Domotic systems for hotels: solutions and regulations for the hospitality sector

In today’s hospitality industry, hotel automation represents a valuable partner for reducing consumption, improving management of rooms and offering customised experiences for guests. Let’s take a look at how domotics and hotel automation systems are transforming the hospitality sector, delivering concrete benefits while complying with the latest BACS regulations and standards.

In the hospitality sector, striking the right balance between efficient management and guest comfort is an ever present objective that is increasingly complex to implement. Hotel domotics is an effective solution in this respect, thanks to the ability to optimise resources, improve service and contain costs.

Domotics for hotels and accommodation facilities refers to all the smart and automated technologies that enable centralised and remote management of a hospitality facility’s systems and services. Just as in a home or public building, the use of sensors, actuators and integrated software allows for the control of aspects such as lighting, climate control, curtain opening, room access and entertainment systems.

This facilitates a simplification of operational management, but that’s not all: hotel building automation contributes significantly to environmental sustainability, reducing energy consumption and improving the quality of service. The use of smart devices, dedicated apps and voice assistants allows the guest experience to be personalised and raises overall satisfaction, along with security, during a stay.

A domotics system for accommodation facilities is specifically designed with the characteristics of a hotel in mind, coordinating, in an intelligent manner, all the electrical, HVAC and IT systems of the building, with the main ones being:

• electronic locks with RFID or digital technology, to manage access to rooms and automatically activate utilities;

• HVAC systems to optimise consumption, adapting to the presence of guests and climate conditions;

• lighting management via DALI and DMX protocols, with dimmable lights and options to customise colours;

• IoT sensors to monitor temperature, humidity and movement, for safety and energy efficiency.

• integration with hotel management systems to automate check-in, check-out and room assignment;

• Building Management Systems and control panels for domotics are important for the general supervision of the structure and to ensure effective and efficient management of all the systems.

In terms of security, hotel domotic systems coordinate movement sensors, video cameras and smart access systems. In other words, a complete building control system that enables the constant monitoring of every aspect, including electrical and plumbing systems, thereby preventing failures and accidents.

Thanks to automation, managers of accommodation facilities can monitor consumption in real time, simplify maintenance and reduce operating costs. From a management perspective, it is therefore possible to: 

• optimise the management of resources and information:

• reduce intervention times and maintenance costs:

• guarantee high standards of security and comfort;

• ensure compliance with BACS regulations for energy efficiency.

A domotics system also allows guests, as previously mentioned, to enjoy a safer, and more engaging personalised experience: they can independently access their room or the spa via an app or digital badge, regulate the temperature and lighting based on their mood, and benefit from an environment that is always welcoming and set to their preferences.

Energy management is not only confined to the common spaces of the building. Domotics in a hotel room contributes to energy savings, detecting open windows or empty rooms and automatically turning off the air conditioning. The information gathered by recessed systems for domotics, which integrate perfectly into the design of the environment, is then processed by the central system to constantly improve management and comfort.

The BACS standard is the regulatory framework for building automation in hotels, governed by UNI EN 15232 and subsequently updated by UNI EN ISO 52120. These define the minimum requirements for building automation systems based on BACS efficiency classes (i.e. A, B, C and D) according to the functions implemented in the system.

Compliance with the EPBD and European guidelines on energy sustainability, which are becoming increasingly stringent and precise, is now a basic requirement for accommodation facilities, enabling them to reduce their environmental impact and qualify for current and future tax breaks.

Designing a system either for home automation or for hotel automation, requires careful planning. In particular, in large and complex structures such as those in the hospitality sector, special attention must be paid to the compatibility between devices and the different communication protocols, which require the adoption of components and automation panels designed for the creation of open and interconnected systems.

This choice not only anticipates various problems but also offers numerous advantages. For designers, the aim is to ensure a coherent system that can be scaled up in the future to meet the needs of the structure and that is easy to manage. With this in mind, we would strongly recommend selecting solutions based on open standards such as KNX, which allow products from different brands to be integrated within a single ecosystem, thereby reducing installation times and simplifying maintenance and customisation.

The solutions based on KNX ensure interoperability and flexibility, allowing the system to be updated or expanded without having to entirely redesign it. This compatibility is fundamental to ensuring that the automation of accommodation facilities keeps up to date with technological developments and the future challenges of increasing energy efficiency.