By Steve Shellum, Publisher/Editor, HOTEL Asia Pacific

Shangri-La is powering up its energy-management initiatives, with the results impacting how much GMs and other senior executives pick up in their year-end bonuses.

Group director of engineering Max Fankhanel has introduced a comprehensive programme of best practices designed to allow hotels to reassess the way they have operated in terms of energy management and to re-engineer the way they do things.

�The days when hotels could ignore this aspect have long since gone, but only now operators are realising how much energy they are wasting and how inefficient their processes are,� says Fankhanel. �The old school that considerred energy conservation the responsibility of engineering is dead. It  is everyone�s responsibility, from the GMs down.

�Hoteliers have never looked at maintenance as a way of doing good business, which has resulted in poor maintenance and a one-eyed approach to energy management. They are just burning the dollars.�

The group has de-coupled maintenance expenditure from year-end bonus payments. 

�Hotels must spend money on maintenance, but this is no longer bonus related,� says Fankhanel. �Previously, a lot of hotels would save on energy management and maintenance costs so it would look better on the bottom line.  

�We now monitor these costs on a monthly basis. The aim is to make sure our hotels spend money on maintenance and integrate it into best practices.

�All our hotels are singing the same tune, and aiming for ISO14001. The argument for energy management is very strong if you can get back what you invest within two years.�

Fankhanel, who has been with Shangri-La for 10 years, admits the group was struggling with energy maintenance issues during his first six years with the company. 

�Now maintenance and design have become focused in terms of the complete package. In all our new hotels, we are integrating energy-saving with design. With existing hotels, we have to grab the bit between the teeth and, as we have equity in the vast majority of the hotels we operate, we are a highly vocal partner in the process.� 

One example of energy-saving initiatives is using compact flourescent, rather than indandescent, lighting in guestrooms. �It�s a contentious issue,� admits Fanhkanel. �Interior designers feel we should be using incandescent lighting for mood, but energy management dictates that flourescent lighting makes much more economical and environmental sense.

�If it is done right, it can be very effective.

�It�s a pretty exciting time because, in the past two years, there has been a paradigm shift in dealing with all the issues. Rather than being done in a piecemeal fashion, the different systems are being properly integrated.�

The group is developing a computerised preventative-maintenance programme in both English and Chinese versions. It is currently being tested in Singapore, and will also be tested in one resort and one Chinese hotel. The trials will be completed by the end of the year.

�This is quite a big step forward for us because, in the past, we have always stayed with hard-wired systems, but the new system is a lot more user friendly and practical.

�We are really endeavouring to combine the control of the room itself, ie, the interface with the guest, to our LAN system, which allows us to manage the energy and maintenance while providing room-status control. �It allows much greater flexibility in managing the whole room system by keeping flexibility in maintenance and engineering functions.