Addition of 32-story Tower Leads Peabody Orlando to Seek Better Energy Control
The Peabody Orlando hotel has become the first property to benefit from a new integrating technology partnership between MTech and Control Green that will help facilities better maintain and monitor energy consumption of unoccupied guestrooms, identify when equipment is failing or when batteries are low, and respond proactively by dispatching staff to address any alerted situation before it becomes a guest complaint. The energy initiative comes on the heels of a recent $450 million property expansion.
"The recent addition of a 32-story tower has added approximately two million square feet to our overall property footprint, resulting in our need to develop a measured approach to how we maintain and monitor our operational expenses," says Brian Seays, regional IT director, Peabody Hotels. "With MTech's HotSOS solution standardized across all three Peabody properties due to the strength of its product, and our ongoing satisfaction with Control Green, we determined that tying the two systems together will result in a quicker way to increase customer satisfaction and realize a tremendous cost-savings for the property."
Seays says that the MTech/Control Green integration communicates five critical messages to hotel staff: 1) Room temperature is too high or too low, 2) The system has been running for an excessive amount of time past its pre-set thresholds and therefore there is a problem with heating and cooling, 3) The room door has remained ajar for an undue length of time, 4) Batteries in one of several guestroom control systems or the door lock itself are low, and 5) The HVAC unit has not communicated with the hotel via Control Green and therefore a hardware issue has arisen from an in-room device or the Control Green Network and needs immediate attention. When any of these issues are present, a work order is automatically generated in HotSOS and the appropriate staff person is dispatched to correct the problem.
‘Smart’ room temperature control
"Together MTech and Control Green will allow us to control and monitor the temperature in our guestrooms, both occupied and unoccupied," says Seays. "Gone are the days when a guest sets a room temperature to 68 degrees and leaves the room and the room remains at that temperature. Through MTech and Control Green, we are able to make certain that an empty room isn't being cooled, but as soon as that guest returns, the room is quickly brought back to the desired temperature previously set. And, if there is a problem with our room controls, a workorder is seamlessly established in HotSOS and staff is dispatched to immediately fix the defect. Developing environmental-friendly initiatives such as this enables us to live up to our daily mantra of being 'good stewards for the environment and the hotel.'"
Efficient Engineering
Control Green also interfaces to MTech’s REX room expeditor solution that works in tandem with HotSOS. With REX, room attendants are equipped with an iPod Touch to instruct them on which is the next most important "vacant" room to clean, based on a collection of variables. Because Control Green is aware of the occupancy status of a guestroom, tying it directly to REX will notify staff in real time when a stay-over room is unoccupied and therefore able to be cleaned.
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