In Northern Ireland, the Hilton Belfast is set to reduce its energy costs by a fifth and improve efficiency following a review by Expense Reduction Analysts (ERA) UK of its fuel consumption patterns.

The Hilton Belfast is part of Hilton International, an operating division of Hilton Group Plc, the most recognised name in the global hotel industry, with 390 Hilton branded hotels in 78 countries around the world.

The savings come after ERA analyst John McGowan met with Hilton Belfast's financial director Stephen Close to investigate areas of hotel expenditure where costs could be streamlined. John was able to illustrate how the ERA Value Improvement Programme could be used to review strategic and nonstrategic expenditure at the hotel to ensure it was receiving best value for money. Impressed by ERA's proposed payment by results and with the constant threat of increased gas and oil prices, especially in the hotel industry, Stephen engaged ERA to analyse expenditure on fuel at Hilton Belfast. John McGowan agreed to conduct the review and invited ERA's third party experts Brendan Byrne and Mike Daly to assist him.

"As with all hotels, the expenditure on heating and hot water is significant; in Belfast's case, over £40,000 (US$73,000) per annum," explains Stephen. "John and his team explained that they had previously developed boiler management systems that were tuned to hotels' patterns of high usage in the mornings and evenings. John also guaranteed that there would be no interruptions to the hotel's business operations, equipment or systems, and so I commissioned ERA to conduct a six-month pilot at Hilton Belfast."

Trial period
ERA introduced a technology to Hilton Belfast designed to make the boilers run more efficiently and, after trialling the technology for a period of six months, John and his team were able to present their recommendations to the Hilton Hotel Group, complete with supporting evidence. They reported average projected savings of more than 20 per cent per room sold to be spread over a 12-month period when taking into account varying external temperatures over this time period which effect usage rates.

The results were so promising that it has now been agreed with Hilton International's headquarters in Watford, England to extend the initiative and make it available to the rest of Hilton's UK hotels.

"Hilton takes its global responsibilities very seriously and, in addition to the actual cost savings, we are delighted that as a direct result of our work with ERA, we are in a position to demonstrate a positive impact on the environment due to lower gas consumption, reduced boiler burn rates and greater energy conservation," says Stephen Close, Hilton Belfast's financial director.