Monitor-Manage-Control. Hoteliers are constantly faced with this trifecta of responsibilities across every department to ensure smooth operations, a balanced budget and the highest levels of customer satisfaction.
In-room energy management is no exception to the trifecta – in actuality, regulating room temperature is serious business. Hotel guests crave a comfortable climate in their accommodations, and managers seek to deliver that while considering costs. Today’s new thermostats, advanced technology and remote energy management capabilities have powered the making of in-the-moment decisions like never before, encouraging hoteliers to react strategically and reduce energy spend.
Smart energy management is smart hotel management because it positively impacts the bottom line without sacrificing customer comfort. It boosts labor and operating efficiency, reduces energy consumption and significantly saves on utility costs, and that money can be applied to other aspects of elevating the guest experience. In-room energy management solutions are also generally easy to install, with both wireless and wired options available to best suit individual property needs.
Here are four key ways to maximize in-room energy management.
#1 Make Occupancy Sensors Work For You
Empty guest accommodations don’t generate revenue, so why should a vacant one – when guests are out and about – cost a hotel extra money? The time has come for hoteliers to truly embrace the power of the thermostat.
Although small and unassuming, wall-mounted thermostats are a commanding force. Thermostats outfitted with real-time occupancy detection effectively auto-adjust when a room is not inhabited, thereby eliminating the use of unnecessary air-conditioning and heating. Friedrich’s built-in occupancy sensors incorporate motion and thermal sensing to accurately recognize whether a guest is in the room or not without the need for additional door switches. The result – technology drives utility and monetary savings without an adverse effect on customers.
Thermostats increasingly possess smart functionality. For example, an intelligent occupancy analysis feature differentiates between incidental and guest occupancy to dramatically reduce excessive energy use. And, certain night occupancy features are installed for continuous comfort of heating and air-conditioning whiles guests are asleep.
#2 The Ease of Remote Management
Comprehensive remote configuration and monitoring epitomizes how the Internet of Things continues to unfold in the hospitality space. The interconnection is a proven industry game-changer.
Facilitated by wireless networking that doesn’t interfere with a property’s existing wireless infrastructure, remote energy management thrives. From anywhere, managers can configure and oversee thermostats via the web, view individual room status for occupancy and levels of energy efficiency, explore temperature and occupancy changes in specific accommodations, and easily apply different settings to different rooms. The tremendous convenience of a remote energy management platform allows for seamless operation aimed at bolstering efficiency and driving costs down.
Reports generated through remote management systems provide hoteliers with a wealth of data on energy consumption that can be turned into valuable insights. Tracking and understanding in-room energy usage over time means identifying problems and implementing successful solutions to make a property healthier and wealthier.
#3 Thermostats Afford a Power Shift
Hotel guests often don’t follow the same cost-cutting mindset when they are away from home – they have less guilt about raising heat and air-conditioner temperatures or leaving them on at high levels when they are out during business or leisure. Allowing wasted money and energy is not a viable option when profitability is at stake. A shift in the power of thermostat control is necessary.
Thermostats outfitted with setback and set point features enable property managers to make important strides in developing a more efficient and financially sound energy system. A temperature setback feature automatically adjusts the climate when the room is unoccupied. Setback limits permit hotels to set minimum and maximum temperatures at times when accommodations are uninhabited. Set point limits prevent guests from raising room temperatures to extreme, energy-wasting levels. Hoteliers successfully optimize energy usage with these vital thermostat elements – and they maximize budgets in the process.
#4 Pre-Sets Yield In-Room Savings
Managing the climate of guest accommodations doesn’t need to be complex thanks to pre-configured settings on thermostats. The power of multiple energy-savings modes affords hoteliers much-needed flexibility in determining the best way to realize optimal energy operations for a property. Customization is key and positively felt on the bottom line.
Based on years of research and experience in thousands of hotel rooms, Friedrich’s thermostats feature five pre-configured, scaled settings ranging from lowest energy savings to highest energy savings (with standard in the middle). Pre-sets have a slightly different minimum and maximum set point temperature. The speed in which a room is cooled or heated once it’s occupied or unoccupied varies from one pre-set to another. The duration of temperature change during nighttime occupancy also varies depending on the selected pre-set.
Pre-sets differ by just a few degrees – for example, one preset may allow the room temperature to rise two degrees, while another permits a three-degree change. Or, one pre-set goes into nighttime occupancy at 11 pm and another at midnight. The fluctuation of a few degrees is crucial to hotels, providing managers with more control on how to save energy without compromising comfort.
The importance of saving energy in guest accommodations to drive hotel profitability continues to rise to the top of managers’ priority lists. Now, new resources in the market are empowering hoteliers to reap the rewards when smart strategies and tools are implemented. Enhanced thermostat functionality and the introduction of sophisticated remote management systems elevate financial savings while keeping valued hotel guests in the comfortable climate of their accommodations. It’s the hotelier mantra in play: Monitor-Manage-Control.