Whether people reserve hotel rooms for a family getaway or an important business trip, they all have one thing in common: they want to be comfortable during their stay. In a USA Today article, plenty of “road warriors” listed room temperature problems as one of their “biggest complaints” with one saying this affects whether she’d return to a particular hotel or not.
In 2019, eHotelier.com listed the top five guest complaints. Number one: “My room is too hot/cold.” They note that, in fact, about one in every four complaints focused on unsatisfactory room temperatures. Then, if you do a quick Google search on the subject and browse review sites, you’ll often find this complaint in reviews posted and comments made about less than satisfactory hotel, motel, and resort stays.
So, the case is clear. Having quality hotel heating and cooling units where guests can feel empowered and maintain a sense of control really matters. The question then becomes one about which units are best. This guide will help. Plus, if you already know you want to upgrade your hotel air conditioner units or want to explore potential energy savings, please contact our experts online or call 800-359-6741.
Air Conditioning Systems of Yesterday and Today
First, the good news. Just about any air conditioning system would have seemed heavenly to guests from one hundred years ago. (That said, you’re not wanting to please them. You need to satisfy today’s savvy leisure and business travelers.)
Here’s a quick history of air conditioning in the United States. According to the U.S. Department of Energy, a Florida resident named Dr. John Gorrie decided that keeping cool would help people to avoid diseases like malaria and otherwise address the “evils of high temperatures.”
Plus, he knew that, if patients could be kept cool, they’d feel more comfortable. His 1840s version of cooling hospital rooms involved shipping ice from frozen lakes of the northern states to Florida. Gorrie also experimented with creating an artificial cooling system with a horse-powered compressor, water, and sails driven by sails or steam. He got a patent, but the death of his main financial backer stopped him in his tracks.
Gorrie’s work laid the foundation for modern air conditioning systems, though, and inspired future innovators. By 1902, an “Apparatus for Treating Air” was patented and formed the basis of regulating air temperatures and humidity in textile mills. In 1904, the Missouri State Building was cooled by mechanical refrigeration during the St. Louis World’s Fair and, by the 1920s, select theaters became air conditioned to the joy of movie and play watchers.
In their day, these breakthroughs brought significant relief to overheated Americans. Today’s advancements bring even more cool comfort with modern hotel air conditioner units offering energy efficient technology that Dr. Gorrie and other entrepreneurs could only dream about.
PTAC Systems
PTAC stands for a “packaged terminal air conditioner,” a self contained, all-in-one type of heating and air conditioning (HVAC) system that can be installed inside of walls. These units can have either a horizontal or vertical orientation. Because they’re self contained, they don’t require any ductwork—which means a straightforward installation process and the ability for your facilities to enjoy cost savings when compared to a central HVAC system.
Additional benefits of PTAC systems include:
- Their compact, space-saving size
- Their energy efficiency
- The ability of guests to set the temperatures they find to be comfortable
- Hotel staff don’t need to adjust the temperatures for guests
- The ability of facilities to set minimum and maximum allowable temperatures
- Quiet operation, which helps to create a relaxing environment for guests
With PTAC systems, heating and cooling energy is focused on a targeted space, which means that money isn’t wasted on large, unused areas. This provides cost savings for the lodging management while still providing a comfortable environment where people will be staying.
Now here’s how self-contained PTAC units work. Electricity sends refrigerant throughout the unit; when used as an air conditioner, heat and humidity vents out and cools the hotel room. Water from the air goes to the condenser coil through the use of a condenser fan. There, it evaporates without the need of drain piping. Simple, streamlined, and highly effective.
Hotels can install vertical PTAC units in closets and other out-of-the way places during construction, when renovating, or anytime when you need to replace one or more individual units. At MDM Commercial, we offer GE Zoneline® units that are available in a variety of BTUs:
The acronym of BTU stands for “British thermal unit” and it measures energy output. One BTU, for example, equals enough energy to raise the temperature of one pound of water by 1 degree Fahrenheit.
To determine how many BTUs you should have in your hotel’s vertical PTAC units, talk to one of our experts about the optimal size. The goal is to have enough power to effectively cool down the targeted area in your facility to the appropriate temperatures without having too much power.
When you have too many BTUs in a unit (meaning, too much power), rooms may cool down too quickly, which causes them to cycle on and off too frequently—which in turn can lead to wear and tear that will shorten the life of the units.
Our expert team can guide you to choosing the right size hotel AC for your needs.
More About GE Zoneline®
MDM Commercial offers only the most trustworthy brands with GE Zoneline® appreciated for its extreme reliability around the clock and cutting edge technology. Thanks to this brand’s consistent performance, your lodging facilities will benefit from reduced operational costs, including fewer repairs, while satisfying your guests in cool comfort. So it’s no surprise that more hotels, motels, resorts, and other lodging facilities are choosing GE Zoneline®.
Additional benefits of this brand of hotel air conditioner units include the following; you can:
- Maximize energy savings through the units’ super seal system that reduces air filtration cycles
- Reduce operating costs through digital controls and electronic temperature limiting that allow you to protect unoccupied rooms from seasonal temperature change fluctuations
- Take full advantage of the latest technological innovations
- Benefit from universal components that simplify repairs and renovations and use them across facilities, as needed
- Use these units in new construction as well as during upgrades and individual unit replacements
GE has introduced an innovative type of vertical PTAC. Called vertical packaged terminal unit units (ZVACs), these smoothly curved units seamlessly fit into closet enclosures and can be ducted into one room or multiple ones. The most energy efficient HVAC systems available today, they feature:
- Improved weather barriers
- Streamlined structures with integrated components to facilitate fast and easy servicing
- Special corrosion protection coatings to keep parts in peak condition/operational longer
- Strategically located service diagnostic ports that allow for convenient diagnoses of issues
- Simplified installation of thermostats, external fans, and central desk controls; this also facilitates maintenance and repairs
- Sleek and slim appearance to blend into any room design
- Shallower depth, which requires less space
- Guest-friendly displays through the use of large, white LED lights
- Automatic dimming feature to ensure less brightness of lights at night
Analyzing Energy Efficiency for Upgrades
When choosing and installing hotel air conditioner and heater technology in new buildings, you benefit from today’s most modern options that focus on energy efficiency. It can also make sense to regularly consider the operational costs of keeping older units in your hotels, motels, resorts, and other lodging facilities.
How much more efficiently could you heat and cool your guest rooms if you upgraded to today’s models? How much would you save on repair costs through strategic upgrades? How much more peace of mind and product coverage would you have with the warranties associated with your new units?
Using this analysis, you can determine what makes sense to upgrade now. If this doesn’t include all of your facilities or all of the rooms within a particular location, you can make, for example, a five-year plan where you prioritize replacements of the most outdated units. When you contact the experts at MDM Commercial, we can help with the analysis and provide personalized recommendations for your plan.
Plus, we’re fully plugged into the air conditioning industry and we keep track of technological advances and energy efficiency initiatives. This incudes the U.S. Department of Energy’s Emergency Technologies Program that supports research that’s leveraged to continue to make air conditioning even more efficiently sustainable. Although no one can predict future advances, you can count on MDM bringing you the best and latest options.
MDM: Full Range of Air Conditioning Technology
MDM is your one-stop shop for lodging air conditioning products and services. We provide quality hotel in-room AC units, PTAC air conditioner units, and vertical PTAC (vertical packaged terminal air conditioners). Plus, we provide lodging facilities with the accessories and guest interfaces they need with services ranging from expert consultation and installation.
You can count on expert selection assistance, efficient full delivery services, unsurpassed installation, and debris removal. For your convenience, we bundle shipments so that all items can arrive together. In short, MDM Commercial provides flexible, customizable, enhanced delivery and installation services to precisely meet your facility needs.
We guarantee that every single unit we install will function efficiently in ways that will meet or exceed your expectations. As far as scheduling, we recognize that hotels, motels, and resorts don’t operate on a 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. schedule—and, with MDM, you can count on your on-call account manager for efficient, personalized assistance right when you need it.
Choose MDM for Your Hotel Air Conditioner and Heater Technology
MDM Commercial offers comprehensive hotel air conditioner and heater solutions for the lodging industry. Our decades of experience allows us to create customized plans to meet each client’s needs, no matter how many or few rooms you have that need HVAC solutions and no matter how few or how many facilities you have.
From your first discussion with us, you’ll have a dedicated account manager to answer your questions and assist you throughout the process: from product selection to scheduling and from installation to follow up. Working with MDM is easy when you’re ordering products for brand new construction and when you need system upgrades or servicing. Because of our bulk buying power, you’ll always benefit from today’s competitive pricing, which allows you to achieve your return on investment goals more quickly.
We go above and beyond hotel heating and cooling units to serve our clients in the lodging industry. That’s because we also provide commercial grade televisions, mini refrigerators, microwaves, ice dispensing machines, and much more to help you to provide an exceptional guest experience in cost-effective ways. To find out more, please get in touch with our hospitality experts online or call 800-359-6741. We’re here and ready to get started!