Commercial energy procurement
Hospitality Energy Procurement Guide
Hotels operate continuously, but energy use moves with occupancy, weather, food service, laundry, pools, conference activity, and property amenities. A procurement review should connect contract structure to those operating drivers.
Typical energy profile
Continuous base load from common areas, elevators, refrigeration, controls, and guest services.
HVAC and domestic hot water often create strong weather and occupancy sensitivity.
Laundry, kitchens, pools, spas, and meeting facilities can materially change the electricity/gas mix by property type.
What changes the buying decision
Procurement considerations
Occupancy variability
Seasonal occupancy, group bookings, renovations, and temporary closures can change usage. Procurement assumptions should not treat historical consumption as fixed.
24/7 operations
Hotels usually carry meaningful overnight and weekend load. That shape can matter when comparing products whose wholesale exposure varies by time and market structure.
Electricity and gas mix
Understand which systems use electricity versus gas: space heating, water heating, kitchens, laundry, and pools can shift commodity exposure substantially.
Portfolio consistency
Multi-property operators should validate each location’s utility, account, contract, and usage before aggregating procurement. Similar brands do not imply identical utility or market conditions.
Budget planning
Hospitality budgets often require forward visibility. Contract structure should reflect how much cost volatility the property can absorb without relying on guaranteed savings assumptions.
Renewal calendar
Coordinate procurement with budget season, property renovations, ownership changes, and contract notice requirements so the decision window is operationally usable.
Before requesting pricing
Questions to answer first
- How seasonal is occupancy and how closely does energy use track occupied rooms?
- Which major systems use natural gas versus electricity?
- Are renovations, closures, or ownership/management changes planned during the next term?
- For a portfolio, which properties can be evaluated together and which require separate utility treatment?