Author Archives: Robert Elliott
How to improve your hotel’s energy efficiency and save costs
Hospitality Net The past several decades have seen an increased focus on the importance of sustainability and green practices by hoteliers worldwide. Today, sustainability has permeated nearly every aspect of the hospitality industry and has become a business imperative. Having said that, going green doesn’t mean giving up on luxury amenities. READ MORE
Lodging Engineer Receives 2017 Best of Alexandria Award
June 1, 2017 – Press Release Lodging Engineer has been selected for the 2017 Best of Alexandria Award in the Media & Entertainment category by the Alexandria Award Program. Each year, the Alexandria Award Program identifies companies that we believe have achieved exceptional marketing success in their local community and business category. These are local companies [...]
Damaging Social Media Reviews and Lost Revenue Inspire Hotels to Solve ‘Sleepless’ Night Syndrome
Lodging Engineer – Online trip reviews are playing an increasing role in how would-be guests are selecting your competition’s hotel. If your guest are complaining that loud street noise is keeping them up, there is something you can do. Soundproof guestroom windows provide a solution that can be installed from the guestroom’s side without impacting [...]
1st Person Interview with Glenn Hasek
Lodging Engineer – NAHLE visits with the editor of Green Lodging News. Glenn Hasek shares his views on sustainability in the hospitality environment as well as insight into sustainable trends for hotels and the lodging industry. READ MORE
HVAC manufacturers welcome Trump’s tax reform efforts
FMLink – The Air-Conditioning, Heating, and Refrigeration Institute welcomed President Donald Trump’s effort to reform the nation’s tax system, which has not been significantly reformed since the Reagan Administration. The current depreciation period for capital HVACR and water heating equipment is set at 39 years in the tax code, in some cases more than double [...]
Hotel bathroom design trends for 2017
Lodging – Hotel bathrooms have come a long way from plain, white spaces used merely for wash and go. After all, they are among the most important rooms in our living areas. Their design, layout, and overall look have changed and improved dramatically over the past years to become spaces for stylish comfort and relaxation [...]
Marriott adopts modular construction
USA Today – Marriott International, the largest hotel company in the world, is betting big on modular construction to drive its growth in North America. The Bethesda, Maryland-based company expects to sign 50 hotel deals this year that would incorporate prefabricated guestrooms and/or bathrooms. That would make up about 13 percent of signings for North [...]
New System Uses Wi-Fi to Help Hotels Catch Bed Bugs Early
CNBC – Source: Fifteen Beacon Hotel A new Wi-Fi enabled system promises to help hotels find and eliminate bed bugs without the help of exterminators. AIM, a product developed by a company named Delta Five, promises a 98 percent success rate. It monitors a bedroom using internal cameras and, as insects are lured to an embedded [...]
Carbon monoxide at hotel pool suspected in Michigan death
CNN - A teenage boy died and 14 other people were hospitalized after guests at a southern Michigan hotel were found unconscious around an indoor pool. Fire officials said they believe the cause was carbon monoxide poisoning.
Prevent and prepare for springtime pests
Buildings - Warm weather is on the way, but it brings increased pest activity from insects, arachnids and other annoying invertebrates. It’s easier to prevent nuisance bugs from establishing an infestation, but if they’ve already invaded your facility, don’t panic. Get to know the most common springtime pests and determine how to deal with them [...]
Why HVAC/PTAC age and condition matters more than you think
Hotel Management - Nobody enjoys spending money when they don’t have to, but hotels do just that all the time. When a packaged terminal air conditioner or heating, ventilation and air conditioning system component breaks on property, leadership turns to engineering to find out if the device in question can be salvaged or if a [...]
Pest management at the building envelope
Facility Executive - When facility managers consider their pest management responsibilities, they often think exclusively about work needed inside the building to keep rodents, insects, and other unwanted visitors away from employees, guests, and customers. However, much of the work in the fight against pests occurs outside the building envelope.
Historic hotel, revolving door retrofit
Facility Executive – Several years back, the Warwick Hotel Rittenhouse Square in Philadelphia, underwent a complete lobby renovation. This provided the opportunity for the hotel to improve energy efficiency by reducing demand on the HVAC system, while boosting the aesthetics of the hotel lobby. Chosen for the project was the…
Marriott CEO says more hotel mega-mergers are likely
Skift Marriott International CEO Arne Sorenson concedes the company’s “hands are full” integrating Starwood, but he doesn’t believe the hotel chain is “done forever” in terms of mergers and acquisitions. “We’re not going to go out and try to create the opportunities at the moment,” Sorenson said. “If opportunities pop up, we’ll have to assess [...]
ENERGY STAR program on the chopping block
Green Lodging News The Alliance to Save Energy vowed to fight budget cuts for federal energy efficiency programs proposed recently by the Trump administration, including the elimination of the successful ENERGY STAR program and sharp reductions at the Department of Energy (DOE). “This is a destructive proposal that walks away from decades of bipartisan support [...]
The value of hospitality renovations
Design Quarterly Sooner or later, every owner of a hotel or restaurant must take a hard look at renovations and make that financial decision. Is it time for a minor or major facelift to breathe new life into their hotel or restaurant or can it wait a bit longer? The timing question is easily answered [...]
Pest management during a renovation
Hotel Business Review In the age when reviews are a Tweet away and websites such as TripAdvisor leave a long trail of guest comments, hoteliers are under increasing pressure to keep properties up to guests’ high standards. While a quick coat of paint or a new set of furniture can often keep a hotel looking [...]
5 tips for maximizing green space at an urban hotel
Hotel News Now From the front door to the rooftop at The Watson Hotel in New York City, a variety of colorful plants, ranging from hibiscus trees to floral arrangements in the lobby, can be found throughout the two-tower, 600-room hotel. Most urban hotels lack the amount of acreage that some suburban and resort properties [...]
The benefits of harvesting HVAC condensation
Water Technology Condensate is considered good water — as pure as distilled water, low in mineral content and can be used for a number of applications in addition to cooling towers. It can be used for irrigation, in ornamental fountains and ponds, for industrial process makeup and even flushing toilets, if filtered and disinfected first. READ [...]
The hotel of the future could be a human-centered non-hotel
Meetings Net Global design firm Gensler won the Sleep Set competition at Sleep 2016, the annual hotel design event, with a radically different conception of what guest rooms — and hotels — may become. The guests they were assigned to design for were termed “Digital Avant-Gardes” — “globalized, nonconformist travelers in constant search of new, [...]