London hotel controls room services by occupancy — not bookings
Intelligent room management in one of London’s newest boutique hotels is reducing the 70 kg carbon footprint of the average London hotel guest by 20%. Other energy-management measures, when combined with LED lighting, rainwater harvesting and the hotel’s no-plastic policy, will enable The Rafayel on the Left Bank [south] to reduce its CO2 emissions by 500 t a year.
The building envelope was originally designed for offices and apartments, necessitating the conversion of its infrastructure to support hotel services. The commitment of the owner, Iqbal Latif, to reducing carbon emissions was partly achieved by VDA installing its intelligent room-management systems, Micromaster and Power TV, and creating a co-ordinated energy-management approach for the hotel.
The main benefit of the VDA system is that energy use is based on when guests are actually in their rooms, not just whether they are sold.
Micromaster is an interface between the hotel’s property management system and building plant. According to actual occupancy, energy use can be fine-tuned by, for example, reducing the amount of boiler plant operating, turning off corridor lights and avoiding excessive settings for room HVAC controls.
Within guest rooms, the Vitrium Smart Switch Glass Collection designed by Marco Piva has an elegantly sculpted touch screen that enable guests to control lighting and temperature within limits defined by the hotel.
