The path to greener hospitality starts inside the guest room

Sustainability becomes both a priority and a pressure point. This creates a tension familiar to every operator: how do we deliver meaningful sustainability improvements without adding operational strain?

Sustainability is often seen as a complex challenge requiring major investments. But sometimes, progress begins with the simplest and most scalable actions. Optimizing energy use in guest rooms is one of those actions: low disruption, high-impact, measurable, and meaningful.

Guest rooms, which are unoccupied for large portions of the day (research shows up to 60% of the time), represent one of the most untapped opportunities for carbon reduction. Heating and cooling empty rooms is a hidden drain on both emissions and budgets, yet it is an area where simple, scalable efficiency measures can make a substantial difference.

This is why intelligent energy management is emerging as a critical tool for sustainability leaders. By automatically adjusting HVAC levels in empty rooms, hotels can significantly cut their carbon footprint without compromising comfort. Occupancy detection technology using sensors that register both motion and body heat helps systems to tell the difference between an empty room and one where a guest is simply resting. These reductions directly support ESG frameworks, Scope 1 and 2 emissions targets, and provide reliable data operators increasingly need for ESG reporting.

Remote management capabilities strengthen this further. Being able to monitor, adjust, and optimize room settings across an entire property (or even a portfolio) helps operators maintain consistent standards, identify inefficiencies, and address issues quickly, all while operating with leaner staffing levels. Increasingly hotels are moving toward connected foom ecosystems, where thermostats, sensors, and management platforms work together to automate energy decisions, streamline operations and provide the data needed for more robust ESG reporting.

For many businesses, sustainability is often framed as a large-scale transformation requiring major investment. But the reality is that progress often begins with small, practical steps that fit within the daily rhythm of a hotel. Improving how we manage energy in guest rooms, reducing unnecessary heating or cooling, and making smarter use of data can deliver measurable reductions in carbon output while easing cost pressures rather than adding them.