Hotels and restaurants losing £74m through ‘document wastage’

The UK’s hotel and restaurant industry has missed the opportunity to save £74m because of “document wastage”, according to a new report. A study by technology company Pitney Bowes has found the restaurant and hotel sector is one of the UK’s “big losers” because of the inefficient and often unnecessary practice of printing work-related and personal materials.

The research suggests that the hospitality industry has the potential to save £74m a year based on figures for the 2008-2009 period. Across Europe, this figure rises to a staggering £296m. Richard Thompson, Pitney Bowes managing director, said that at least 75% of the businesses his company works with have no strategy for dealing with document output, despite the growth of expenses in this area.

In particular, the increasingly widespread use of colour printers is responsible for rising cost. “We’ve found that even the smallest companies can achieve dramatic savings if they bring their printing and document production under tighter control,” he added.

According to the report, UK firms could have saved an estimated £2.159b on printing costs in 2008/9, up from £1.95b in 2006, if they had implemented more cost-effective document printing policies.