Efficiency Proficiency

Today’s smart tech, via the Internet of Things, is taking savings to the next level

By A.D. Thompson

The guest-facing side of the Internet of Things (IoT) is sexy. Lights that dim on command. Keyless entry. Asking Alexa to arrange for room service. Your guests love it.

But, for hoteliers, sexy is toilets that don’t leak.

Operational costs, just like everything else, are skyrocketing. And smart tech is helping hotel operators save big money, optimizing ops and keeping properties running at maximum efficiency.

So efficient, in fact, that some of Echelon’s clients call, astounded, when their utility bills show up post-project.

“It’s almost to the point where people don’t believe us,” said Gerad Gilbert, COO of the Denver-based company, which is an AAHOA Allied Member.

Echelon’s game: Energy and water retrofits for commercial real estate properties across the country. This includes companies such as Starwood, Mission Hill Hospitality, and Envolve Communities.

It begins with auditing, moves toward implementation, and the reporting that follows is astounding.

“We’ve saved our clients upwards of $50 million in utilities expenses in the last four years,” Gilbert said.

Eye-popping, to be sure.

Hotel energy management systems add an extra layer of intelligence on top of the property’s building systems that coordinate HVAC, lighting, occupancy data, and more to optimize guest comfort and operational costs, noted Bascom Cotner, strategic growth product manager for Bronze Industry Partner Verdant by Copeland, an advanced, ENERGY STAR® certified energy management solution designed for the hospitality, multifamily, and student housing industries.

“Integrating all the systems is typically done with a combination of wireless communication between devices …. with data being aggregated to derive optimal control changes,” Cotner said.

For example, the Verdant platform communicates wired and wirelessly, he explained, “collecting full property guest room data at a single online kit and server with a single connection to the internet, allowing visibility of system state and history remotely.”

At a high level, energy management systems monitor inputs from various sensors and HVAC data: Occupancy, room temperature and humidity, window switches, and more to calculate optimal changes and keep efficiency as high as possible.

Savings, said Cotner, can vary depending on factors like climate and equipment.

“But with integrated occupancy-based systems like Verdant’s, hotel owners and operators can see upwards of 45 percent reduction in operational costs of HVAC and lighting components in the guest rooms.”

Their customers, he remarked, often see a full return on investment in between 18 and 24 months.

First, Find the Faults

Where does it start?

“Energy management systems surface inefficiencies by turning real device and network signals into actionable alerts for property staff,” said Kirandeep Kamboj, senior product manager for Verdant. “In our case, this is done through a defined set of system-generated alerts rather than inferred or ‘black box’ devices.”

For Echelon, audits begin most often with the lowest hanging fruit: Leaks.

“Let’s stop those,” Gilbert said. “Let’s make sure your toilets and shower heads and sinks are operating efficiently …. We typically save [clients] 40 to 50 percent on water just by stopping leaks and installing high-quality fixtures.”

Proactive work, like real-time monitoring for flow or total water usage, is the next step.

“For example, if a unit is unoccupied, there may not be any water being flushed down the toilet,” Gilbert explained. “But there are technologies that will help with leak detection in places where you can anticipate potential leak events and get ahead of issues.”

A mesh of different types of tech, he offered, on the water and electric sides, can give owners what they need to feel covered.

Integrating such systems into a property, in particular if it’s older, is a case-by-case thing.

“One thing we’ve learned across the almost 500 properties we’ve done is that every single one is different,” he said.

And though tech will solve the problems and prevent more, walking and auditing each property – Gilbert said Echelon’s team will visit roughly 10 percent of a hotel’s rooms – is what helps them get a feel for what’s going on.

“In probably half our projects, we fully replace the toilets,” he noted. “In others, we might just need to retrofit the flush valve to capture the savings and mitigate leaks.”

Show Me The Money

ROI is always the focus.

“You’re going to see those results on the next utility bill,” he said. “We’ve got example after example where we’ve come in and reduced water by 40 to 50 percent, electricity by 10 to 20 percent.”

Jeff Johns, global vice president of EMS for Nomadix, part of Vingcard, a Silver Industry Partner that provides solutions for hospitality, multifamily, and student accommodations, said many hotel operators are increasingly prioritizing energy management technologies as rising utility costs and lean staffing pressures continue to impact profit margins.

Johns highlighted that a faster ROI can be achieved through either a system that saves more energy than others or has a lower capital cost. By eliminating extra hardware and leveraging existing Wi-Fi on property, a cost-effective system can achieve a faster ROI.

“The system focuses on the power of a cloud-native platform to provide an online thermostat and integration into a hotel’s PMS.” He explained that the typical property can often see savings of 20 to 35 percent in system runtime for guest room HVAC operations.

Different tweaks, in particular in the realm of HVAC connected to cloud monitoring, can tick savings up some, too, said Johns, who right out of the gate identified ops as the No. 2 cost in the hotel industry, “following behind labor.”

Verdant’s crew said energy management can even prompt savings there.

Verdant thermostats quietly save energy in the background using built-in PIR occupancy sensors to reduce HVAC usage when rooms are unoccupied. PMS integrations take this a step further by adjusting energy settings automatically based on room status.

For example, when a guest checks in, the thermostat can shift to a comfort-focused mode, helping the room return to the guest’s preferred temperature more quickly. This creates flexibility to apply deeper energy savings while the room is vacant, without compromising the guest experience when they arrive.

“This eliminates the need for staff to manually adjust thermostats or verify room conditions, which is especially valuable for properties operating with lean teams,” Kamboj continued. “It also reduces the risk of human error – such as leaving rooms air-conditioned while vacant – and ensures consistency across the property.”

Echelon uses Verdant products, said Gilbert, noting that their tech, which detects whether a room is occupied, has thresholds that can offer set points to maintain efficiency, but still allow guests to adjust to their comfort.

Setting thresholds, he said – “you’re not allowing the system to be set to 60, but they can get it down to 68 degrees, for example” – is a tangible way that hotel owners are using HVAC to drive energy efficiency.

Barriers to entry, he noted, are many, but it’s really about what hotel owners can invest.

“They have a ton of pressure to spend, whether on brand standards or just an aging building …. And while it’s best to invest in projects with an attractive ROI, sometimes it’s difficult for owners to make that commitment. That’s why Echelon offers alternatives to owners by funding projects up front and taking a split of savings. It’s a win-win.”

Incentives are many and worth looking into.

“There are a ton of them,” he said. “From local municipalities to utility companies, so you may be in a market that offers some. So, it’s important to work with a provider that can identify what those rebates are.”

In some cases, a property might be able to get 50 percent of the expenditure covered by rebates or programs.

“Then you get our 50 percent average ROI and suddenly, you’ve got a break-even project in a year.”

Now that is sexy.

Image: TarikVision/stock.adobe.com