Serviced Apartments – ‘The Green Option?’

For many, serviced accommodation is an unknown term and this is perhaps due to the fact that, within the hotel industry, it is a fairly recent concept. (The first aparthotels appeared in the capital in the 1980s). If someone told you that instead of a hotel room you could have an entire apartment for the same cost, you might think that they are scamming you. But this is the reality of renting with services. The industry grew around private owners renting to tourists who wanted a little more freedom and flexibility. A home away from home. The corporate sector soon caught on to the idea and an industry was born. Now that 60% of corporate companies have travel and relocation policies, 73% of companies around the world use apartments instead of hotels (for stays of 7 nights or more) for their traveling employees. Although the business sector has embraced the idea, it now appears that the general traveling public has little awareness of the benefits of serviced accommodation. There is a long tradition of travelers automatically opting for the hotel option, and it seems that what is needed is a change in mindset.

In this age of eco-awareness and pro-activity, perhaps the emphasis should be on the lower environmental impact of staying in an apartment. The obvious factors that influence the energy efficiency of a building are the components that make up the structure of the building. Here energy efficiency can be achieved through careful selection of windows, roof structure, insulation, heating and ventilation. Perhaps a less obvious approach would be to look at the way the people who occupy it use the space. We’re constantly getting new tips on how we can save and use less energy, and at home this usually means a small habit change that’s easy to implement. But it may not be so in a hotel. There are certain constants here that are not easily avoided. Heating a swimming pool, lighting a hallway or utility area, operating elevators, large-scale kitchen installations, and massive heating and ventilation systems are all necessary energy consumers. None of the above holds true in an apartment and when you consider that 40% of the energy consumed in a hotel is electricity and 60% comes from fossil fuels, you start to see an expanding carbon shadow hanging over the industry hotel. (In Europe alone there are more than 200,000 hotels, representing 9% of all public service buildings.) With the serviced apartment option, the manager or guest can control energy consumption in a single property and easily implement energy saving measures. (a reduction of 1 degree in the thermostat can mean a saving of 3-5% of the gas consumed). There are no common areas to heat and light. Ventilation is as simple as opening a window. Water heating can be achieved using a combi boiler, which means no hot water storage. In fact, for the environmentally conscious traveler, whether for work or pleasure, the same green measures can be applied as would be applied in your own home. Camping aside, this would seem to be the green option.

Most of the energy waste in a residential building comes from poor insulation of pipes, windows, and roofs. Leaky faucets or pipes and excessive lighting contribute to major inefficiencies. In the maze of miles of piping and wiring in a hotel or the complexities of its building management system, these issues may not be immediately addressed and therefore the financial and environmental impact may not be felt. immediately. Failures like these in a serviced apartment would immediately affect the space and would be addressed as they arose. For the accommodation operator (normally smaller companies or individuals) economic savings are a determining factor in the success or failure of their business and, therefore, the implementation of energy saving measures is a necessity. For the business sector, reducing your company’s carbon footprint will pay off in the future, as legislation begins to dictate our concessions on environmental impact. For the conscientious traveler, the reassurance of knowing he’s doing his part now may be enough to steer you away from the obvious choice of a hotel stay.

As we move from this point, we know that the environment will become the primary factor in all facets of our existence, and to this end, it would be irresponsible not to review the decisions we make today.