Energy management is a hot topic in the hospitality industry these days, and with electrical bills being the second highest operating expense, it’s no surprise why.

The concept of energy management is not new – housekeepers have been turning down thermostat dials for decades, but improvements in technology have created sophisticated systems that can reduce unnecessary guestroom consumption by between 40-60% which can translate to as much as a 20% reduction on a hotel’s total energy bill.  For most hoteliers, this translates into tens of thousands of dollars per year.

These types of thermostats work by using motion and/or heat sensors to detect occupancy in a room.  When guests leave the room during the day, the thermostats allow the HVAC unit to “setback”, or drift away from the temperature the guest left it at while the room was occupied.  When guests return to their rooms, the units quickly recover to the desired temperature.
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