The global hotel industry faces the challenge to reduce its carbon emissions by 66% by 2030 and 90% by 2050 to stay within the 2° threshold outlined in COP211, a United Nations Climate Change initiative.

Hotels are big players when it comes to energy consumption and consistently rank among the highest energy consumers. One possible explanation for this is that guests and hotel operators usually prioritise comfort and experience over everything else.

New research by Cundall, commissioned by Signify, reports that mid-scale and luxury hotels can deliver significant energy savings without compromising quality and guest comfort.

By using a connected home room management system, hotels can consume 28% less energy per guest when at 80% occupancy. When guests opt for a green mode, up to 10% savings can be achieved.

Much more can be done than just asking guests to opt in for this green mode. Cundall demonstrates how the integration of control systems into key building services (HVAC and power) can play a major role in reaching the targets.

“Smart lighting system has a big impact on reducing energy costs, as it controls the room lighting, air conditioning, power and charging sockets and motorised curtains,” Signify global lead for hospitality Jella Segers says.

“For example, hotels can optimise their energy usage in unoccupied guest rooms by adjusting the temperature levels in the room automatically and open curtains only when guests have checked in.”

The study showed that 65% of realised energy savings in hotels were achieved due to the integration between smart lighting and hotel property management systems 35% due to real-time occupancy control in the guest room.

“Commonly used temperature setpoints used by hotels often make guests feel too warm or too cold, marking vast gaps between indoor and outdoor temperatures. Working with Cundall, recommendations of temperature setpoint ranges have been created, commonly referred to as adaptive comfort hypothesis,” Jella adds.

Understanding the bandwidth of comfortable temperature set points gives more options for energy savings.

“Based on seasonal changes, the smart lighting systems provide support to automatically update temperature setpoints across the hotel, balancing energy use with optimal guest comfort,” Cundall managing director Marcus Eckersley says.

“Although this study has presented significant energy savings for hotels in hot climates within Southeast Asia, Middle East and North Africa, we anticipate similar savings from heating for hotels in temperate climates, like Europe and North America. Hotel operators can expect favourable returns on investment, compared to guest rooms without a smart control system in operation.”

Through its Application Program Interface (API), Signify’s Interact Hospitality system communicates to various hotel IT systems, from housekeeping to engineering, as well as guest tablets. This not only helps maximise energy efficiency and meets sustainability goals but also improves staff productivity and the guest experience.