Author Archives: Robert Elliott
Free Checklist For Parking Garage Conditions
Facility Executive - November 22, 2019 A visual guide and checklist document from Western Specialty Contractors helps facility management to identify and track damage to components of parking structures. Maintaining parking garages can be a daunting task for building owners and their facility managers. Western Specialty Contractors offers an online Visual Guide & Checklist for parking garage [...]
Maintenance should be proactive, unobtrusive to guests
HOTEL NEWS NOW – By Dana Miller REPORT FROM THE U.S.—During the busy season, hotel engineering staffs on a preventive-maintenance schedule face the additional challenge of reducing interference with guests or when unexpected issues arise. Darren Hills, area director of engineering at the DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel & Suites Charleston – Historic District, said he and [...]
Hotel Preventive Maintenance: The Essentials
FacilitiesNet - By Lillian Connors Committing to preventive maintenance in the hotel industry involves an extensive knowledge of the hotel’s systems, equipment, and utilities, as well as the most effective routes of intervention. Above all, care must be taken not to interrupt the… READ MORE
How to Spot and Get Rid of Common Household Pests in Hotels
LODGING Magazine By Shane Dutka Running a business in the hospitality industry is a tough task, and when pests are added to the equation, it can get even more challenging and costly. Like it or not, pests are a common problem among many U.S. hotels and the problem is only getting worse with… READ MORE
Infrastructure Resiliency Model
Facilities Manager Magazine - By Brian Cowperthwaite and John D’Angelo, P.E., CHRM, CHEP, CMVP Deferred maintenance, facility condition index (FCI), and critical backlog are not inher- ently bad benchmarks; they just miss an opportunity to programmatically address risk mitigation as the primary function of facilities maintenance and operations, and fail to engage other critical stakeholders in [...]
Essentials of Successful Fire Protection
FacilitiesNet - A successful fire-prevention program is part of the day-to-day operations of every institutional and commercial facility. The goals of fire-prevention programs include preventing loss of life, property damage, and downtime in use of…READ MORE
Venue All Hazards Plan
Facilities Manager – Sep/Oct – Mark Carmillo The facility management industry has endured a multitude of safety and security challenges over the past 20-25 years. With the ever-changing threat picture and the seemingly never-ending severe weather events,…READ MORE
1 dead, 8 sick in hazmat incident at San Jose hotel
Washington Post – Associated Press SAN JOSE, Calif. — Authorities say one woman has died and eight people have been sickened in a hazmat incident Saturday at a Northern California hotel. KTVU reports Saturday that guests of the Fairmont Hotel in San Jose reported smelling a chemical odor — similar to a rotten egg —and feeling [...]
The Circular Economy
Facilities Management Journal – July / August 2019 – By Bill Conley Everything isn’t always written in the starts. In facility management there are multiple opportunities to initiate cycles to accommodate give and take. In waste management, applying the three R’s – reduce, reuse, recycle – creates a recursive loop for materials, bypassing…READ MORE
Lodging Engineer – Legionella Water Management Planning Overview
Lodging Engineer - By Bill Pearson – Bacteria are in the hotel water system from the municipality supplied or other water source provider, as well as from biofilm contamination of the water once it’s on the property (in the building). Both routes should be considered in the Water Management Program. READ MORE…
“Reducing Legionnaires’ Disease Risk from Hotel & Resort Properties”
The National Association of Hotel & Lodging Engineers executive director Robert Elliott NAHLE’s June 14th Webinar, ‘Reducing Legionnaires Disease Risk from Hotels and Resorts” is now available in an edited video version. Executive director Robert Elliott says, “with the recent Atlanta hotel outbreak and another unrelated closing of a hotel cooling water tower, we decided [...]
3 cases of Legionnaires’ disease follow visits to downtown Atlanta hotel
(CNN) By Susan Scutti, CNN Three guests who stayed at a prominent downtown Atlanta hotel have become sick with Legionnaires’ disease, prompting an investigation of the hotel on Monday, officials said. “Based on epidemiological evidence we have an outbreak among people who stayed at the [Sheraton Atlanta] during the same time period,” said Nancy Nydam, director [...]
Disneyland shuts cooling towers after Legionnaires’ outbreak
AJC Atlanta News Now July 16, 2019 By Joy Johnston, Cox Media Group National Content DeskDisneyland shut down two cooling towers in October after people who visited the Southern California theme park were diagnosed with Legionnaires’ disease. A dozen cases of the bacterial illness were discovered approximately three weeks ago, the Orange County Health Care [...]
Drone Attacks: Three Steps to Protect Your Facility
FacilitiesNet By Bill Edwards SECURITY Experience with intelligence, operations, and security in the U.S. government shows the ever-growing benefits technology brings — but also the great threats it presents. There is no better example of a technology with great benefits and even greater challenges than drones, or unmanned aircraft systems (UAS), specifically commercial drones. It’s [...]
Hand Dryers: What You Need to Know About Maintenance, New Tech
BUILDINGS staff writer Sarah Kloepple chats with Bill Gagnon, vice president of sales and marketing with Excel Dryers, about all things hand dryers—including maintenance, ADA compliance, misconceptions and new innovations in recent years. Listen here >>
Labor costs factoring into how deals are done
Hotel News Now 02 JULY 2019 8:12 AM Increasing labor costs are starting to filter into how both buyers and sellers look at hotel assets, according to experts on the Lodging Industry Investment Council. Read More…
How To Select a New Roofing System
FacilitiesNet by By Kenneth J. Brzozowski At first thought, the selection of a new or replacement roof appears to be a straightforward decision based primarily on cost and convenience. A more thorough analysis reveals that there are a surprisingly large number of factors and considerations that should guide the selection of the roof system. Just [...]
Legionnaires’ Being Investigated at Flint Hospital
FacilitiesNet – The Michigan Department of Health and Human Services(MDHHS), Genesee County Health Department and federal health officials have opened an investigation into how a patient developed Legionnaires’ disease while…Read more
3 Tips to Elevate Your Hotel’s Guest Experience with Outdoor Lighting
Lodging Engineer – Spring 2019 - Jim Morris of Outdoor Lighting Perspectives discusses how professional architectural and landscape lighting can impact your guests’ hotel experience and drive revenue to your property…Read More
Enhanced Sprinkler Protection for Hotels in the Wildland-Urban Interface
Enhanced Sprinkler Protection for Hotels in the Wildland-Urban Interface Lodging Engineer Magazine – Spring 2019 Issue #32 “Threat from catastrophic fires is now largely from the outside, the result of structure exposure to massive wind-driven wildfires.” Adding external sprinklers to an existing sprinkler system is possible at a modest cost.