Heating season is one of the most expensive times of year for a hotel — and one of the most preventable sources of budget overruns. Hotels that prepare their systems and contracts before the cold arrives consistently outperform those that scramble reactively when the first frost hits. This checklist covers everything your team should address before December.

✅ Review and Lock In Your Natural Gas Contract

If your hotel is in a deregulated gas market and on a variable rate, fall is an ideal time. It is time to evaluate fixing your gas price for the heating season. Gas prices historically rise from fall through February as heating demand increases. Contracting before the seasonal run-up provides both budget protection and rate certainty for Q4 and Q1 planning.

⚡ Energy Now Tip: Even in regulated gas markets, check whether your utility offers budget billing or pre-buy programs. These reduce seasonal cash flow swings even if they don’t change the underlying rate.

✅ Schedule HVAC System Maintenance and Tune-Ups

Before heating season begins, schedule annual maintenance for every boiler, heat pump, and HVAC unit. Maintenance includes burner cleaning and efficiency testing for boilers. Also replace filters across air handlers, clean coils on heat pumps and fan coil units, calibrate thermostats, and inspect economizer controls. An HVAC system running 10% below efficiency spec will cost you that 10% in gas or electricity every month of the season.

⚡ Energy Now Tip: Request combustion analysis testing during boiler tune-ups. A boiler operating at 78% combustion efficiency when it’s rated for 87% is burning 12% more gas than it needs to. This single number can quantify the value of a tune-up in dollars.

✅ Inspect and Upgrade Building Envelope

Heat loss through the building envelope is one of the major energy costs. It involves windows, doors, loading dock seals, roof penetrations, and pipe insulation. This issue is particularly relevant for older hotel properties. Walk the perimeter and back-of-house with a focus on air infiltration. Drafts around loading dock doors and worn window seals indicate dollars flowing out of the building.

✅ Set Winter HVAC Schedules and Unoccupied Setbacks

Update your building automation system or thermostat programming for winter set points. Guest room temperatures should setback to 65°F or below when unoccupied. Common areas should have heating schedules that align with actual use patterns rather than running at comfort temperatures 24 hours a day. Meeting rooms and banquet spaces should be heated on-demand rather than continuously.

⚡ Energy Now Tip: Check your smart thermostat or BAS scheduling annually — seasonal drift and overrides by maintenance staff can gradually erode setback savings. A systematic review before heating season restores savings that may have quietly disappeared.

✅ Test Backup Systems and Emergency Protocols

Winter weather events can disrupt power and gas supply. Before the season: test your backup generator under load, verify fuel levels and contracts for propane or diesel backup heating, and ensure your emergency contact list for utility outages is current. A hotel that loses heat in a February storm without a tested backup protocol faces guest safety issues, reputational damage, and potential liability.

⚡ Energy Now Tip: Review your utility’s outage notification and compensation programs. Many commercial customers are entitled to bill credits for extended outages — but claims must often be filed within a specific window.

✅ Enroll in Winter Demand Response Programs

Many utilities run winter demand response programs that pay hotels to reduce electricity use during cold-snap grid stress events. Fall is the enrollment window for most programs — you can’t join in February when the event happens. Contact your utility account representative now to ask about winter DR program availability.

Winter energy management isn’t complicated — but it does require getting ahead of the season rather than reacting to it. Energy Now works with hotel clients to execute pre-season energy planning, contract management, and system optimization that sets properties up for a lower-cost, higher-efficiency heating season.

Ready to optimize your energy strategy? Contact us today to explore customized solutions for your property portfolio.