Cooling season puts the same kind of strain on a hotel’s energy budget that heating season does in winter — it just gets less attention because nobody associates July with a checklist. But the properties that walk into summer with a plan consistently outperform the ones that just wait for the AC to run harder as temperatures climb. Here’s what to cover before the first heat wave hits.
✅ Get Ahead of Peak Demand Pricing
Summer is when demand charges do the most damage. If your hotel is on a variable electricity rate, review it before the season’s first heat wave — not after the first high bill arrives. Many operators find that locking in a fixed summer rate, or at least understanding their exposure to peak pricing, prevents a July bill from becoming a July surprise.
| ⚡ Energy Now Tip: Ask your supplier or advisor for a summer-specific rate comparison. Some markets offer seasonal products that price cooling months differently than the rest of the year. |
✅ Service Chillers, Rooftop Units, and PTACs Before They’re Under Full Load
Coil cleaning, refrigerant charge checks, and belt inspections are cheap compared to running an under-maintained system at full capacity for three months straight. A chiller operating with dirty condenser coils can use 10–15% more electricity for the same cooling output. Schedule this before occupancy climbs, not during your busiest week.
✅ Recheck Guest Room set points and Occupancy Sensors
Winter setback schedules don’t automatically translate to smart summer settings. Confirm that unoccupied rooms are set back to energy-saving cooling temperatures, and that any occupancy sensors installed over the winter are still functioning and calibrated correctly heading into your highest-traffic months.
| ⚡ Energy Now Tip: A quick walk-through of a sample of vacant rooms before your first summer weekend often turns up sensors that were bypassed or overridden by housekeeping or maintenance staff months ago. |
✅ Shift What You Can Off Peak Afternoon Hours
Laundry, kitchen deep cleans, and non-guest-facing maintenance tasks are natural candidates for early morning or evening scheduling in summer. Afternoons see peaks in cooling load, rate pricing, and demand charge exposure. Shifting any shiftable load out of that window pays off in several ways.
✅ Confirm Your Backup and Emergency Cooling Plan
Heat waves can strain the grid the same way winter storms strain gas supply. Confirm generator readiness. Ensure guest-facing common areas have a cooling contingency. Ensure your team knows the protocol if a rolling outage or brownout hits during a sold-out weekend.
| ⚡ Energy Now Tip: Some utilities offer summer demand response programs that pay properties to reduce load during grid stress events — enrollment windows typically close before the season starts, so check now rather than in August. |
Summer energy management isn’t fundamentally different from winter. We stay ahead of the season rather than reacting to it. Energy Now helps hotel operators build cooling-season strategies that protect both comfort and the budget.
Ready to get ahead of this year’s cooling season? Contact us today for a consultation.
