NEW ALBANY, MISS.—Master-Bilt, manufacturer and supplier of a full line of premier commercial refrigeration, announces the appointments of James Watkins as Regional Manager for the Mid-Atlantic/SE Sales Region and Brian McMillin as Customer Service Manager effective immediately.  “Brian and James have well-established, successful track records with tremendous experience,” says Bill Huffman VP Sales and Marketing, Master-Bilt. “They are strong additions to Master-Bilt and complement the experience of our team.”James Watkins has more than 15 years’ experience in the walk-in industry and has held positions as a Service Analyst, Inside Sales Representative, Regional Sales Manager, Customer Relations Manager, and most...

NATIONAL REPORT—Businesses and consumers alike are feeling the heat from rising utility costs, but commercial buildings in particular, such as hospitals, shopping centers and offices, have been taking a significant hit considering they account for about one-fifth of domestic energy consumption. While the utilities price index, published by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, has increased in line with the improving economy, commercial building energy consumption has also been on a steady upward trend. Even before the recession, energy consumption of commercial buildings grew a whopping 69 percent from 1980 to 2009. Based on projections from the Energy Information Administration,...

PORT WASHINGTON, N.Y.—Evolve Controls, a provider of enterprise wireless solutions, introduced two guest-facing applications running on the Room Operations Center (ROC), its next generation room control platform. The applications are designed to deliver touch control of virtually every element in a hotel room, ranging from temperature and lighting to the operation of the draperies and beyond. Far beyond that, however, GuestX applications deliver personalized, content-driven information and interactions.GuestX Concierge is deployed on devices running Microsoft Windows 8; GuestX YOU is specifically designed so that hotel guests can download the same functionality to their mobile phones or other devices (BYOD),...

TETIAROA, FRENCH POLYNESIA—The Brando, a luxury resort on French Polynesia’s private atoll of Tetiaroa, composed of a dozen islets surrounding a sparkling lagoon 30 miles north of Tahiti, is now open. The Brando is a pioneering model of sustainable technology with seawater air-conditioning and renewable energy systems, without any sacrifice to luxury or comfort. Designed to reflect Polynesian lifestyles and culture, the all-inclusive resort features 35 deluxe villas, each with its own private beach area and plunge pool. Exclusive and private, access to The Brando is a 20-minute flight from Tahiti by Air Tetiaroa to Tetiaroa’s airfield. “There is...

SALT LAKE CITY—At Hospitality Industry Technology Exposition and Conference (HITEC), held recently in Los Angeles, Control4, a provider of residential and commercial automation systems, showcased the latest update to its hotel automation solution, which adds seamless, secure wireless music streaming capabilities for hotel guests and improved energy intelligence solutions for hotel owners. Control4 Hospitality OS 2.5.3 adds support for the company’s Wireless Music Bridge, which allows guests to stream music from their smartphones, tablets, or other portable devices via Bluetooth. Wireless Music Bridge gives listeners access to their private music libraries as well as streaming music from services like Pandora,...

RENO, NEV.—The capital costs and the environmental impact of operating a large resort hotel almost always coincide. Heating, laundry, lighting, landscaping—they all have an impact on both a resort’s bottom line and the natural environment. Hotels have the opportunity to save money and save the environment at the same time, but launching conservation projects that significantly reduce a hotel’s environmental footprint and operating budget takes strategy, some innovative thinking and a commitment to capitalize conservation efforts. Here are five ways The Peppermill Resort, Spa, Casino saves millions of dollars each year while conserving water and energy and reducing the resort’s overall...

EL SEGUNDO, CALIF.—RENSON, a European developer and manufacturer of sun shading and ventilation system solutions, announces the establishment of its North American sales and distribution network. The company, which was founded in Belgium in 1909 and employs approximately 600 across the globe, is presently growing a North American distributorship for its products, which is initially being established in the Mid-Atlantic, Pacific Northwest, Southeast and Western regions of the United States.“With installations of our products around the world, we are excited to now be making a localized commitment to sales and distribution in the U.S. market,” said Paul Renson, the...

WALTHAM, MASS.—American DG Energy Inc., a leading On Site Utility offering clean electricity, heat, hot water and cooling solutions to hospitality, healthcare, housing and athletic facilities, announced that BUILDINGS magazine has selected On-Site Utility as a 2014 Money-Saving Product winner. On-Site Utility is part of an elite group of 97 products and services showcased in the magazine’s June 2014 issue.Finalists were evaluated by the BUILDINGS editorial staff for the money-saving qualities they offer to building owners and facility managers in areas such as energy consumption, water savings, lighting, envelope improvement, and maintenance.Click here for more information.

MOUNT LAUREL, N.J.—More than two years after going “live” with their 756-kilowatt solar photovoltaic (PV) system—a structure based on 10 carports in the hotel’s parking area—the owners of the Wyndham Philadelphia-Mount Laurel are investing in additional systems to further reduce energy and water consumption and costs significantly. Investments involve a switch from heating oil to natural gas for air and water heating, an LED retrofit project, and an upgrade to ultra high efficiency toilets.Rishi Shah, Asset Manager of the hotel, says the current transition to natural gas for heating involves a significant mechanical system upgrade. “We are upgrading boilers...

MILWAUKEE, WIS.—Telkonet, Inc., whose complementary business divisions include EcoSmart, an energy management technology platform featuring Recovery Time technology and EthoStream, one of the largest high-speed Internet access (HSIA) providers in the world, announced that the Metropolitan Hotel in downtown Cleveland, Ohio has selected the EcoSmart system to manage guest comfort and energy use and the EthoStream HSIA solution to provide wireless communication infrastructure.The project will be the largest installation of the combined technologies for Telkonet to date at more than a $529,000 value. EthoStream will provide a robust converged network to support public Wi-Fi, administrative networks and the underlying...