Retrofitting in the hotel industry: upgrading without renovation
Between occupancy rates, RevPAR figures, and guest reviews, a subject is appearing on the agenda of more and more hoteliers that can no longer wait: the technical installations behind the scenes. Because while the lobby looks impeccable, the boiler room is working overtime on outdated logic.
Every hotel knows the story. At the opening, the building technology was the state of the art. But fifteen years later, the installations no longer work together. Heating, ventilation, lighting, access control: each system lives on its own island, with its own software and its own supplier that starts the meter running with every intervention.
The consequences are felt on every line of the operation. The energy bill increases because installations are not coordinated. Guests expect individual climate control and intuitive operation. Those who do not offer this will see it reflected in online reviews. Meanwhile, the operations team switches between different interfaces daily to keep the building running.
Retrofit: the hotel keeps running as usual
With a retrofit, nothing needs to be demolished. The existing installations remain in place, the rooms remain available, and the guests do not notice a thing. What does change, however, is the way everything is controlled: one central platform that brings together heating, ventilation, lighting, access control, and even the PMS integration.
Van Der Valk Brussels Airport: retrofit in practice
No longer five suppliers with five invoices, but one overview in which the hotelier can monitor, adjust, and expand whenever it suits them.
The Van Der Valk Hotel Brussels Airport, a seven-story tower building with 246 rooms and 17 meeting rooms, faced exactly that challenge.
After fifteen years, the building management system was no longer adequate. With a retrofit to the open TIBA3 platform from Fixsus, the entire building management was consolidated without the hotel having to close for a single day. Guests now control temperature and lighting themselves via intuitive touch panels.
The system adjusts energy consumption in real-time based on occupancy and weather conditions.
Mandatory, but not unachievable
The Flemish BACS regulations require all hotels to have a building automation and control system. A retrofit is the most logical route to comply: each phase brings the building closer to compliance, without a separate process and without double investment. “With a retrofit, every room remains occupied and no demolition or breaking work is required,” says Koen Verschuere, managing director of Fixsus. “We replace the intelligence behind the installations, not the installations themselves. The guest notices nothing, the hotelier notices it immediately.”
Dit delen:
Fixsus team
Gebouwbeheersystemen, Fixsus
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