Staying Cool While Cutting Costs

This article is about being energy efficient in order to control costs. It focuses primarily on minibar systems and in-room refrigerators. These simple appliances have come a long way and are now more technologically advanced. They are more efficient and “smarter” which makes them more of a sound investment for hoteliers looking to upgrade. The key to these appliances becoming more efficient is a combination of improved cooling technologies and more sophisticated energy management systems. Both of these products have the ability to be monitored via the internet and constantly regulated so that motors do not work more than necessary and power is saved. Energy Star rated products are approved as efficient products and are an easy way for purchasers to evaluate efficiency. Minibar systems seem to have progressed the most. New wireless technologies improve inventory control and even can provide maintenance reports. When items are removed a system can track this and provide necessary inventory needs for attendants. Some systems are even able to communicate without any need for a wireless local area network or a hardwired network. Each minibar can communicate with each other all the way back to a main server. Essentially each minibar becomes a node on a circular network. This kind of technology coupled with more efficient appliances means a more valuable product for today’s hotelier.

I found this article very intriguing because I have first hand experience with how difficult minibars can be. I worked in a very large hotel with antiquated hardwire minibar systems. They constantly were reporting false purchases or failing to report at all causing a loss in revenue. Also, many of these appliances would break without anyone realizing it, causing products to be warm and unhappy guests. I am sure that these old machines were guzzling energy and inflating utility bills which is very costly considering today’s energy costs. It is great to offer either a minibar or refrigerator to guests but it is counter productive if they cause problems and eat up valuable energy. The most innovative idea that was presented in the article was that these appliances could create their own network. This would allow new installations to be done quickly and easily because nothing would have to be done except plug in each unit and start up the server. It is also great because it would not use valuable bandwidth on either the local area network or Wi-Fi network. I wonder if this technology could be used in other applications in order to better serve hoteliers. As long as my coke stays cold I’m happy to invite tons of technology into a minibar.

Albright, B. (September 18, 2007). Staying cool while cutting costs. Hotel Motel Management. Retrieved February 4, 2008, from http://www.hotelmotel.com/hotelmotel/In-Depth%3A+Technology/
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