Five Lean Ideas to Reduce Hotel Energy Waste

By Jon Miller | Post Date: May 6, 2007 11:22 AM | Comments: 5

Five small things this European hotel chain is doing to reduce energy waste:

1. The lights, television, etc. turn off when you take key card and leave the room
2. The lights in the elevator turn on only when the doors open and you walk in
3. There is an old-fashioned thermometer on the wall, powered by room temperature (love it!)
4. Sauna is open in shifts (ladies first), to avoid duplicating a low-utilization high-energy use amenity
5. There is no clock radio in the room (I expected to find a wind-up clock)

At least three of these ideas we could all copy fairly easily.

I've seen a picture on the site www.mistakeproofing.com where a Chinese hotel forced you to put your room key in a holder when in the room to allow the flow of electricity. Good error proofing to prevent power waste while out of the room.

Poster: Mark Graban | Post Date: May 6, 2007 12:19 PM

I was in a German hotel that had motion sensors in the hallway... so similar to the elevator example you gave. In Brazil (Tropical in Manaus) they have the room key idea working. From a value perspective I hated it since room was blazing hot and I wonder in the grand scheme is it any cheaper since AC must work so hard to cool it down. Does that really save $? It irritates me for sure since I cannot stand a hot hotel room.

Poster: Ron | Post Date: May 7, 2007 8:07 AM

Mark--- Is that one of those shoebox sized hotel rooms? :-)

-Jim

Poster: Jim | Post Date: May 7, 2007 11:35 AM

One of the biggest wastages is continually changing and washing towels and sheets. I much prefer hotels that only wash towels that have been left on the floor or in a designated bin. This annoyance also counts for several over wastes most notably over processing.

Poster: Jim | Post Date: May 8, 2007 8:30 AM

One of the biggest wastes in laundry is a hotel room with two beds and one guest. Every sheet must be laundered at least once a visit if not every day. Fewer beds = fewer sheets = less wasted water, less detergent and lower capital costs of storing the sheets, supplying unused beds, and allows extra space in the room or smaller rooms. Besides, with a wide variety of room types, the hotel inevitably does not have the right inventory for the guest attempting to check in. Where is lean in hospitality?

Poster: Tony | Post Date: May 31, 2007 10:59 AM

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