Claims registering 30% increase in customers for DC services and reducing carbon footprint

On the occasion of The Hotel Show 2012, an exhibition for the hospitality industry in the region held from May 15 to 17 at Dubai World Trade Centre, Empower announced that it had registered a 30% growth in hotel customers at the end of April 2012, compared to the same period last year.

The company called for greater awareness in implementing District Cooling by hotels in the region, as it believed that it would benefit not only hotels, but also its customers, society and the economy, in general.

In this context, Ahmad Bin Shafar, CEO Empower, said: “We support specialised exhibitions like this one, in order to spread awareness on DC to hotels. To date, 26 hotels in Dubai use DC services from Empower. We are optimistic that more hotels will move towards this emerging technology, which offers great advantages over conventional cooling offerings. While considering the growth rate of hotel rooms in the UAE during this period, Empower’s growth in the segment exceeds the hotel industry rate.”

Dubai Department of Tourism and Commerce (DTCM) has reportedly mandated that all hotels must reduce their carbon footprint and opt for environment-friendly amenities and supplies. This is where DC fits in, Bin Shafar pointed out, and emphasised that DC was ideal for hotels as it was hassle-free, environment-friendly and cost-effective, as it helped save on cost of cooling, maintenance, installation and capital expenditure.

Bin Shafar added: “The current market tendencies give more room to adopt DC technology for hotel buildings, especially where initial capital investment is a deciding factor. District Cooling saves the customer from investment on plant room, chillers and equipments, water tanks, cooling towers, sub stations, additional drainage facilities, civil structure, cabling works, control and instrumentation, additional space, manpower requirements and maintenance. This will enable hotel financiers to divert more initial funds to other areas of the venture.”

The Hotel Show 2012, touted to be the largest hospitality supplies event for the MENA region, reportedly attracted over 14,800 hospitality professionals for three days of intensive business networking, industry awards, conferences and hospitality functions.