standard.”