Are there setup costs?

Yes, Verdafero charges an initial setup fee to get customers up and running.

Do I need to clean up my data first?

No. Verdafero can extract, normalize, and map utility bills and vendor data as-is.

What if I'm missing some data?

Organizations can start with available data; Verdafero helps identify gaps worth filling.

How fast can I see results?

Most customers can get a first emissions report within days, and many deliver customer-facing reports within a few weeks.

What if my customer wants a specific format?

Verdafero can provide data in CSV format for inclusion in customer templates.

Can I use this across 50+ locations?

Yes. Verdafero supports roll-up dashboards, per-site comparisons, and consistent reports across many facilities.

What if I cancel? Do I lose everything?

No. Customers can export their full history, reports, and calculations anytime.

Verdafero – Utility Optimization Software Platform Helps Hilton Concord stay a Leader in Sustainability

December 29, 2013
terri
HCMI, Hotel, HSSI, Press Releases

Listen: Hilton Case Study
by Verdafero Software

Verdafero – Utility Optimization Software Platform Helps Hilton Concord Remain a Sustainability Leader

CONCORD, CALIFORNIA – Hilton Concord implemented Verdafero’s utility-monitoring software to gain clearer visibility into its electricity, natural gas, water, and waste data. By replacing manual spreadsheet analysis with centralized reporting, hotel management could more easily measure sustainability initiatives, compare performance across periods, and account for variables such as weather and occupancy.

During the measured period, the hotel increased its landfill-diversion rate from 14.1% to 37% and identified meaningful reductions in normalized energy consumption. These historical results demonstrate how reliable utility data can support better operational and environmental decisions.

To assist hotel management to gain greater transparency into the impact of these sustainability initiatives Verdafero, a San Francisco, CA, provider of SaaS software and services worked alongside Hilton Concord management and Hotel Sustainability Solutions, Inc. (HSSI), to implement their Verdafero – Utility Optimization Software Platform at the Hilton Concord. HSSI a consulting firm providing comprehensive expertise and management of Integrated Sustainability Systems, Technologies and Products for the hospitality industry, provided the interface and focus for the property systems development.

“Real-time visibility and reporting of our sustainability has become an increasingly important part of our day-to-day hotel operations, not only in this hotel but throughout our entire organization,” said Jack Hlavac, General Manager of the Hilton Concord, who leads the sustainability mission.

“As an example, with our commitment to sustainability we put measures in place across the hotel to increase our landfill diversion rate, which helps reduce our environmental carbon footprint. We have installed a bio-digester in the kitchen for all food waste from hotel operations as well as recycling all paper, cardboard, glass and plastic bottles. The result of our actions and using the Verdafero software we are now able to accurately track, analyze and report our waste disposal streams, energy usage, water consumption and carbon footprint at the touch of a button rather than having to employ a spreadsheet expert to try and track all these metrics manually.

Over a two-year measurement period, Hilton Concord increased its landfill-diversion rate from 14.1% to 37%, keeping approximately 13.3 tons of waste out of the municipal landfill and reducing waste-disposal costs.

Chuck Smith, CEO of Hotel Sustainability Solutions, Inc. (HSSI), stated, “As government legislation and public opinion drive the need for a more sustainable future, leadership in sustainable hospitality practices is paramount in maintaining the competitive edge. Hilton Concord has established itself as a recognized leader in sustainability, and now has the unique ability to further establish their competitive edge by tracking, analyzing and reporting their utility usage and cost comparisons in real-time using Verdafero. This new and innovative tool now gives management the ability to analyze, compare and report all sustainability metrics within the hotel, evaluating their performance against past and current periods. A unique component of the Verdafero system is the ability to adjust data for normalization of weather and occupancy variations.”

As part of their ongoing upgrades Verdafero has now implemented the new global Hotel Carbon Measurement Initiative (HCMI) methodology into Verdafero. This enables the Hilton Concord to analyze and report their carbon footprint reduction on a real-time basis. “The implementation of the HCMI methodology is a very important addition to Verdafero’s Software Platform,” said Smith. “Hotel marketing and sales teams now have the tools necessary to provide corporate meeting planners with carbon footprint on per occupied room per night or per meeting square foot data on a real-time basis. This is imperative for sales and marketing teams to win corporate business during these competitive times.”

Verdafero – Utility Optimization Software Platform Helps Hilton Concord stay a Leader in Sustainability

How Verdafero Helps Hilton Concord

Utility reporting is especially complicated for hospitality properties. Billing periods vary, different providers may supply the same resource, and changes in weather and occupancy can distort simple month-to-month comparisons.

Verdafero gave Hilton Concord one place to track and analyze electricity, natural gas, water, waste, and emissions data. Management could compare results across reporting periods, evaluate performance against established baselines, and normalize energy data for weather and occupancy.

During our initial discussions with Hilton Concord there were significant issues to address:

How will management be able to compare current month to last month?
How will management compare current results to the same month last year?
How will management compare results to the selected baseline, using the above parameters?
Does the difference in weather and occupancy affect property results?
How does the system adjust for these metrics variables?
The hotel’s sustainability efforts have become recognized by the traveling business and leisure community adding guest room and group meeting opportunities for our hotel. How will the model enable us to evaluate our impact on utility usage? How will it enable more accurate budget forecasting going forward?
Given our usage over the last year how does it relate to the new global Hotel Carbon Measurement Initiative (HCMI)? Will our calculations be a valuable tool for marketing and sales to garner added business opportunity?

The conclusion, through the use of Verdafero, all these questions can be answered quickly and conveniently from any web-connected device. As an example, Hilton Concord’s management can now see the results of all their sustainability commitment. A quick analysis of a year-to-year electricity usage (kWh) comparison will show they have saved 3.7% since 2010. Using Verdafero to automatically analyze the usage data as well as weather and occupancy normalization, they actually reduced their energy consumption by 7.8% equivalent to 51.5 tCO₂e.

“As a result of using Verdafero, Hilton Concord will now have the ability to analyze its utility costs and compare the usage and costs by square footage, percentage of occupancy or across different time periods. All levels of management may make more informed operational decisions to maximize return on investment decisions. Verdafero adds a financial tool enabling management to more clearly understand the financial impact of their sustainability efforts, current and going forward into the future.”, said Dr. Alastair Hood, CEO of Verdafero.

Verdafero combines patented utility-monitoring software with sustainability consulting to help organizations turn complex utility data into clear reporting and actionable insights. Across multiple properties, Verdafero securely monitors electricity, natural gas, water, waste, and fuel data to help organizations identify efficiency opportunities, track environmental performance, and make better-informed operational decisions.

For more information about the Verdafero, visit www.verdafero.com, or call Dr. Alastair Hood, CEO at (650) 206 2441.

Hilton Concord is owned and operated by Interstate Hotels & Resorts, the leading U.S.-based global hotel management company. For more information about the Hilton Concord, visit www.concord.hilton.com, or call Jack Hlavac, general manager at (925) 827-2000.

Hotel Sustainability Solutions, Inc. is a leading sustainability solutions company focusing on large and medium hospitality properties including full service, conference/convention hotels and resorts. Sustainability solutions are provided to organizations outside of the hospitality industry through its parent company Integrated Sustainability Solutions, Inc. (ISSI). For more information, contact Charles A. Smith, CEO, at chuck@hotelsustainabilityinc.com or call 412-445-4237 www.hotelsustainabilityinc.com