Soaring utility bills pose a huge threat to the hospitality sector as increases in energy and gas prices continue to unsustainably impact hotel and guesthouse’s operational costs. However, a solution exists, it's called Energy and Room Management, and it saves 20% to 40% of the costs in the bill.

There are those who appeal to common sense and those who call for a conscious use of energy in the hotel room, hoteliers are doing everything they can to fight the high energy prices, but with the current trend, few businesses will contest further increases and are at a higher risk especially during the winter season.

In Europe, many hotels are considering installing an Energy Management System (EMS) and Room Management System (GRMS), which is functional in optimizing consumption and reducing waste. "Making conscious use of energy within hotel rooms is necessary, even more so in this period," says Warren Edwards, General Manager of Ireland at VDA Group. "As a solution provider we propose technologies that can help hoteliers save energy and avoid waste, we are talking about Energy Management and Guest Room Management solutions thanks to which hotels manage to optimize consumption and maximize internal operational processes.”

Occupancy-based energy management systems are designed to intelligently manage rooms when they are unoccupied and notify the hotel manager of useful information such as: which room can reach the desired set point in the shortest possible time, taking into account the facility's exposure and outdoor temperature. With a smart thermostat, it is possible to adopt the thermostatic control strategy, known as Recovery Time, whereby a thermostat programmed with a desired set point will start running 15 minutes earlier for each degree of difference between the room temperature and the morning set point.

GRMS technology also helps the hotelier save energy, just think of the ability to turn on/off certain room features when the guest is absent or turn off the air conditioning when a window is open. A GRMS system also helps improve the internal operational process by being able to optimize communication between the guest and the front desk. Think of Make-up Room or room service requests, which now pass directly through the front desk. With GRMS technology, you can make your requests directly from the internal panel or even in some cases from the TV, succeeding in optimizing internal operational processes and saving money, time, and energy.

Predictive maintenance is instrumental in saving costs.

According to the U.S. Department of Energy, predictive maintenance saves 20% of expenses per year. We are talking about maintenance performed based on the actual condition of the equipment, rather than according to a predetermined schedule, so that the condition is assessed, and maintenance is performed at the most propitious time before the equipment suffers a serious degradation in performance. Optimizing consumption and limiting waste is the only possible recipe for managing rising energy prices.

"Worldwide about 89% of hotels do not have an EMS or GRMS system. In most cases, therefore, energy saving is left to the responsibility of guests or hotel operators who manually manage room functions and the cooling/heating system. What is needed is a change of approach on the part of hoteliers themselves, and it will probably be the high energy prices that will act as an accelerator," concludes Warren Edwards.

About VDA Group

The Group is the global leader in IoT Hospitality technologies. As the industry’s leading solution provider, the Group’s experience in the service and support of its customers benefits them in all phases of their projects, from consulting to engineering, to delivery and ongoing support of the completed project. With around 1 million rooms installed in 50 countries and more than 60 years of experience and two in-house R&D Teams of around 40 engineers with hardware and software expertise, the Group demonstrates a deep knowledge of the markets in which it operates and is a strategic partner for the global Hospitality market.