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Why LED Lighting May Be the Best Solution for Your Hotel

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You’ve no doubt heard the term LED. And, perhaps you are even considering converting to LED lighting. Sure, you’ve heard it will drive down your energy costs and move your hotel to a “greener” future. But, why is today’s LED lighting technology really the best solution for you and your hotel?

Why LED Lighting?

Overall, LED lighting is a more efficient product. As a hotelier, you no longer have to sacrifice quality of light. LED lighting provides the light quality needed to help transform your hotel into a home away from home. In addition, it drives down maintenance costs and reduces cooling costs to make for a more comfortable setting.

While LED lighting is the best option in terms of lowering operating costs, improving environmental profile and reducing electric bills, the key to achieving effective LED lighting is smart design. Bad design can lead to problems that sometimes cannot even be detected until it’s too late. LED lighting, when designed well, can be more efficient, durable, versatile and last longer than incandescent and fluorescent lighting.

Benefits of LED Lighting in Hotel Applications

Qualified commercial LED lighting products use at least 75 percent less energy and last 35 times longer than incandescent lighting. Plus, qualified LED lighting produces virtually no heat and provides optimal light color for any hotel environment, including parking lots, back of the house areas such as kitchens and maintenance rooms, hallways, lobbies, guestrooms, pool areas, and more.

Traditionally, hotel rooms have been lighted with incandescent or halogen lights; however, hotel rooms have recently been lighted with CFLs, which are less expensive but have some fallbacks. While CFLs emit less energy, their lifespan is not as long as LEDs and require more maintenance. CFLs also contain materials such as mercury, which can be a potential hazard to clean up if the bulb breaks.

Additionally, CFLs have poor light quality. Guests want to be able to see well in their room. From preparing for a meeting and applying makeup to just simply reading a book, guests do many things in their rooms and the quality of light plays a huge role in getting these things accomplished. If these basic tasks can’t get done because of bad lighting, a guest would potentially reconsider staying there again. Repeat business, especially amongst business travelers, is key to your hotel’s continued growth. By implementing LED lighting in a guestroom, hotel providers can save almost 50 percent without sacrificing temperature and setting, all while still achieving that home feel.

Parking garages are a perfect application in which LED lighting can be used. Currently, many parking garages use fluorescent tube lighting, which adds up to a costly maintenance bill. Typically, hotel providers need to hire a local contractor that has access to lifts so the exterior lighting system can be repaired and properly maintained. Beyond this added expense, hotel maintenance needs to supervise the project when they can be doing other tasks within the hotel and improving the guest experience. By using LED lighting technology in a parking garage, hotel providers can save 50 percent in operating and maintenance costs.

Also consider how lights are on around the clock in the back of the house portion of a hotel. From the kitchen and laundry rooms to maintenance and housekeeping, LED lighting emits less energy and heat, making it a more comfortable setting for the staff and less cost in terms of an electric bill.

From hotel rooms and hallways to back of the house and parking lots, these are just a few applications for LED lighting. Overall, it can be a significant cost savings from an operation standpoint, as well as an improvement upon the guest experience.

Tips for LED Lighting Implementation

When deciding to implement LED lighting throughout your hotel, consider that each hotel is different. Nothing is cookie cutter even with hotel chains. Additionally, realize that while you might know about LED lighting, you might not know the ins and outs of the industry. Not all LED products and warranties are created equal.

Working with LED consultants will help you navigate through the process—from determining what can be installed in existing fixtures to what might need to be completely changed out. When evaluating consultants, make sure they have the abilities to perform your project. Does the consultant sell only one product or research the market and recommend only the best products for the application? Do they have a full solution so there isn’t any finger pointing among installers, manufacturers and suppliers? Does the consultant provide a performance warranty on the product and the labor? How about a financial analysis on your conversion comparing current to proposed and all the savings? Provided that prices are competitive, the solution meets your needs and you reap the benefits of the return on investment, you will be confident in your decision to convert to LED lighting. It is not uncommon for a company to receive a 75 percent decrease just on lighting bills alone, which doesn’t include the savings in operating costs.

Ultimately, as a hotel provider, you need to determine what best fits your hotel’s needs. Do you have the resources and expertise to accomplish this project? What will help enhance the guest experience? What will help drive down your operational costs? What will drive repeat business? These are all things to consider when choosing LED lighting. Now the ball is in your court.

Joe Sorce is vice president of CCG LED Solutions, an LED lighting company that acts as a consultant throughout the entire LED lighting process. By collaborating with its clients across a wide variety of industries of all sizes, CCG LED Solutions helps customers maximize their payback and return on investments through the use of LED lighting. For more information, visit www.ccgled.com.

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