Hotel & Motel Management - June 2, 2008 - (Page 48)

48 Hotel Operations ENERGY CONTROLS AND SENSORS H&MM June 2, 2008 | HotelMotel.com www.HotelMotel.com/digital_edition BY EMILY HANNA, CONTRIBUTING EDITOR check IN Setting HAMPTON the guestroom for the guest JW Marriott Las Vegas Resort & Spa launched several three-day packages, including: Time for Two, starting at $2,878; Guy’s Golfaway, starting at $3,464; Family Fun-cation, starting at $3,350 for a two-bedroom suite; Bachelorettes Are Us, starting at $4,248 for four. The Charles Hotel in Boston’s Harvard Square will launch its College Crash Course promotion in June. Starting at $339 per night, the package includes Harvard sweatshirts for the entire family, Harvard Square shopping cards, and a chance to win a $3,000 scholarship and ﬁve room nights. Preferred Hotel Group reached a milestone with its I Prefer guest beneﬁt program, which has enrolled more than 110,000 members. A new collateral campaign features a chocolate cupcake that symbolizes the program’s perks. Energy controls and sensors in the guestroom and in public spaces help control temperature, ensuring comfort for the guest and a smaller electric bill for the hotel. With energy-management systems, sensors detect a guest’s presence in the hotel room through body heat. If the system includes a wall thermostat, the guest can set his or her desired temperature while in the room. When the door opens again, sensors scan the room to ﬁnd body heat; if none is found, the system returns to a preset temperature with a ﬁxed setback system, or to the farthest temperature it can drift and still return quickly to the occupant’s desired setting with Recovery Time technology, a patented technology by Telkonet. “If someone should leave the room and go out all day, there’s nobody in the room, so it goes back to its pre-set state, where you have upper and lower limits as to how hot you want to get in the summertime and how cold you want it to be in the wintertime,” said Craig Andersen, senior v.p. at Dominion Lodging, who has Lodging Technology energy-management systems installed in 80 percent of the guestrooms in Dominion’s 11-hotel portfolio. “The systems are so seamless for the guest, they hardly even recognize they’re in place, but it makes such a huge difference in the comfort of the guestroom,” said Greg Owens, chief engineer at the 370-room Pﬁster Hotel in Milwaukee, which features Telkonet’s Smart System. Outside the guestroom, temperature can be controlled in public spaces, which helps guests feel comfortable when traveling to different parts of the hotel. The Pﬁster Hotel uses Johnson Controls Metasys Building Automation System in its banquet space and public corridors, Owens said. Savings account Just how much does a hotel save when they pay the price for energy controls and sensors? “It was a two- to two-and-a-half-year payback, and that, to me, was a no-brainer,” said Mike Prevatte, president, Wilmington Development Co., which owns three motels in Wilmington, N.C., and began using the GEM System from Lodging Technology 11 years ago. Since then, energy costs have quickly been on the rise. Craig Andersen, senior v.p., Dominion Lodging, said some of his 11 properties have used the GEM System since the early- to mid1980s, and one property served as a test unit for the technology. The results of the test showed the guestroom using energy controls saved 32 percent over the room that did not. “That’s a heck of a savings,” he said. “Even then, when energy wasn’t all that expensive.” LODGING TECHNOLOGY Environmental training Energy-management systems can help out a vital energy source in any hotel: employees. Some energy sensors allow you to detect from outside the room whether a guest is in the room, saving the housekeeper time. Plus, the sensor helps the maintenance staff know whether the system is working, said Craig Andersen, senior v.p., Dominion Lodging. “If they press the button and nothing happens, they need to repair it,” he said, referring to the GEM System from Lodging Technology in which a red light signiﬁes the room is occupied, a green light means no one is in the room, and no light would mean the system isn’t working properly. The extra help doesn’t necessarily mean extra training. “Initially, when The Pﬁster installed the [Telkonet Smart Systems] thermostats, employees had to be trained on how they operate,” said the hotel’s chief engineer, Greg Owens. “Once the initial training was done, everyone took to it well.” New York’s Fitzpatrick Hotels are offering summer packages: The American Girl Experience in conjunction with the 5th Avenue doll store (rates start at $299); The Shoppers’ Pacakge with special offers from Manhattan retailers (rates start at $199); and the Roses and Romance Package (rates start at $399). JW Marriott Las Vegas Resort & Spa launched a 20 percent discount program for guests on food and beverage and spa treatments available Sundays through Thursdays through September 15. The discounts are offered at the property’s Aquae Sulis Spa and its Ceres, Shizen and J.C. Wooloughan Irish Pub restaurant venues. Compiled by Stephanie Ricca, sricca@questex.com For more info Company Circle No. ClimateMaster . . . . . . . . . . . 279 Energex . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 280 Goodman Co./Amana . . . . . . Inncom International . . . . . . . Lodging Technology . . . . . . . Telkonet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 281 282 283 284 MAINSTAY SUITES http://HotelMotel.com http://www.HotelMotel.com/digital_edition

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Hotel & Motel Management - June 2, 2008 Contents State Programs Help Define Green Hotels AmericInn Boosts its American Presence Questex, The Bench to Host Russia Event Perspective Letter to the Editor Legally Speaking Guest Column Marketing Matters Consultant's Corner Satisfaction Trends On Finance Travel Trends Cornell Insights Energy Star Update Maintenance Doctor Management Trends Trends & Stats Finding Financing Challenges Developers Credit Crunch Still Tops List of Lawyers' Concerns Mixed-use Funding Bleak, Panelists Say Luxury Landscape Keeps Pushing Higher PTACs Events Casegoods Seating Energy Controls and Sensors Pest Control Electronic Locks Transactions Supplier News Timeshare Misconceptions Still Prevalent Awards People Ad/Edit Index Marketplace Classifieds Checking Out

Hotel & Motel Management - June 2, 2008

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