The hotel industry is about creating and providing a certain guest experience at a particular price-point in a given market. And that guest experience is defined largely by the services and amenities that guests are offered. But providing those services and amenities comes with a price tag for hotel operators.
Of course, when it comes to reducing costs, there are amenities that hotel operators can compromise on, and there are amenities that they can’t. Certain amenities are built right into the basic business model of short-term lodging — i.e. shelter from the elements.
These non-negotiable amenities include heating, cooling, lighting, and the general idea of having a ‘roof over your head’. And while hotel operators can’t avoid the costs of offering these amenities, they can reduce those drastically.
Energy Management Challenges Hotel Managers Face
Of the 4 biggest challenges facing hotel operators, none impact their bottom line as much as energy costs. While Forbes reports, “60-70% of [a hotel’s] utility costs are exclusively billed for electricity,” Energy Star notes that US hotels alone spend an average of $2,196 per available room per year on energy, with the global hospitality industry spending $3.7 billion annually.
After all, energy costs impact a wide range of hotel KPIs — including RevPar, GOPPAR, and CPOR, to name just a few. So reducing energy consumption does more than just help hotels become more sustainable. It improves hotel profitability, and even increases the resale value of that hotel.
Fortunately, for hotel managers, there’s a range of hotel energy management best practices and technologies they can invest in to improve both profitability and guest experience. And none yields a higher ROI or shorter payback period than smart thermostats.
High Energy Consumption in Unoccupied Rooms
Energy consumption in individual units and common areas represents one of the most significant cost centers for hotel managers. Guests often leave heating or cooling systems running when they’re not present, leading to significant energy wastage and higher overhead costs.
Fortunately, smart thermostats help mitigate excess energy consumption, leveraging occupancy sensors to detect real-time occupancy patterns. These smart thermostats (e.g. VX4, VX, and ZX Smart Thermostats) can be programmed around high-occupancy patterns, delivering optimal heating and cooling conditions at all times.
Balancing Guest Comfort with Energy Efficiency
Guest comfort is at the heart of any hotel manager’s mandate, and can present a significant hurdle to energy efficiency. After all, guests expect optimal temperatures in both their individual rooms and common areas. Striking a balance between guest satisfaction and energy efficiency can be tricky, however, smart thermostats offer a convenient solution.
These devices use occupancy sensors to detect when guests are present, optimizing heating and cooling without wasting energy in empty units or shared spaces. With the Dynamic Recovery feature, Verdant smart thermostats can also adjust temperatures proactively to ensure that guests are comfortable upon their return to their room without wasting energy.
Inconsistent Energy Usage Across Different Seasons
Inconsistent energy usage is a significant challenge for hotel managers, particularly as guest behavior fluctuates throughout the year. During peak seasons, such as summer and holidays, energy consumption surges due to increased cooling or heating demands. Conversely, during off-peak periods, unoccupied rooms may still draw energy if not properly managed.
The Verdant energy management system gathers extensive data, including peak demand loads, historical thermodynamic performance, and local weather patterns. This gives hotel managers the ability to optimize energy consumption based on historical data rather than guesswork.
Difficulty in Managing Energy Across Multiple Properties
Managing energy efficiency across multiple properties can be a logistical nightmare for hotel managers. Indeed, each hotel has unique energy needs. Inconsistencies can ultimately lead to energy wastage and higher operational costs, impacting profitability.
But just like no two hotels have the same energy needs, not all smart thermostats are created equally. While consumer-grade smart thermostats are best suited for single family homes, commercial properties such as hotels and MDUs require commercial-grade solutions. Our commercial grade smart thermostats help hotel operators manage multiple areas with distinct occupancy patterns simultaneously.
How Smart Thermostats Streamline Hotel Energy Consumption
Climate control is an essential part of hotel management and can have a significant impact on improving energy consumption and hotel KPIs. Fortunately, smart thermostats come outfitted with a range of intelligent features from Night Occupancy Mode to Dynamic Recovery, helping hotel managers streamline energy efficiency.
Night Occupancy Mode and Dynamic Recovery
Hotel thermostats come with advanced features that not only enhance ease of use but also help operators optimize energy efficiency. Two crucial hotel thermostat features include Night Occupancy Mode and Dynamic Recovery.
Night Occupancy Mode detects when rooms are unoccupied overnight, adjusting the temperature to reduce unnecessary heating or cooling. This significantly reduces energy consumption during periods when guests are less likely to notice temperature changes.
Dynamic Recovery, on the other hand, intelligently prepares the room for re-occupancy. Essentially, this feature predicts when guests will return and gradually restores the temperature, preventing energy spikes while maintaining comfort.
Centralized HVAC Management
Smart HVAC energy management systems play a critical role in the overall guest experience at a hotel, delivering optimal climate control. Put simply, smart HVAC systems ensure common areas and shared spaces are neither overcooled or overheated when no one is occupying them.
Operators can effortlessly manage hotel thermostats throughout your entire hotel with a centralized HVAC system, including rooms and lobbies from a single platform. In fact, hotel managers can save up to 20% in energy savings by slashing HVAC runtime by 45% on average with the Verdant energy management system.
Installation
Our smart thermostats integrate seamlessly into any hotel, whether it is a new construction or a retrofitting project. Put simply, these hotel thermostats offer operators a plug-and-play solution for enhanced energy efficiency and guest comfort. Whether wired or wireless, our hotel thermostats can be self-installed in less than 10 minutes, ensuring minimal disruption to hotel operations.
This swift setup enables hotel managers to rapidly implement energy-saving technology across rooms and shared spaces, without the opportunity cost of downtime. With seamless installation, hotels can transition to smarter, more sustainable energy management with little impact on guest services.
Compatibility
Verdant’s smart thermostats offer unparalleled compatibility with existing hotel HVAC systems, eliminating the need for massive overhauls or expensive infrastructure upgrades. These hotel thermostats seamlessly integrate with a range of systems, making it easy for hotels to adopt energy-saving technology without disruption.
Best of all, the ROI is swift and tangible–hotel managers can start seeing significant reductions in energy consumption almost immediately after installation. In fact, Verdant’s Energy Management System results in the lowest payback (or breakeven) period of energy management installations with some hotel operators recouping their initial investment in as little as 12 months.
Networking Requirements
Unlike conventional systems that depend on a hotel’s Wi-Fi, commercial-grade smart thermostats often use dedicated, independent networks. This avoids overloading your existing bandwidth, ensuring smooth operations without affecting other vital hotel services.
Many hotel thermostats employ mesh networks, allowing thermostats to communicate seamlessly across large or multi-story hotel properties. These intelligent devices then relay data through interconnected devices, providing robust coverage and reliability. This approach simplifies scalability, enabling hotel managers to easily expand or adjust as energy needs evolve.
Automated Alerts
Being proactive, rather than reactive, is essential for maximizing energy efficiency in hotels, and automated alerts make this possible. By subscribing to Verdant Plus, properties receive real-time notifications to on-site staff, helping them address potential performance issues—such as energy savings dropping below 90%—before they escalate to stakeholders.
These alerts allow for swift action before critical system failure, or further escalation. These monthly reports and savings alerts keep both stakeholders and hotel managers informed of progress, with escalation emails ensuring the relevant parties are aware of inefficiencies before they become significant concerns. If an alert remains unresolved, daily reminder emails are sent to property staff for five consecutive days.
Benefits of Verdant Smart Thermostats for Hotel Management
Hotel managers are turning to smart thermostats to not only enhance energy efficiency and lower overhead costs but also improve the overall guest experience. Whether that means delivering optimal temperature conditions in common areas or automating room settings based on occupancy, smart technology is changing the way hotel operators and guests interact with their living spaces.
Cost-Savings
Smart thermostats offer hotel managers significant cost-savings, reducing energy wastage and overall consumption. Commercial-grade hotel thermostats adjust temperature settings based on a room’s actual occupancy, ensuring that heating or cooling is only used when needed.
By reducing energy consumption in unoccupied spaces and vacant rooms, hotel managers can lower energy and utility costs without compromising guest comfort. Hotel thermostats also provide valuable data insights, allowing hotel managers to optimize energy use and streamline long-term operational efficiency. The end result is a perfect symphony of energy cost savings and guest comfort.
Improved Hotel KPIs
Smart technology has given hotel managers new ways to streamline operations and increase profitability. Commercial-grade smart thermostats significantly enhance hotel KPIs, from guest experience KPIs and financial performance KPIs to operational KPIs.
The more a hotel can improve these metrics and overall efficiency, the likelier it is to be profitable. Smart thermostats not only help with a hotel’s bottom line, optimizing energy consumption, but contribute equally to guest satisfaction. And as guest comfort and energy efficiency improves, positive reviews and repeat bookings can occur.
Sustainability Goals
Smart thermostats help hotel managers reaching parts of their ESG targets and sustainability objectives. Hotel thermostats reduce a hotel’s carbon footprint and minimize energy consumption, resulting in lower utility costs.
Additionally, hotels that reach their ESG goals can attract new investors by demonstrating a commitment to sustainable practices and long-term value. This money can then be reinvested into the hotel for further upgrades, such as energy-efficient appliances, renewable energy sources, or enhanced guest amenities. Hotels that show a commitment to fostering a sustainable environment are also likely to attract eco-friendly guests, appealing to a vastly growing demographic.
Maintain Guest Comfort
Implementing hotel energy management best practices should not come at the expense of guest comfort. In fact, smart thermostats actually enhance guest comfort by optimizing temperature control. Verdant’s smart thermostats come equipped with a range of features, including Dynamic Intelligent Recovery, Night Occupancy Mode, and Humidity Control, all designed to maintain guest comfort.
Dynamic Intelligent Recovery Mode, for example, optimizes heating and cooling efficiency, while Humidity Control, ensures that rooms are cooled intermittently to prevent humidity, even when guests are away. These hotel thermostat features ultimately guarantee hotel operators can meet guest comfort expectations without breaking the bank.
Improving Hotel KPIs with Verdant’s Smart Thermostats
Much like other commercial properties (e.g. student living and senior housing facilities), value-added services represent a significant portion of a hotel’s operating costs. And while cutting overhead costs is central to a hotel manager’s job, it doesn’t have to come at the expense of guest satisfaction. After all, customers have come to expect a certain level of comfort and guest experience.
Fortunately, hotel managers can employ a number of energy management best practices, notably smart thermostat implementation, that not only streamline energy consumption, but can also create new revenue opportunities. Join the industry-leading partners and learn just how much you can save on energy costs with our energy management system.
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