SmartCon Solutions, an independent energy management systems integrator, has collaborated with Bridgeton Holdings on the design and the implementation of all guest room lighting, temperature control, shade automation and door locking integrations at the Walker Hotel in New York City.
The energy management system (EMS) and guest facing solutions will be highlighted with the elegant Telkonet Ecotouch thermostats, Control4 lighting control switches, Lutron roller shades and Ving’s electronic door locking system.
Post implementation, SmartCon Solutions will continue to support the property with their SmartCare Service Partnership plan. The SmartCare plan features a remote, proactive system monitoring approach. The SmartCare plan also offers vital cost saving analytics and 24/7 technical support, all of which results in system optimization throughout the life of the equipment and an expedited, realized return on investment (ROI).
396 Broadway is a unique, 171 room redevelopment opportunity situated on the southeast corner of Broadway and Walker Street in the Tribeca/Soho neighborhood of Lower Manhattan. Tribeca is known for its cobblestone streets, world-famous restaurants, eclectic film industry atmosphere and historic warehouse buildings converted into multi-million-dollar lofts. The 10-story former-office property has frontages on Broadway, Walker Street and Cortlandt Alley, making it one of the very few buildings in Manhattan to have two street corners, which allows for maximum exposure and visibility.
About SmartCon Solutions
SmartCon serves the Hospitality, Healthcare, Student Housing, Multi-Dwelling, Commercial and Industrial building markets by designing objective recommendations for energy management systems, lighting control, mobile device integration, network applications, BMS Predictive Energy Optimization, and other property enhancements.
About Bridgeton Holdings
Bridgeton Holdings is a vertically integrated investor, owner, developer and manager of commercial and residential real estate. Since inception, Bridgeton has consistently achieved superior risk-adjusted returns by targeting and investing in real estate in high-barrier-to-entry urban markets. Bridgeton invests in assets that offer significant value-add potential, through active management, targeted capital improvements and re-development or development.
Technology trends are constantly changing, and if hotels want to keep up with the times, they need to stay on top of these trends. You can choose to stay stagnant and continue doing what you're doing, but you would risk the loss of new customers who come to expect certain things from their hotels. So, what are the technology trends for hotels in 2018?Ease of Use on SmartphonesMany major companies offer ease of use for people who prefer to do almost everything from their phone, rather than a desktop or laptop computer. Because people are growing used to this treatment, they expect it in their hotels as well.
Smartphone apps are one of the most popular ways for customers to book or access their rooms, and to check-in when they arrive. Not only are these apps easier for guests to use, which makes them more likely to choose your hotel over your competitors, but it makes sense financially as well. An app is not overly expensive to build and maintain and can cut back on costs in certain areas where the app will take over.It also makes it faster and easier for guests to check in during the busiest times of the year, especially over major holidays. This will help your staff to be faster and more efficient, as well as less stressed and happier with their work.Smart HotelsOne of the largest trends of the past few years that will continue into 2018 and beyond are smart homes, smart cars, and now smart hotels. Guests expect their stay at your hotel to be quick and efficient without waiting in lines or dealing with too many people. To do this, many of the major hotels are imputing smart hotel technology. According to an article from Ambius, this includes:• Keyless room entry (through your hotel's app)
• Personalized entertainment selections (all your guest's favorite TV shows)
• Robotic butlers
• Personalized guest room climate control and lightingYou can also include check-in and check-out options on your hotel's app, easier room service options (calls are no longer needed, just use the app), you can even implement a hotel store that is run through your app, in case your guests run out of (or forget) something important like a toothbrush or deodorant.This will add ease for your guests and, because people like things to be easy in a world that is complicated enough, it may increase the amount of new and returning guests throughout the year when these guests are more relaxed and recommend your hotel to others.Personalized Guest ProfilesTake advantage of the many guest management software's out there to personalize your guest's experience and cause them to want to return to your hotel again and again. When a guest books a room, you can give them the option to fill out a profile of their likes and dislikes as it relates to their stay in your hotel. For example:• Favorite food or beverage
• Desired room temperature
• Favorite color
• Favorite snack
• Favorite TV showsYou could then use that information to make sure that those favorite items are already in the guest's room when they arrive. This personal touch will make your guest feel more at home and is a guaranteed way to impress them. They will tell their friends, family, and coworkers how you anticipated their needs and desires, and you'll get even more guests in future.By going above and beyond what other hotels are doing, staying on top of trends, and putting your guests first, you can become the go-to hotel for your guests and everyone in their sphere of influence.
Around the world, hoteliers are applying many different strategies to combat noise pollution and offer their guests a good night's sleep. This ranges from window, floor and wall insulation to installing white noise machines and having sleep brigades patrol the corridors. But scientific research is showing that to guarantee your guests a sound sleep it is not enough to provide a quiet room: it involves addressing all the five senses.
Hotel guests are ever more demanding and hotels look to distinguish themselves by offering an enhanced service. In a world where sleep is increasingly a rare commodity -30% of all people have trouble sleeping-, hoteliers who can provide their clients with an better sleep experience may just have the edge. Several luxury hotel chains have already started experimenting with new solutions to improve sleep. At Four Seasons Hotels, heat-absorbing mattresses are provided and guests can control room temperature and music. Hilton Hotels and Resorts use a special canopy bed which regulates heat and moisture flow. And at Sleep Inn Hotels, rooms come with soft lighting and sleek design.
Yet any solution may still fall short of providing what guests really need if it addresses sleep first and foremost as a technical problem. Scientific research into sleep and insomnia treatment shows that all the five senses need to be taken into consideration in order to ensure a good night's sleep:
Touch means a cool room, the right mattress firmness and cool fabrics; Sight denotes a sufficiently dark room and relaxing colour scheme; Hearing points to a quiet room and the use of masking noises; Smell indicates the need for allergy-free rooms and the use of aromas; Taste refers to the fact that fat-rich food, caffeine and alcohol interfere with sleep, while light foods such as eggs and turkey (which contain tryptophan) may help induce sleep. Combining all these factors into a more comprehensive approach may provide a lasting answer to sleep problems in hotels. An example of this is the five senses sleep program developed by the Quietroom Foundation in close cooperation with the Dutch Knowledge Centre Sound Insulation (KGI) and Somnio, a scientific institute specialising in sleep therapy and insomnia treatment. The program translates Somnio's findings into a set of practical solutions, which offer hoteliers the chance to create a complete and satisfying sleep experience for their guests.
So what are the most important ingredients of a successful sleep program and how can hoteliers apply these?
Make sure that rooms are sufficiently sound-insulated, i.e. walls, floors, windows, doors, technical installations and corridors. Provide guests with a choice of ambient sound/white noise; Create a pleasant room decor with muted and balanced colour schemes for wall paper, carpeting, curtains and bed linen. Provide blackout liners on curtains and draperies; Have rooms fitted with adjustable lighting and a choice of lamps as well as adjustable room temperature; Provide comfortable beds and give your guests a choice of mattresses and/or mattress toppers, as well as a choice of bed linen (cotton/synthetic); Have a pillow menu available in rooms offering special pillows for snoring, headache, stress, etc.; Have air purifying installations installed in rooms, provide a choice of relaxing aromas and essential oils, e.g. aromatic cotton balls, bed linen sprays, etc., as well as a choice of music; Provide additional (paid) services, e.g. healthy food, exercise programs, yoga, and massage. It's a well-known fact that good sleep benefits people's concentration, mood, memory and general health. By consistently applying the five senses sleep program, hoteliers can contribute significantly to their guests' well-being and overall satisfaction.
The changing energy regulations landscape in the UK appears to be balancing short-term costs with long-term gains. You would be forgiven for finding the terrain tricky to navigate. There have been a range of measures launched over the past few years and keeping up with the changes is demanding.But it's useful to know how the regulations can affect a hotel business and which new rules are thankfully ignored. This article takes a look at three of them “ The Energy Savings Opportunity Scheme (ESOS), the Carbon Reduction Commitment (CRC) scheme and the Energy Demand Reduction (EDR) scheme to outline any actions needed, together with any consequences for non-compliance.The most pressing for larger businesses in the hospitality sector is the Energy Saving Opportunities Scheme (ESOS). This is the UK government's response to Article Eight of the EU's Energy Efficiency Directive that requires measures to encourage private businesses to improve energy efficiency.The scheme was launched in July last year and the deadline for companies is December “ and companies that fail to act if required could face civil action with fines imposed for non-compliance.The scheme is managed by the Environment Agency and the government hopes that it will help to reduce energy bills for large enterprises by at least £300 million next year. The net benefit, according to government estimates, will be conservatively around £1.9 billion between now and 2030.Energy audits
ESOS regulations affect more than 7,000 large organisations in the UK who will need to carry out energy audits of buildings, industrial processes and transport, thereby identifying cost-effective energy saving measures.The scheme is targeted at "large undertakings" “ those companies with least 250 staff or who turnover over ‚¬50 million annually, with a balance sheet in excess of ‚¬43 million.Hotels that fall under the scheme's remit have until December 5th to comply by first calculating total energy consumption then auditing 90% of it, along with current energy efficiency.ESOS audit data would cover a period of 12 months, starting no earlier than December 6th 2010 for the first reporting cycle.The full audit using energy consumption profiling should be completed across buildings, transport and industrial processes but it may be that hotel groups are already fully covered by a quality mark such as ISO50001, having implemented a full energy management system.In these cases, hotel groups would not need to carry out a full audit but simply notify the Environment Agency of this and confirm that it is fully compliant with ESOS.Energy consumption
The scheme's regulations also allow for other energy-saving proof points such as Display Energy Certificates or Green Deal Assessments, which would reduce the amount of auditing needed.The business would identify whether its quality marks and other certification covered all or just some of the areas of significant energy consumption and then move to compliance if needed by appointing an approved, knowledgeable and competent Lead Assessor internally or from outside.It's important to bear in mind that with Display Energy Certificates, a hotel group would still need to audit transport and industrial processes.The ESOS process will need to be repeated every four years with organisations always notifying the Environment Agency by a set deadline that they have complied with their ESOS obligations. The regulations require that good records of the audit process are kept on file as evidence.The scheme clearly is aimed at encouraging a much more proactive attitude among larger businesses, many of whom do not have effective energy monitoring policies but the burden in many cases will be heavy.But the short-term pain should be leavened with the very significant commercial benefits in the longer term. Companies that invest in going green by cutting energy and water consumption will be the ones most likely to survive and thrive in the long term.Beyond the benefit to the bottom line, a company that is seen to be taking steps to reduce energy consumption would send out a highly positive message to customers and business partners.Carbon levy
The 'ESOS elephant' is in addition to in addition to the Carbon Reduction Commitment (CRC) that currently requires the UK's largest 1,000 companies to report on emissions and cover a carbon levy.Phase 2 of the CRC will run until March 31st 2019 and the qualification year was between 1 April 2012 and 31 March 2013 with companies that fell under the criteria now registered with the Environment Agency. These groups would have demonstrated that they used 6,000 megawatt hours (MWh) or more of qualifying electricity supplied through "settled half hourly meters" (sHHM).Those registered companies and organisations are required to collate energy supply data, generate and submit a report on these and keep full records. They are also required to purchase offsetting allowances that are equivalent to their total CO2 emissions in the reporting period.Another recent and significant move by government was the introduction of the Electricity Demand Reduction (EDR) pilot that aims to provide financial support to businesses and organisations that can cut electricity use during peak hours through installation of more efficient equipment or boosting existing electrical systems.LED lighting
The scheme is intended to measure the efficacy of energy-saving solutions like LED lighting and more effective motors and pumps to deliver lasting electricity savings at peak times. EDR should identify whether these types of solutions could compete with other efficiency improvements in energy generation, demand side response and storage in the UK Capacity Market.In January, the government held the first EDR Pilot auction which allocated £1.28 million to 18 lead organisations covering 22 individual projects win funding. The winners have been contracted to install energy-saving measures by October 15th and then deliver the promised savings over a period from this November 1st to February 29th 2016 with a final report being submitted by December 1st 2016.The winning bids offered the lowest price for each kW saved and winners will receive payments when they have provided full supporting evidence of savings delivered.It will certainly be worth keeping an eye on the scheme and think about participation in the EDR if the pilot is successful, which by all accounts it should be. Further information about the next phase of the pilot scheme will be published early this summer.Scheme crossover
It seems fairly certain that the regulations outlined here will provide the level of energy efficiencies needed to not only reduce the commercial pressures of rising utility bills but, equally important, help to meet carbon reduction targets.It seems pretty likely, too, that there will be areas of crossover in the types of energy efficiencies identified. One of the positive elements in the EDR Pilot is the simplicity of the solutions being put forward and the benefits of replacing traditional lighting and making pumps and motors more efficient are clearly recognised by the government.Our work with hotel groups in the UK can provide ample evidence of energy demand reduction through retrofitting LED lighting as well as the installation of variable speed drives on motors and pumps together as well as intelligent HVAC controls.The ESOS scheme has a broad remit, covering transport and processes beyond building energy use but there should also be benefits from the adoption of straightforward, effective solutions with immediate results.It is likely that the next government will be focused on further regulatory changes that promote and support energy saving strategies. The hotel sector is an area where even greater efficiencies in consumption of utilities can be quickly and sustainably achieved.
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