Across the hospitality industry, energy costs represent a significant portion of operational expenses, with guestroom HVAC systems often accounting for the largest percentage of total energy consumption. As hotels seek sustainable practices, smart thermostats have emerged as a key tool for optimizing energy use. Today, modern systems go beyond basic occupancy detection, incorporating cloud-based monitoring and advanced analytics to deliver precise room-by-room efficiency. “Traditional approaches to hotel energy management frequently rely on property-wide averages or standardized baselines to estimate savings from reduced HVAC runtime,” said Jeff Johns, global VP of EMS business development, Nomadix, an ASSA ABLOY company.
Johns explained that some systems compare runtime reductions against a small percentage of thermostats that are set for conventional thermostat mode and use a uniform temperature setback for all rooms, even when rooms are unoccupied. This method provides an average savings for the entire building, but may overlook variations in individual room conditions.
According to Johns, newer techniques take a more focused approach by monitoring each room’s HVAC performance independently through cloud-connected smart thermostats.
“These systems collect real-time data on factors such as actual runtime, energy consumption, local utility rates and specific heating or cooling demands,” Johns said. “By integrating these variables, hotels can calculate precise cost savings tailored to each room, rather than relying on generalized estimates.”
This individualized monitoring also enables long-term performance tracking of each room, Johns added.
“Over time, data reveals trends in system efficiency, helping identify issues such as aging equipment or inconsistent operation,” he said. ”Additionally, it can detect environmental differences within the building itself. For example, rooms on the sun-exposed side may experience higher cooling loads, while shaded rooms require less energy. Adjusting settings accordingly ensures optimal comfort while minimizing waste.”
(Nomadix)
Beyond immediate savings, these advanced systems support proactive maintenance and sustainability goals. Real-time insights allow staff to address anomalies and provide portfolio or brand reporting for sustainability goals. Studies indicate that occupancy-based smart thermostats can reduce energy use depending on climate, building design and implementation.
“As energy prices fluctuate and environmental regulations tighten, hotels adopting per-room, data-driven energy management are better positioned for cost control,” Johns said. “These innovations represent a shift toward smarter, more adaptive building operations in hospitality.”
A Controllable Expense
“The continued rise in operational costs and declining hotel occupancy rates are prompting hotels to rethink how they manage costs, with energy being one of the largest controllable expenses,” said Neha Jaitpal, global general manager, hospitality, Honeywell. She noted that most hotels don’t rent 100 percent of their rooms every day, and even when rented, guestrooms are often unoccupied for most of the day.
With an energy management system, however, hotel operators can control their HVAC and lighting based on real-time occupancy, rather than fixed schedules. Further enabled by sensors and connected thermostats, systems can automatically adjust heating, cooling and lighting when guestrooms are vacant, and then revert to preferred settings once guests arrive.
Analytics and cloud-based dashboards also provide better visibility of the total energy use of a property, Jaitpal added.
“By monitoring usage patterns across the entire property in real-time, hotel teams can identify inefficiencies, benchmark performance and prioritize upgrades that deliver the greatest return,” she said. “Honeywell solutions provide boiler-room-to-guestroom visibility so that hotel operators can make data-driven energy decisions.”
Modernize Your Data Collection
Brian Stuckey, sales representative, ControlIQ at Systems Associates Inc. (SAi), said many hotels still rely on engineers recording equipment data on paper during their rounds. Unfortunately, Stuckey said, those sheets often end up in filing cabinets, rarely reviewed until something breaks. Staff shortages compound the issue, as the people collecting data may not fully understand its meaning, and those who do may not have the time to analyze it.
According to Stuckey, digital solutions such as SAi’s Data Entry system allow rounds information to be logged electronically, trigger alarms when anomalies appear, improve tracking and provide trending insights.
“This proactive approach can reduce emergency service calls—which normally cost much more than a regular call—and reduce operational disruptions,” he said.
Stuckey also advised using a remote-accessible building management systems (BMS).
A modern BMS, he said, should allow staff to monitor and control systems remotely. Instead of walking back to a control room or manually adjusting equipment, engineers can respond instantly to guest requests or system alerts from their phones.
“This not only improves response times but also boosts employee satisfaction,” Stuckey said. “For example, chief engineers can diagnose issues remotely and decide whether immediate action is needed, saving unnecessary trips on-site.”
Establishing clear naming standards is a simple step that can help improve energy efficiency, Stuckey added. He noted that hotels often work with multiple vendors, and integration is a key to efficiency. Without standardized naming conventions, multiple systems can become confusing and time-consuming to manage. The ability to have clear naming standards allows for less meetings and faster set-ups for vendors and allows hotels to implement changes quicker.
Looking ahead, Stuckey said hoteliers can future-proof their systems by prioritizing scalability and open communication protocols.
“Choose vendors that provide support that can grow with your hotels,” he said. “In addition, SAi recommends open communication standards such as BACnet or ModBus to ensure flexibility, reduce costs and encourage healthy competition,” Stuckey said.
Finally, don’t be Blockbuster in a Netflix world.
“In my life it was once perfectly normal to say let’s hit the Pizza Hut buffet, stop at Blockbuster for a movie, and then browse the Sears and Toys-R-Us catalogs for gift ideas,” Stuckey said. “Recognize when it’s time for a change. A BMS that no longer meets operational needs can become a liability.”
Consider a Third-Party Supplier
Energy costs remain one of the fastest-growing operating expenses for hotels, and a return to pre-pandemic pricing is unlikely. As electricity demand rises and grids face increasing strain, hoteliers should expect continued volatility and plan accordingly.
That’s the word from Jack Silberman, EVP, head of hospitality, EnergyCx. While volatility may sound scary, even small changes can impact the charges on hoteliers’ electric and gas bills.
Silberman suggested that one option for controlling energy spend is by working with an energy broker to procure energy through a third-party supplier.
“By working with a knowledgeable broker that is strategically purchasing energy based on market opportunity, hotel owners can manage risk and take control over spend,” Silberman said.
Smart thermostats, occupancy sensors and switching to energy-efficient lighting can also help lower energy consumption. According to Silberman, some hotel owners have seen a reduction in energy consumption of 30 to 35 percent after making the change to smart thermostats, and LED bulbs use at least 75 percent less energy than incandescent bulbs.
Silberman noted that these changes are fairly simple to implement and could result in meaningful savings.
Another option that can help combat high energy prices is enrolling in a demand-response (DR) program. According to Silberman, these programs incentivize businesses to temporarily reduce their electricity usage during peak demand periods, typically caused by a cold snap or heat wave. Most events last four to six hours, and businesses receive 24-hour notice ahead of peak events.
Participation might include dimming lights, shifting laundry schedules and potentially using battery storage to automatically reduce usage without major disruption for guests.
“By participating in a DR program, hotel owners avoid paying for energy during peak demand periods where rates skyrocket,” Silberman said. “Although the future of the energy market is increasingly volatile, by implementing these tips and strategies hotel owners can find relief from high prices,” he added.
Make the Most of Your EMS
Hoteliers are well-aware of the energy savings that can be achieved through sensor-based energy management systems—in fact, several major chains have recently suggested or mandated that franchise owners install sensor-based energy management in their properties.
However, William Fizer, founder and president, Lodging Technology, said that most of the technology being deployed in hotels consists simply of a wall-mounted thermostat with a built-in occupancy sensor. Although such systems are effective, Fizer said they can fall short of what’s possible.
“In my opinion, the average hotelier doesn’t always understand energy management to the degree that they should,” Fizer said. “For example, a wall-mounted thermostat generally doesn’t have an entry, balcony door or window switch, or additional sensors for bedrooms of suites. So guests can open the balcony door or leave an exterior entry door or window open and the HVAC system will continue to run because the thermostat doesn’t know whether the door is open or not. A pure energy management system will have exterior and entry door switches in addition to the occupancy sensor, and will reduce energy expense with any thermostat.”
Fizer also cautioned against Installing auto changeover thermostats in hotel rooms.
“What happens with auto changeover thermostats is guests run the air conditioning until they get too cold, then they turn the temperature up,” Fizer said. “That auto-turns on the electric heat even in the middle of summer, because the auto changeover thermostat is trying to meet the new guest-selected temperature as quickly as possible.”
Fizer added that paying attention to the physical characteristics of a hotel room can help hoteliers save energy and money.
“Occupancy-based sensors should be able to reach all the way across a 20-foot room, and also have the capability of locking in an occupied mode when guests are in the room but not physically in view of the sensor,” he said.
Finally, don’t block PTAC units with furniture.
“Furniture in front of a PTAC impedes the airflow pattern that the unit is designed to create, which can make the unit work harder and waste a lot of energy,” Fizer said.
Break Down Silos
Energy management technology is rapidly evolving from legacy, offline electrical systems toward connected, cloud-native and IP-based architectures. To maximize the benefits of this evolution, modern platforms should be digitally secure, centrally managed and designed to integrate with a hotel’s existing IT infrastructure.
George Winker, VP of sales, North America, Vingcard, said a key energy management advancement is the ability to break down operational silos by combining data into a single view from multiple systems such as smart thermostats, sensors and building controls.
“Cloud-connected solutions with open APIs allow properties to integrate third-party devices and analytics without creating fragmented systems,” Winker told Hotel Management. “This shift allows hoteliers to move beyond basic automation and toward smarter, data-driven decision-making that improves efficiency room-by-room, rather than relying on property-wide averages.”
According to Winker, the most immediate and effective way to reduce energy consumption is by limiting power use when guestrooms and other hotel areas are unoccupied. This can be achieved through occupancy-based controls such as keycard systems, or discreet presence sensors that automatically adjust settings for HVAC units, TVs, lights, drapes and more.
“Adopting robust solutions that can adapt to real-time environmental changes such as an open door or window ensures optimal savings by aligning system performance with actual conditions,” Winker said. “Hotels can also amplify savings by aligning operational workflows across departments. Solutions able to coordinate housekeeping, engineering and maintenance activities help prevent unnecessary electricity use, while real-time equipment monitoring platforms can quickly surface performance issues that would otherwise increase energy waste over time.”
Winker added that as energy costs continue to rise, hotels should view energy management as a strategic investment rather than a short-term expense reduction. He noted that the strongest returns come from solutions able to support long-term performance tracking and that can evolve as property tech stacks grow or change.
“Ensuring that every onsite area can be monitored enables hotels to accurately validate savings based on real usage and equipment performance,” Winker said. “Integrated platforms able to connect multiple subsystems not only can react to changing conditions in real time but can also deliver rich data insights for enhanced proactive maintenance and progress towards brand sustainability goals.”
Conduct an Energy Audit
Kevin Ruhman, VP of commercial, North America, Zennio, said a common mistake made by many owners and operators of commercial buildings—including hotels—is they approach energy management solutions without first understanding their current energy usage by area, including core infrastructure and central plant. The solution, he said, is an energy audit.
“Like a doctor who asks a lot of questions about where it hurts before prescribing a path forward, an energy audit can help hoteliers identify in detail where their most and least efficient equipment and systems are,” Ruhman said. “When hoteliers understand how they’re consuming energy, and identify and prioritize where the inefficiency is, they can apply their best practices and energy management technology to control that consumption.”
Ruhman noted that companies can obtain energy audits from numerous publicly available sources or hoteliers can undertake one themselves by analyzing the billing for their various utilities. Some major hotel chains, he added, have contracted to do energy audits for all of their properties globally prior to executing energy management solutions.
“This allows them to establish a baseline and calculate the anticipated return on investment that could be realized by replacing or updating certain equipment,” he explained.
Ruhman added that In daily operation, one of the most effective ways to save energy is to tap into the power of artificial intelligence (AI) by integrating it with a hotel’s property management system (PMS). A hotel might have room sensors or smart thermostats that recognize when a room is unoccupied, but when those devices are integrated with the PMS, the HVAC, the energy management system (EMS), the door locks and so on, that integration enhances a hotelier’s energy management capabilities and provides an “accelerator” on the return on investment.
“That’s the real value of AI in a building: taking reactionary measures, which by themselves already have a big impact, and then putting them into the AI prediction model,” he said. “That means taking all of the elements—everything from occupancy, seasonality, temperature outside, position of the sun, time of day and chiller loads—and putting it into an AI model.”
When asked when hoteliers should analyze their energy usage and consider adopting AI-powered energy management, Ruhman had a simple answer: “Right now. The technology is here, it’s available, and if you are heating or cooling unoccupied spaces or have unoptimized high-load systems it’s always the right time to add or enhance energy management capabilities.”
This article was originally published in the February/March edition of Hotel Management magazine. Subscribe here.
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