ADVICE & OPINION
COMMENT
ROOM SERVICED
Guest comfort is an absolute priority for
any hotel, but running costs, maintenance
regimes and staying abreast of changing
legislation are more pressing concerns for
the facilities managers trying to keep the
establishment running.
Heating and cooling are a key component of
maintaining guest comfort but can also have a
significant bearing on how the hotel runs and earns
as well. The onus therefore needs to be on making
sure an air conditioning system is fit for purpose and
there are the controls in place to maximise e iciency
and performance, while also minimising costs.
Looked at in the context of ever-evolving energy
legislation and guests that are increasingly mindful of
sustainability – basing more of their lifestyle choices
on how businesses are meeting their environmental
commitments – choosing the right air conditioning
system becomes even more integral.
This is a challenge for hotels, but it also presents
facilities managers with an opportunity to improve
internal environments for guests and steal a march
on the competition at the same time. Versatile
heating and cooling systems are integral to
helping hotels deliver on this potential but it’s not
always clear how hotels can juggle guest comfort,
sustainability requirements and safety regulations,
all without breaking the bank.
So, how can facilities managers in the hospitality
industry seek to strike this balance and choose the
right system for them?
14 DECEMBER/JANUARY 2020
MINIMISING DISRUPTION, MAXIMISING
COMFORT
Closing o parts of the hotel for any amount of time
can have a material impact on earnings and can have
a knock-on e ect on guest enjoyment during the
ongoing works. Therefore, for a facilities manager
looking to keep guest disruption to an absolute
minimum, picking a system that can be installed with
the least impact to residents is a must – especially if
that work needs to be done during peak seasons.
A key consideration is whether a system o ers the
flexibility of being able to be installed floor-by-floor
to minimise disruption and maximise the number of
rooms still available for guests. This allows hotels to
stay open during the installation, thereby reducing
the impact to their bottom line, but also a ording
FMs the flexibility of being able to ringfence the
rooms they can keep open while the works are
happening.
GREEN-MINDED GUESTS
In addition to these regulatory obligations, it’s
impossible to escape the fact that consumers are
much more attuned to their personal impact on the
environment. From eating less meat to moving away
from single use plastics and turning towards hybrid
and electric vehicles, vast swathes of the population
are becoming more green-minded. The hotel
industry isn’t immune to this consumer-mindset shi
either. The ubiquity of in-room signs allowing guests
to forego the usual turn down service to alleviate
their impact on the environment are an indication of
this, but more scrutiny is invariably going to fall on
how hotels maintain their internal environments too
in the future.
This is where it pays to employ air conditioning
systems that can monitor individual rooms to avoid
waste and o set cooling in one area with heating in
another to maximise e iciency.
FUTUREPROOFING AGAINST EVOLVING
SUSTAINABILITY REGULATION
Then there’s the impetus for change being created
by ever-stringent energy legislation. Most facilities
managers will already be aware of regulations in
place to minimise the emission of F-Gases from
equipment, through leak detection, reduction, repair,
containment and recovery.
It’s important to be mindful of how these changing
regulations will have an impact on the systems you
choose to install. Regulations such as BS EN378,
for example, mean that you may need to add leak
detection equipment – which can be costly to install
and maintain. In Hybrid Variable Refrigerant Flow
(HVRF) systems, water replaces refrigerant to transfer
heating and cooling around the majority of the
building, thereby removing the need to install leak
detection in occupied spaces.
Not only can Hybrid VRF help remove the need for
leak detection, refrigerants like R32 can reduce the
total Global Warming Potential (GWP) of the system.
This is especially important for making sure your
system is future-proofed to comply with the phase
down of F-Gases. It’s important to consider elements
like this to make sure that you aren’t caught out by
future regulations.
Other considerations when choosing a system
include thinking about something which is flexible
and can provide di erent temperatures for each
room, ensuring that every guest is comfortable at
whatever temperature they want; and also making
sure that the system’s controller can automate
the control, monitoring and reporting to ease the
workload of busy facilities managers. Additionally,
room controllers can be personalised with the logo
of the hotel.
CONCLUSION
All of these factors combine to create quite a
challenge for facilities managers, who need to
provide consistent internal comfort to guests but also
make sure they are within the bounds of existing and
forthcoming legislation and staying on the right side
of consumer sentiment – while also ensuring they
remain within budget.
Choosing the right air conditioning unit has the
ability to tackle all of these considerations in one
swoop. As hotels face increased competition from
the likes of Airbnb, amplifying their unique selling
points and ability to provide absolute comfort while
also delivering on a commitment to sustainability, is
more important than ever.
For more information, visit les.mitsubishielectric.co.uk
Quality heating and cooling within the hospitality sector is
central to guest wellbeing advises Tom Hall, Corporate Business
Development Manager at Mitsubishi Electric
/les.mitsubishielectric.co.uk
