Rotana Corporate Sustainability Report 2014

96 Over the past few years, we have become more conscious of the environmental and social impact of the products we select from our suppliers. Responsible buying is one of our focus areas, we aim to maintain providing quality products while looking to source ethically, sustainably and locally. Across hotels, we have developed a purchasing management programme, with the aim to give guidance to each department on sourcing products which are more sustainable in their manufacture, use and disposal. We constantly review certain products and services and identify availability of sustainable alternatives. In 2014, we amended our procurement policy and have added a clause on sustainable procurement. However, in 2015 we will develop a separate code for responsible procurement to be shared with our corporate suppliers as we expect that they follow the same set of values in managing business that represent the highest standards of quality, integrity, excellence, compliance with the law and respect for the unique customs and cultures in the countries in which they operate. We strive to ensure that our corporate agreements are signed with suppliers sharing with us the same commitments to sustainable development. Amongst our corporate suppliers are the following: Responsible Supplies Suppliers assessment Unit 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 Number of food and beverage suppliers audited # 22 22 40 73 74 Average achieved audit score % 65 65 71 72 70 Number of rejected suppliers * # 2 2 2 2 10 * Audit score below 60% Till date, we have completed 515 food and beverage suppliers audit and rejected 19 suppliers failing to comply with our requirements or achieving an audit score below 60%. The average achieved score by the total of 515 audited suppliers was 71%. Building Rotana is a hospitality service industry and our supply chain is comprised primarily of tens of thousands of suppliers of products and services required to serve our guests in our diverse properties. We maintain a complex inflow of diverse goods and services ranging from furniture and fittings, food and beverages, equipment, transportation and IT, communications and other technology support systems. Our supply base is local to the country of operation and in many cases, imported. In order to ensure the highest safety and quality of food and beverage, a supplier qualification programme was implemented since 2008. It consists of a pre-qualification and physical assessment of the vendors in line with the corporate and local regulatory authorities requirements. We have not started assessing or screening our suppliers and contractors on sustainable and responsible business practices. Following the launch of the responsible procurement code in 2015, we will start surveying our major suppliers by a self- assessment questionnaire to assess their environmental, labour, social and human rights practices as well as their compliance with the code. In the last two years, we have progressively incorporated environmental requirement in corporate procurement decisions. Suppliers Assessment We currently have around 50 signed corporate agreements and understandings with various suppliers that resulted in more than 1 million USD saved in 2014.