No Reservations – Hotels See the Benefits of Energy Management Systems

According to the American Hotel & Lodging Association, there are over 56,000 hotels in the United States, consuming over 564 tBtu/year. As occupancy rates plunged in 2020 due to COVID-induced limits on business and leisure travel, hotel managers sought ways to control operating costs. Despite low occupancy, many hotels did not see a corresponding reduction in energy consumption and costs. Further, changes made to HVAC systems and controls to improve health and safety warranted attention to minimize adverse energy impacts.

Two leading hotel companies opted to go beyond technical projects and instead implemented holistic energy management systems at key locations. Loews Hotels selected eleven properties to participate as a cohort in the U.S. Department of Energy’s 50001 Ready program, and IHG selected their Intercontinental New York Times Square hotel. Based on the ISO 50001 energy management system standard, the 50001 Ready program provides a self-paced, no-cost methodology and supporting tools for organizations to create a structured system for continual energy improvement. The participating IHG and Loews hotels found significant value in having continual improvement processes in place that further their sustainability objectives and help ensure continuity through any future organizational changes. Both organizations plan to implement 50001 Ready across their brands. This paper explores the lessons learned by these two organizations, and makes a business case relevant to others in the hospitality industry as well as other commercial buildings for using the 50001 Ready process to implement energy management systems.