Sourcing an intelligent heat management solution

Travelodge has partnered with energy management expert SmarterDM by Dimplex to implement its intelligent solution for heating and cooling across its portfolio. The result is significant carbon reductions that contribute to the hotel group’s sustainability drive and improve the customer experience. 

Travelodge welcomes more than 19 million guests every year, with an estate of nearly 600 hotels and 48,000 bedrooms across the UK, Ireland, and Spain. The hotel group runs at around a 92% occupancy rate, but with customers usually out of the room during the day, energy is often used unnecessarily. As the largest independent hotel group in the UK, Travelodge has made sustainability the heart of its building portfolio through its Travelodge Green Programme. That’s why, as heating and cooling represents Travelodge’s dominant energy demand, a focus was placed on avoiding heat loss in rooms where energy use is 100% manual. 

A European Commission’s Joint Research Centre study demonstrated that optimising heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) could save 323MWh per year in a 100-room hotel.  

To realise the potential benefits of energy optimisation, Travelodge partnered with SmarterDM to roll out its integrated energy system to monitor and manage heating and cooling. Travelodge implemented a trial across 10 of its hotels, where the bespoke energy management system developed by SmarterDM was installed.  

SmarterDM’s Smarter Panel Heaters were fitted in guest bedrooms, using intelligent occupancy sensors to record when bedrooms were in use. These heaters were connected wirelessly via a network to monitor and control the room temperature, ensuring guests were comfortable when the rooms were occupied, but reducing heat when they were empty. Bespoke hardware and software was developed around Travelodge’s focused energy strategy, reflecting the hotel’s specific installation and operational requirements. 

The wireless intelligent management system uses Dimplex-designed networked Smarter Panel Heaters and a custom-built SmarterDM network to control and manage the energy used to heat and cool individual bedrooms in real-time. The  panel heaters seamlessly complement the hotel room design and provide personalised temperature control for guests. At the same time, occupancy sensors enable complete monitoring, reporting, and scheduling via an online portal. 

By implementing specific control parameters, such as a temperature range from 10 to 21°C, the system ensures energy efficiency while temporarily boosting the temperature to 25°C. While intelligent monitoring and guest control are ideal for hotel bedrooms, the system can also be extended to over-door heaters, ventilation systems and air conditioning in buildings across the Travelodge estate. Much like the lighting and in-bedroom heating, these can be monitored and controlled centrally or via the online portal to provide maximum efficiency and guest comfort. 

Benefits and energy saving  

The trial delivered savings of more than 40% per hotel on in-bedroom heating costs, leading to the solution being rolled out widely across the Travelodge portfolio. It has been installed on over 400 sites and 30,000 bedrooms so far. The solution’s proven financial benefit is matched by substantial carbon reductions, contributing significantly to the hotel group’s sustainability drive. 

The occupancy sensors ensure that heating and cooling are not used when the room is empty, providing crucial and significant savings both financially and in terms of carbon. The data collected and collated by the intelligent management system also provides an accurate energy profile across the buildings of its estate. The real-time data provided by the system allows for an immediate response to something like an unexpected rise or fall in outside temperature. In addition, the long-term data provides an accurate model that can be used to predict future energy use. 

For hotel guests’ comfort, introducing the SmarterDM Smarter Panel Heaters has provided greater control of the temperature of individual rooms, with accuracy within 0.2°C. Guests who want a higher temperature can also use the 15-minute 25°C boost, which can be used for a further 30 minutes when required. 

Ensuring a smooth rollout  

Because of its high occupancy rates, Travelodge wanted to ensure that the high-quality heaters could be installed without disrupting its customers or operations. The quick installation took less than ten minutes per room and was critical to a successful rollout. The heater design complemented Travelodge’s room aesthetic, and the installation was non-intrusive, with no need to drill into walls.  

Wireless information monitoring is achieved via a cloud-based hub using a unique ISM (Industrial Scientific and Medical) band LoRa (Long Range) network meshing private radio network, developed by SmarterDM, that ensures the hotel’s Wi-Fi infrastructure remains unaffected. 

Pete Lister, Director of Risk and Compliance, Travelodge Group, says: “Travelodge engaged with SmarterDM to deliver a solution to help us control temperatures in our hotel bedrooms and drive energy savings across our estate. The system is easy to use, allows us to create a consistent customer experience across the hotels in which it is installed, has enhanced our sustainability credentials as a business and delivered savings above and beyond what was forecasted. The roll-out programme is now a core part of our strategy moving forward.” 

dimplex.co.uk/smarterdm