Are you experiencing the following dilemma as a rental company in the recreational industry? A diminished guest experience due to lower comfort or an unnecessary rise in energy costs? Koole Controls, together with our Smart Home solution, will help you choose a golden mean. This is realized by installing a piece of hardware into the accommodation which, in combination with our software, will create balance regarding the information of reservation for the heating system and door locks. Implementing our solution can result in tremendous savings of tens of percents. Where do you see a profit to be made?
1) Warm welcome
As the start of a reservation is approaching, the system will start heating the accommodation at exactly the right moment. This means that when the guest(s) arrive, the home will be at a pleasant temperature without wasting energy on unnecessary heating. In other words, savings made without reducing the guest comfort.
2) Savings during vacancy
Our software can automatically reduce the setpoint of the thermostat at the end of the reservation period to the 'vacancy setting'. The guest doesn't have to do a thing and you do not need to wait for a member of staff to manually adjust the thermostat in order to save energy.
3) Maximum temperature
Lowering the temperature lowers the energy costs by about 6% for every degree. The reverse is true if the guest decides to turn up the thermostat. This is exactly the reason our system offers the possibility of setting a limit on the thermostat. The guest van freely control the temperature of the accommodation within the set limits.
4) Night reduction mode
It can help to activate the night reduction mode at a certain time, without sacrificing a lot of guest comfort. For example, the temperature can automatically be lowered between 10 PM and 6 AM, which generally doesn't create a problem as the guests are usually asleep during that time period. If enabled, this energy saving mode will start automatically and you can choose if stops automatically, or that the system requires the guest to manually change the thermostat setting in the morning.
5) Cooling
It is also possible to connect the air conditioning units to our Smart Home technology, helping you save energy with temperature limits, night mode and vacancy mode. Additionally, it enables the possibility to provide your guests with a ''cool welcome''.
6) General
Instead of sending a member of staff out to manually optimize the conditions in the accommodation you can automatically control the climate in the holiday home using the systems created by Koole Controls. Our solution provides a scalable method of saving time and money, all while providing your guest with a great experience enabled by our products such as license plate recognition and smart door locks.
Koole Controls is happy to think together with you about solutions which save energy and reduce operational costs. We can also help with power limits for camping spots for which we are currently conducting a pilot an De Krim Texel. If you are interested, please contact Jeroen Koole.
Q&A with Yvette van Veen, Operational Director of De Krim Texel
Q1. How have you experienced the products/services of Koole Controls and the use of Smart Home within your organisation.
"We are very happy to be working with Koole Controls and together we keep innovating. As an example, KCSmartHome provides our customer with a 'warm welcome', meaning they will always arrive in an accommodation with a pleasant temperature. This is very important for us. We set the temperature and KCSmartHome does the rest."
Q2. Which business problems have you managed to solve/reduce using SmartHome?
“With the use of smart locks in a lot of our accommodations, the amount of guests that visits the front desks to pick up the key and check in has drastically reduced. Guests can drive directly to their holiday home. This means they do not have to wait at the front desk and our colleagues can welcome them in the park itself.”.
Q3. What are the benefits as an organisation using SmartHome in the accommodations?
“Automatic climate control is a great example of one of the benefits. We can keep the temperature of the accommodation low when vacant. At the start of the reservation the system automatically heats up the home, providing the guest a warm welcome.”.
Q4. What is the reason for starting the pilot regarding camping spots? And are you hoping to achieve?
“The energy grid of Texel is overloaded, leaving almost no room for expansion. Additionally the global development restraint regarding the use of energy. For example, Certifications like Greenkey are increasingly assessing energy saving practices. Enough reasons for us to start a pilot at one of our camping sites. Guests that use a lot of electricity will pay extra and guests who do not use a lot of electricity will save money. We hope to save energy and provide our guests with an opportunity to pay less.”.
Q5. What are the guest experiences, the ultimate focus of our efforts?
“Using smart solution our guests arrive in a home with a comfortable temperature. They can travel directly to their accommodation or camping spot without having to visit the front desk and our employees have more time to welcome them and advise them about the many activities/places to go on the island.l”.
Q6. Would you recommend working together with Koole Controls to your colleagues withing the industry?
“We do indeed. Koole Controls thinks with us in a proactive manor and give us solicited as well as unsolicited advice. As far as we are concerned they are the industry leading provider for a innovative recreational company like us and a pleasant partner to collaborate with.”.
