Tourism Breaking News
Leading UAE-based smart and green FM company Farnek, has discovered that four and five-star hotels in the UAE could potentially be saving up to 10% annually on their utility bills. Put into perspective that is the equivalent of more than 835 room nights, according to STR figures for the average daily rate (AED 594) of Dubai hotels in 2021. The analysis which was conducted by Farnek’s in-house team of sustainability consultants, used data from its own hotel clients, as well from the EGBC Hotel Benchmarking Study. The team found that on average these hotels could potentially save AED 373,000 and AED 125,000 on energy and water consumption respectively, as well as additional costs for waste disposal.
“On average four and five-star hotels in the UAE spend AED 4.98 million per annum on their utility bills. By measuring, analysing and benchmarking their performance, hotels have the potential to cut their utility bills by up to 10% or AED 498,000. Of course, these are only average figures and are relative to the size of the hotel. Larger five-star resort hotels will save significantly more money than a boutique city hotel,” said Nadia Ibrahim, Associate Director – Consultancy & Sustainability at Farnek.
To help address the situation, Farnek through its innovative FM solutions company HITEK, has launched a new and upgraded version of its state-of-the-art online remote monitoring tool ‘Hotel Optimizer’ which has been helping hospitality businesses for the past 20 years in the Middle East, Africa, Asia and Europe. The digital solution supports hotel operational efficiency, by identifying potential savings through monitoring, analysing and benchmarking energy and water consumption, as well as waste generation.
“The key upgrade feature of this tool is its ‘Genuine Performance’ indicator, a unique algorithm which reflects the actual energy and water consumption of a hotel after analysing all the variables impacting the consumption of a hotel and their associated costs,” said Javeria Aijaz, Managing Director, HITEK.
There are multiple variables to consider that can influence the hotel’s indoor environmental metrics such as occupancy, guest nights, number of guest rooms, F&B covers, laundry, guest profiles, staffing levels, transportation, air-conditioned areas and even general weather conditions. Moreover, the tool can benchmark a hotel’s own historical performance as well as providing a comparison with similar sized properties, using an energy utilization index EUI (kWh/m2/year), water utilization index WUI (litres/guest nights), waste generation (kg/guest night) and waste diversion, highlighting specific operational costs. In addition, hotel owners and operators will periodically receive environmental performance reports, together with specific improvement recommendations from Farnek’s team of energy, waste and carbon consultants.
