ADVICE: Hoteliers can save money through energy efficiency

New research from the organisation Save Money, Cut Carbon has found that the hotel industry in the UK could save a whopping £38m simply by adopting energy efficiency and water efficiency measures in just half of the rooms currently available across the country. There are many benefits of implementing energy efficiency measures throughout your hotel, and you’ll quickly see and feel the benefits of making this positive decision. Investing in Energy Saving Technology As well as being an environmentally sound decision, investing in energy saving technology makes good financial sense too. Energy efficiency will begin to pay for itself after two years, meaning that in the long term the measures will actually save you money. Saving money on their energy costs is a huge concern for small business owners throughout the country. Conservative estimates suggest that energy costs for small businesses rose by a whopping 87% in 2013, and this is having huge implications on the small and independent hotel industry, hampering their abilities to grow and develop as the simply don’t have the finances available to do so. However simple energy efficiency measures can quickly add up to huge amounts of savings: there are many measures you can focus on that will cost relatively small amounts to install. Think about adding LED lighting, more stringent heating and ventilation controls and when it comes to water efficiencies, use eco taps and eco showers both in your kitchens as well as in all of your hotel rooms. If you choose to install any energy efficient measures within your hotel then it is worth contacting your business insurers to let them know about the changes that you have made. Implementing energy efficiency throughout your establishment is unlikely to have any effect (either positively or negatively) on the cost of your insurance, but it may affect your insurance policy if you don’t inform your insurer about any changes you make to your establishment. Appeal to a New Target Market There are other positive benefits that the savvy hotelier can reap from investing in energy efficiency technology: When you implement energy efficiency measures throughout your hotel it will also allow you to target an eco-market and aim your hotel at those tourists and visitors looking for luxury accommodation that will make as little environmental impact as possible. Interest in energy efficiency and eco hotels has increased dramatically in recent years, with good eco hotels having a constant stream of visitors looking to minimise their environmental impact without sacrificing on the overall quality of their hotel experience. A Fantastic Case Study The financial effects of implementing energy efficient measures within your hotel can be seen in action in the work of the Hotel Collection: a company which owns and operates 21 different hotels across the United Kingdom. The group implemented a wealth of energy and water efficiency measures across all of their hotels and over a 12 month period they saw that they were making savings of an incredible £360,000. Across their portfolio, that breaks down to annual savings of £128 per hotel room. In order to achieve these savings, the measures they implemented included adding LED lighting, eco-smart showers and tap aerators in all of their hotels. In one of their hotels they also an intelligent heating and cooling management system: something that is currently being trialled with a view to implement it across more of the hotels within the group. If you’re looking to cut the costs of running your hotel then implementing energy and water efficiency measures will certainly help to generate significant savings. These are measures that will have absolutely no negative effect on your guests experience of using your hotel, but they will have a large impact on your profit margins and the money you have in your bank account at the end of each financial year. These are projects that will quickly pay for themselves and will have significant benefits on your business. There really are no draw backs to implementing energy efficiency in your hotel.