Hotel Energy Management by WiSuite: Questions & Answers
Do hotel thermostats actually work?
Hotel thermostats work very well. WiSuite’s hotel thermostats (or hotel smart thermostats) have two top priorities: delivering on a guest room comfort strategy and helping the hotel prevent energy waste. Some of our clients have increased guest satisfaction and dramatically decreased their energy spend – some over 40%
Contrary to popular belief, hotels are more concerned with guest comfort than energy management. That said, preventing energy waste is a top priority for hotels and their guests. Green hotels and Green buildings are a composite of a building setup to perform tasks to prevent unnecessary energy spend. WiSuite contribution to the Green strategy of a hotel is to dial back the energy spend during the time that a room is vacant or unoccupied. The thermostat can “detect” a vacant or unoccupied room via integration to the hotel’s PMS and occupancy sensors, respectively.
Guests are in control of the thermostats in the hotel rooms serviced by WiSuite. The only qualifier on this is that in many cases the upper and lower bounds are controlled by hotel management – primarily due to the fact that, given the time most guest rooms can reach a comfortable heating or cooling temperature quite easily.
Find out more about WiSuite and the WiStat SS here.
How can we save energy in hotels?
From a guest perspective, there are simple steps to reducing energy consumption. The Carbon Trust estimates that you could cut your hotel’s energy bills by as much as 40% just by implementing simple measures such as smart thermostats in guest-rooms that control energy waste, lighting controls and the optimization of water temperatures. We advise continuing education and awareness raising among staff. Many of the most dramatic savings ideas we’ve been able to implement have come via our client’s staff.
A few thoughts on the operational thinking around topic can be found in this short blog post
How much energy does a hotel room use?
Hotels and motels in the US use an average of 14 kilowatt-hours (kWh) of electricity and 49 cubic feet of natural gas per square foot (ft2) annually, according to the 2012 Commercial Building Energy Consumption Survey (CBECS). These are national averages.
Find out more about how WiSuite can help optimize the energy spend for four- and five-star resorts and hotels around the world, please check out our press releases.
Do occupancy sensors save energy?
Occupancy sensors increase a hotel’s energy savings when they are used as part of a larger program. In some use-cases sensors are mounted to sliding doors – turning off the HVAC when the door is opened. In other use cases room sensors are used to confirm that a room is not occupied so that a room can be set back to an “eco mode.” More than often, sensors combined with time-based thresholds, smart thermostats and a central control console are used to ensure that settings – requested guests – remain that way even as they sleep, read or rest in the room. The savings associated with occupancy sensors can take a dramatic reduction in HVAC-related energy spend.
