BCHA helping hotels become more energy efficient amid COVID-19

Photo: Contributed

The BC Hotel Association has teamed up with FortisBC and GreenStep to provide two sustainability programs to help hotels become more efficient while decreasing operating costs amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

“COVID-19 has been detrimental to our industry," says President and CEO of BC Hotel Association Ingrid Jarrett. “With over 400 hotels closed across the province, many are on the brink of insolvency so introducing cost-saving programs, at this time, is greatly impactful to hoteliers struggling to stay afloat. We are incredibly grateful to both FortisBC and GreenStep for collaborating with us and funding this important work.” 

BCHA members can now access resources to help identify savings in their properties and FortisBC has funded the energy analyst role which will be taken on by Dylan Tomlin, who has 15 years of experience in the utility industry.

“Hotels are notoriously high energy consumers, with the bills to prove it," says Tomlin. “Many also have aging equipment and old technology, and while most hotel managers want to save energy, they are so busy ensuring guest satisfaction that focusing on energy efficiency never hits top of the priority list." 

"These programs afford the opportunity to change that. Based on the projects we have done in the past, properties have seen an average total savings of approximately five per cent per year on energy bills. Savings like this not only have a significant economic impact for hoteliers, they are a step toward more ecologically conscious operations.”