Working with a 180-room hotel in downtown Spokane that's on Avista's Schedule 25 (Large General Service). Their monthly usage averages 95,000 kWh with 280 kW demand. Hotel manager insists they're way over benchmark but I'm not sure - seems reasonable for a full-service property with restaurant, pool, conference facilities. Anyone have solid hotel benchmarking data?
Avista Rate Schedule 25 - Anyone Have Hotel Benchmarks?
Eddie, 95k kWh for 180 rooms works out to about 528 kWh per room per month. That's actually on the lower end for full-service hotels. I typically see 600-800 kWh per room monthly for similar properties. The demand seems reasonable too at 1.56 kW per room. What's their occupancy rate running?
Randy, occupancy has been running about 72% average over the past year. So if anything, their usage per occupied room would be higher than the 528 kWh figure. Maybe they are running inefficient after all? The property is about 15 years old, so not ancient but not exactly new either.
Eddie, adjust for occupancy and you're looking at about 733 kWh per occupied room, which is more in line with typical usage. For a 15-year-old property that's not unreasonable. I'd focus on the ancillary loads - pool heating, kitchen equipment, HVAC systems. Those are usually where hotels have the most savings opportunities.
Cindy's right about ancillary systems. I worked with a Cincinnati hotel that reduced their demand by 45 kW just by optimizing their pool filtration and heating schedule. Also check their guest room HVAC controls - many older properties still use basic thermostats that don't optimize for occupancy.
Great suggestions. I'll definitely look into the pool systems and HVAC controls. The property does have a fairly large indoor pool that runs year-round. Cecilia, do you remember what kind of savings your Cincinnati client saw on their overall bill after the pool optimization?
The demand reduction saved them about $680 monthly in peak demand charges, plus they saw maybe $300-400 in energy savings from more efficient scheduling. Not huge money but it paid for the controls upgrade in about 18 months. Pool systems are often overlooked but they're major energy users.
Don't forget to look at their hot water systems too. Hotels are huge hot water users and older properties often have oversized or poorly controlled systems. I've seen 20-30% energy savings just from right-sizing and adding better controls to hotel water heating.
Randy, good point on hot water. They do have a central hot water system that looks like it might be original to the building. I'll add that to my audit recommendations. Between pool controls, HVAC optimization, and hot water system upgrades, there might be significant savings potential after all.
Eddie, one more thing to check - guest room occupancy sensors. Many hotels still light and condition unoccupied rooms. Installing occupancy-based controls can reduce HVAC and lighting loads significantly. We've seen 15-25% savings on guest room energy usage with proper occupancy controls.
Carl's suggestion about occupancy sensors is spot-on. I just finished an analysis for a Virginia hotel that saved $1,200 monthly after installing smart room controls. At 72% occupancy, your client is basically paying to condition 50+ empty rooms most of the time. That's where the real waste is happening.