Hotel scheme reduces energy use by up to 25%

The Sunday Times
May 3, 2009

IHG’s website offers tips on how to save money
Matthew Goodman

HOW important are a building’s green credentials in influencing travellers where they choose to stay? Increasingly so, according to the world’s biggest hotel operator.
Consumer interest, as well as a desire to save both energy and money, has prompted Intercontinental Hotels Group (IHG), the company behind brands such as Holiday Inn and Crowne Plaza, to introduce a new scheme it has dubbed Green Engage. It could lead to savings of some $200m (£135m).
The project provides practical advice to those running the company’s properties to help them cut energy usage, and allows them to compare their properties with those of rivals.
Early indications suggest that adopting Green Engage can allow hotels to cut energy consumption by up to 25%. Such a reduction clearly has an economic advantage as well as benefits to the environment.
The system is simple enough. IHG has created a website that can be accessed by the owners and general managers of its hotels. To date, 900 hotels – almost a quarter of the company’s estate – have signed up. It hopes to reach 1,000 hotels shortly.
Once they log in, managers must input details of their energy usage – the amount of gas, electricity and water that their property is consuming. This is then benchmarked against similar-sized properties in similar climes. From the data the hotel is able to gauge how well it performs and is offered guidance and practical advice on how it can improve its energy efficiency.
Tips proffered range from quick fixes that can be readily implemented, such as installing energy-efficient light bulbs, to longer-term or costlier solutions that may require more thought before they are introduced – installing solar panels, for example.
The important thing, said David Jerome, IHG’s head of corporate responsibility, is to make changes that do not affect guests’ enjoyment while at the same time helping to make buildings more environmentally friendly.
Improvements that can be made with the least amount of investment but with a high impact include window glazing and ensuring that pipes are properly insulated.
Introducing dual-flushes on toilets and installing shower heads that reduce water flow are also straightforward changes that can prove effective. Newer hotels are likely to have some of these features as standard anyway. According to Jerome, in aggregate, these changes can prove significant.
Trials of Green Engage have been held across all seven of IHG’s brands, and the group says it is being warmly received by managers. The key has been to make the website simple to use, to encourage take-up.
“Interest is very high,” said Jerome, who added that results had been fairly uniform across the different territories where it has so far been tested. This is likely to change as the scheme is taken up by more properties.
Holiday Inn, which is nicknamed Big Green in America, may soon have another reason, other than its corporate colour, to warrant the sobriquet.