Hotel Equipment Efficiency: How to Optimize It

In the hospitality industry, much like in any other, every penny matters. Between the daily running expenses and the need to constantly improve and expand on your success by offering a better service than your competitors, meeting the desired profit margin can prove to be quite a challenge. One of the most effective ways to face this challenge is to observe the profit question from a different angle.

Cutting needless energy expenditure across the board can help you minimize financial leaks, establish long-term monetary savings, and in the process aid the preservation of the environment. In turn, not only will you be able to meet your financial goals, but you will also elevate your brand's standing in the competitive arena. Here's what you can do.

Keep the guestrooms energy-efficient

If nobody's home, then there's no need for any appliance to waste energy, except for the mini fridge. Preventing needless energy expenditure in guest rooms is one of the most effective ways to cut energy bills, save precious resources, and mark your brand eco-friendlier than the rest. You can achieve this by simply installing key card systems in every room.

Key card systems are nothing new, and they should be a staple of every modern hotel that cares about its budget, its guests, and the environment. Quite simply, when the guests are out and the card slot is empty, there is no electricity in the room. This way, you can rest assured that the TV and the lights won't consume more energy than they have to on a daily basis. However, certain outlets should remain active in order to allow your guests to charge their devices while they're away.

Improve your lighting scheme

There is no denying that lighting a hotel is a substantial monetary investment - a recurring investment that is costing big hotels hundreds of thousands of dollars every year. Now, take into account that lights tend to die out every single day in different areas of your hotel, and you can understand the urgency to switch to a more sustainable solutions.

Firstly, you can gradually make the transition from incandescent light bulbs to their eco-friendlier LED counterparts. Not only do LED lights cast a more natural glow, but they also have a much longer lifespan - an investment that will produce a positive long-term ROI. Next, you can introduce lighting control with automatic devices such as sensors that turn the lights on or off only when there is activity in the room. This will allow you to reduce needless energy consumption in vacated rooms around the hotel.

Update your kitchen appliances

Kitchen appliances are among the most wasteful, yet essential, features in a thriving hotel business. Quite simply, faulty or old appliances in your kitchen can rack up thousands of dollars of needless expenses on a monthly basis - a costly problem that could have been easily prevented. This is why upgrading your appliance network is one of the most cost-effective solutions for a modern hotel.

You can start with the most wasteful appliances in the kitchen and replace them with their energy-efficient counterparts. For a chef, a contemporary dual-fuel range cooking station, for instance, would be an excellent upgrade from an old electrical range, as it would cut down energy consumption while delivering better performance. As for dealing with dirty dishes, make sure you check out the latest dishwasher buying guide to get the units that not only save energy but also deliver outstanding cleaning performances.

Following the same mindset, consider the most wasteful appliances in your hotel kitchen and make sure to replace them with their contemporary counterparts - you can use the Energy Star rating as a good indication of their energy-saving potential.

Improve heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning

When hotel owners and managers think about the sheer amount of energy it takes to cool, heat, and ventilate a hotel from top to bottom, they usually find themselves in a financial struggle they can't win. The HVAC system is one of the biggest energy wasters in a hotel, and as such it can inflate your energy bills and cost your business its hard-earned revenue.

The truth is, surprisingly, that the motors of the ventilators, compressors and pumps involved in your HVAC applications don't need to work at full capacity, all of the time. By simply introducing energy-efficient solutions such as VFDs, you can alter the speed of the motors to save energy. You can scale your HVAC system this way to cut needless energy consumption in key areas of your hotel.

Use passive upgrades for better energy efficiency

Last but certainly not least, you shouldn't dismiss the effect passive conservation features can have on your energy consumption. By complementing all of the aforementioned solutions with passive energy-saving features such as boiler insulation, hot water pipe insulation, wall, ceiling, and window insulation, and programmable thermostats, you can reduce the overall energy consumption across the board, as your appliances and equipment will be able to operate at a lower setting.

Hotel-wide energy efficiency is the name of the budgeting game, especially in a competitive industry where your finances could be put into innovation and improving guest experience. With these effective solutions in mind, you can pave the road to a more solvent future.