Hilton Group

The heat is on as Hilton Belfast leads the way for the Hilton Hotel Group in energy savings

The Hilton Belfast is leading the way for other hotels in the Hilton Group Plc to reduce their energy costs following its engagement with Specialist Cost Auditors who found real ways to make real savings.
Rising energy costs, which are a major expenditure for all companies no matter which sector, meant the Hilton Belfast was paying £40,000 per year on heating and hot water.

The hotel’s Financial Director, Stephen Close, appointed Specialist Cost Auditors to explore ways to reduce direct and indirect overheads.

The Hilton Belfast is one of the city’s premier hotels, situated beside the Waterfront Conference Centre. The hotel has 195 bedrooms, seven suites, meeting facilities for up to 450 delegates and a Living Well health and fitness centre.

But rising costs meant savings had to be made and thanks to Specialist Cost Auditors and technology, savings are now being made.
Mr Close said: “As with all hotels, the expenditure on heating and hot water is significant. In Belfast’s case it’s over £40,000 per annum.
“John and his team explained they had previously developed boiler management systems that were tuned to hotels’ unique patterns of high usage in the mornings and evenings. Specialist Cost Auditors also guaranteed there would be no interruptions to the hotel’s business operations, equipment or systems and so I commissioned the team to conduct a six month pilot at the Hilton Belfast.”
Mr Close added that Hilton International is always seeking ways to reduce costs while improving the standards and facilities in its hotels to continually build on the customer experience.

He added: “Hilton takes its global responsibilities very seriously, and, in addition to actual cost savings, we are delighted that as a direct result of our work with Specialist Cost Auditors we are in a position to demonstrate a positive impact on the environment. This is due to lower gas consumption, reduced boiler burn rates and greater energy conservation.”

John McGowan, owner of Specialist Cost Auditors, said it’s great working with companies such as Hilton Belfast because which engage are serious about saving money.

He said: “The average projected savings the hotel would make amounted to 20 per cent per room sold to be spread out over a period of 12 months. This also took into consideration variations in external temperatures which would impact energy usage.
“The Hilton Belfast appreciated our ‘payment by results’ approach. With that in mind, and the ever increasing price hikes in oil, gas and electricity, we knew there would be savings to make.

“We were able to introduce a technology into Hilton Belfast which is designed to make boilers run more efficiently. Having trialled that now for six months the results have been so promising that the initiative is now to be made available to the rest of the Hilton’s UK based hotels.”

Hilton International is an operating division of UK-based Hilton Group Plc with annual turnover of more than £3billion. It operates 394 hotels in 78 countries around the world.

A marketing alliance with Hilton Hotels Corporation extends the number of hotels to 2,500, with 500 being branded Hilton.
Hotel owners wishing to reduce running costs and save money can contact John and his team TODAY by simply ringing a number below.

• Belfast Office – 02890 480066
• Dublin Office – 00353 1 536 3235
• London Office – 0207 849 3407
• Edinburgh Office – 0845 277 0921