For the sustainable hotel of the future, smart decisions have to be made.

Most, if not all of them will be by intelligent systems, supported by data. 

While your hotel's sustainability journey might look somewhat different from another, there's no doubt that data is the future. 

Because you cannot manage what you cannot measure.

As Singapore's pioneer cloud IoT company, we have energy efficiency solutions deployed in hotels and resorts.

We've learnt a few things along the way to helping clients on their sustainability journey, and here are some of them.

Start with low hanging fruits

When our integrated resort client started on the journey, one of their first projects was on water efficiency. 

The challenge, however was that there was literally no solution in the market to monitor and track water consumption across their properties. 

Yet they knew the importance of managing water consumption.

They needed to see the data

Helping business units take ownership

The persistence paid off, and they implemented a building energy management system with no disruption to hotel operations.

And almost immediately, they could visualize their water usage across different properties, enabling them to share and benchmark energy usage by business unit, ultimately driving greater ownership for each unit.

Once the business units took ownership, it started a positive spiral where everyone was excited to embark on other sustainability initiatives.

Implementing Roadmap of Continuous Improvement

The one-off large improvements are exciting.

Replacement of higher-efficiency equipment, right-sizing equipment etc. 

But sustainability is a journey of continuous improvement.

It's also reflected by the changes to Building and Construction Authority's Green Mark standards. New and existing buildings and hotels now have to hit higher sustainability standards to be certified green. 

Implementing the sustainability roadmap means greater engagement with stakeholders. 

It's much easier to do so when systems are streamlined - preferably, on one platform instead of having people struggle with multiple disparate and disconnected systems. eg. one to monitor the ambient environment, one to track renewable energy input, one for the chiller plant, and another for the hotel operations. 

Data Analytics and Smart AI

Some relevant technologies for hotel sustainability include Anomaly Detection - being able to monitor data from smart sensors to flag deviation from normal operating conditions. 

When it comes to thermal comfort, there are also demand based controls based on AI model to optimize lighting and ACMV operations.

Yet there are nuances to implementing smart solutions.

Because of the interwoven nature of the environment, the efficacy of AI is dependent also on how integrated your solutions are with one another. A large set of integrated solutions with a data repository enables your team (or an AI system) to perform advanced analysis of the data for timely action. 

From Legacy Systems to Leaving a Legacy

There are of course challenges.

Many Hotels still run on legacy systems which make it difficult to acquire data. 

The ability to integrate with Hotel BMS or SCADA systems is also a factor to consider.

Yet searching for solutions to these challenges are all part of the sustainability journey that we'd love to walk with you on.