Stafford Hospitality Installing Energy Eye™ EMS in All Owned Hotels

Stafford executive says system’s guaranteed cost savings, coupled with its minimal environmental impact and guest-satisfaction capabilities, cinched decision
Energy Eye™ is proving itself to be a viable solution in the hospitality energy-management field. Recently Stafford Hospitality, a Tifton, Ga.-based hotel-management and ownership company, selected the new Energy Eye™ Wireless Radio Frequency EMS over the systems of Onity, INNCOM International, Lodging Technology and Smart Systems, as the first such system to be installed in its hotels.
Stafford Hospitality owns and/or manages eight mid-market hotels in the Southeast and Midwest. The company has installed 190 guestrooms at the Holiday Inn Tifton and will install another 171 rooms over the next two months. Rochester Hills-based Energy Eye™ developed and manufactures an affordable, easily installed, stand-alone Wireless Radio Frequency EMS that enhances guest comfort—and guest satisfaction—while drastically reducing room electricity expenses related to the ever-increasing costs of energy.
“We will be installing the Energy Eye™ system throughout our owned properties,” said Susan Smith, Stafford Hospitality’s Controller. “Managed properties will be advised of savings potential and decisions made at each property’s management level.”
Given the projected energy savings for the Holiday Inn Tifton, chances are excellent that Stafford Hospitality’s managed properties will make the same decision Stafford executives did for their corporately owned hotels.
“We have been ‘guaranteed’ a savings of more than $50,000 over 23 months,” Smith said, “and we anticipate savings immediately upon installation.”
Stafford Hospitality had no energy-management system at any of its properties in the past, Smith said, but realized that with ever-escalating costs, it was time to invest in an energy-management system that was effective, affordable, and saved on costs while enhancing guest satisfaction.
“The reason for our final selection was the definitive savings analysis and guarantee that Energy Eye™ offered,” Smith said. “Simply put, Energy Eye™ was willing to guarantee that the product would perform the specified savings—and if that guarantee were not realized, to write a check for the difference.”
Equally important to Stafford Hospitality’s choice of EMS was that it be virtually transparent to guests and allow them to fully control the temperature of their room, and that it reflect Stafford’s stated philosophy of operating hotels in an environmentally friendly manner. The Energy Eye™ system, in addition to its cost-savings benefits, met both of those conditions.
“We believe travelers today appreciate efforts to preserve the environment,” she said, “and we understand that controlling costs will allow us to maintain competitive room rates.”
Matthew Mrowczynski, executive vice president of sales and marketing for Energy Eye™, said Stafford Hospitality’s decision to install Energy Eye™ in all its owned properties—and, potentially, its managed ones—is yet another sign that Energy Eye™ has taken its place among the hospitality industry’s leading EMS vendors.
“Stafford Hospitality’s choice of the Energy Eye™ system over our competitors’ systems is incredibly gratifying for us, and it verifies what we’ve known all along—that investing in a top-quality, low-cost energy-management system that enhances guest satisfaction and saves substantially on high energy costs has become a top priority for hotel companies everywhere,” Mrowczynski said. “Stafford saw what a growing number of hotel companies are seeing—namely, that Energy Eye™ offers the industry’s most easily installed EMS at a highly affordable price and with a quick return-on-investment. And we guarantee results.”
Mrowczynski said that because the Energy Eye™ energy-management system features an RF-based wireless platform, sensor components require no complicated wiring—which means that room installation can be completed in about 20 minutes.
“Energy Eye™ can be installed room-by-room between checkouts, so blocking out rooms—and sacrificing hard-to-come-by room revenue—is now a thing of the past with Energy Eye™,” he said. “Like we tell all our potential clients: One of the advantages we have over other systems is the quick and easy installation Energy Eye™ features. We never forget to remind our clients that unrented rooms for one additional day can double their ROI period.”