Luxury Texas resort enhances guest comfort with Wireless HVAC Retrofit.
Lakeway Resort and Spa, an award-winning AAA Four Diamond Resort known for its high standards, has modernized its manual and labor-intensive HVAC system retrofit upgrade with wireless technology, resulting in increased cost savings and operational efficiency.
Lakeway Resort and Spa, located in the heart of Texas Hill Country, relied on a labor-intensive process to adjust the thermostats across 40 standalone fan coil units. Twice a year, the hotel’s staff had to manually access each thermostat for seasonal adjustments, which involved physically pulling down covers, adjusting settings, and replacing the covers—an operation that took 1.5 to 2 days to complete.
Despite trying other wireless systems, the hotel encountered communication problems and found previous solutions required obsolete repeaters. To find a more efficient and reliable solution, the hotel turned to its trusted HVAC contractor, Air Performance Service of Central Texas.
Wireless possibilities
Realizing the limitations of the existing thermostats, which could not support BACnet communication, Air Performance Services decided on a more effective approach. They replaced the existing thermostats with cost-effective BACnet-compatible models, collaborating with Building Controls and Solutions (BC&S), the local distributor for LumenRadio products, to explore innovative wireless alternatives for the property.
BC&S, identified LumenRadio’s W-BACnet wireless products as the ideal solution. The W-BACNet devices could be seamlessly integrated into the new thermostats connected to the fan coil units, forming a reliable wireless mesh network that would allow for centralized control.
These wireless systems formed six reliable mesh networks across the hotel’s six floors, allowing the management to control and adjust all 40 units from a single interface. Installation was quick and simple, with the devices placed on ceiling returns, eliminating the need for complex wiring and significantly reducing installation time. Integration into the hotel’s Building Automation System (BAS) enabled efficient remote control.
- 6-8 Fan coil units (FCUs) per floor
- 40 FCU’s total across 6 floors
- 42 LumenRadio W-BACnet units
“Ease of use is the main benefit. Being able to change the set points of all 40 fan coil units from one interface is huge! Otherwise, the hotel would have to go to each FCU one by one, pull down the unit, adjust the thermostat, and put it back up. They would need to do this twice a year, for the summer and winter seasons. This results in massive time, labor, and cost savings for the hotel.”
Mark Lindsey – Systems Account Manager for Air Performance Services Central Texas
Great Cost Savings
The benefits of implementing LumenRadio’s wireless technology were immediately apparent:
- Labor and Time Savings: By eliminating the need for manual adjustments, the hotel saved significant time. Previously, adjusting all fan coil units took up to two days, costing between $700 and $950 annually in labor. The new system allowed for remote adjustments, completely removing the need for on-site thermostat changes.
- Cost Avoidance: Hardwiring the standalone fan coil units would have cost the hotel an estimated $100,000, including additional construction costs and operational downtime. By opting for a wireless retrofit, the project was completed at 1/10th of the cost of wiring, without business downtime.
- Ease of Use: The wireless system allowed hotel management to control all 40 fan coil units from a single interface, greatly improving operational efficiency and responsiveness to temperature adjustments.
Conclusion
Thanks to the collaboration between Air Performance Services, BC&S, and LumenRadio, Lakeway Resort and Spa successfully modernized its HVAC system with a wireless solution. By moving away from manual adjustments and embracing wireless technology, the resort has modernized its operations, saved on labor costs, and avoided the need for expensive hardwiring.
This upgrade not only enhances operational efficiency but also ensures that the hotel can provide a comfortable environment for its guests without disruption. Wireless technology has proven to be a cost-effective and flexible solution, positioning Lakeway Resort as a forward-thinking establishment in the hospitality industry.
