The global trend in hotel lighting points towards saving energy and delivering a unique and comfortable experience for guests. The technology that makes this possible is advancing rapidly.
by María Cecilia Hernández
Delivering unforgettable experiences is the mission that in recent years has been pursued by the hotel industry in all corners of the world. Now they are not so important issues as the sea view, the gym or the type of menu, but the set of all the details that make a traveler's stay comfortable and exclusive.
Within that list, which can be very long, of elements that hotels must take into account when offering a first-class service, there is a detail that has perhaps been ignored by many of those who work in this industry and that possibly goes unnoticed in the eyes of users, but that in the end counts as an advantage in the guest experience. It's about the lighting.
Visitors to the hotel may not specifically notice a properly designed luminaire installation, but it is possible that this translates into very positive sensations for the image of the establishment. On the contrary, if the lighting of the place does not meet the basic requirements of design, installation and comfort, it will be a cause of discomfort for both guests and employees.
"One of the problems we have seen in our years of work in this industry is that off-plan design is done by architects who are not lighting designers. That is why they use obsolete recipes and implement luminaires that they see in the catalogs of which they do not know their specific uses and their costs. They assume that the most expensive equipment is the best and this is not always the case," explained Fernando Carlos Pons, director of RGB Lighting Systems S.A.
As Pons put it, this is an area of architecture that has been downplayed. Therefore, when it comes to accommodating budgets, the cut begins here, sacrificing quality.
Let the guest return
When a traveler chooses a hotel he is looking for much more than a bedroom. This was stated by Juan Pablo Granados, lighting designer of the company Smart Tech Light Design Arquitectura.
The hotel trend is focused on creating the customer experience through the design of modern, changing and dynamic environments. The automation and domotization equipment allows the efficient management of the lighting system and offers decorative and sensitive possibilities that bring benefits to the project, as considered by the Smart Tech designer.
"At present the LED luminaire family is used a lot, I recommend not to forget the other families such as compact fluorescences, which have not only evolved, but can be considered green bulbs for their low use of mercury and savings in energy consumption," said Granados.
To illuminate a hotel establishment well, two basic factors must be taken into account: the area of the hotel and the type of guest that will be received. Fernando Pons explained in detail what is the type of lighting that should be implemented according to what is sought in each space.
Rooms should consider two or three concurrent variants in the type of lighting, such as a very dim light for relaxation and an important light if the room is to be used as a product showroom .
Common areas such as restaurants and event rooms must combine direct light that can be adjusted on the tables, but it is also essential to have indirect ambient light that generates the feeling of openness and provides the perception of spaciousness in the space. The color effects should be used with great caution, preventing them from becoming protagonists.
Something similar happens with the hotel lobby , which must have important but not dazzling lighting, for which a balance must be achieved with the colors of the coatings and furniture that will be installed.
The massage and spa areas must have delicate lighting that helps meet the objective for which that space is designed. If specialized chromotherapy service is offered, the concept can be included as long as you work hand in hand with a professional in the field.
The gym, on the other hand, requires intense, lively lighting that helps the guest to develop the activities with energy. In some cases, with spinning rooms, you can incorporate motion effects or video projections that complement the activity.
"As for the facades, unfortunately there is no recipe that can be applied, but the aesthetic sense must be maintained and avoid oversizing the effects. We must always remember that lighting is twinned with aesthetics and with the subtle, that it contains intentionality and that otherwise we would only be talking about a 'lighting'," Pons emphasized.
Illuminate and save energy
Another global trend in the field of lighting for hotels is oriented towards energy saving and the conservation of natural resources. Some hotels in countries such as the United States charge separately for electricity and water consumption.
Although executing a hotel project based on ecological design can be much more expensive during its execution, it is well known that it brings great economic benefits when the building is already in operation, both in the short and long term.
"There are three fundamental elements that are mandatory to enter the line of energy efficiency: design, technology and control," Pons said.
The manager explained more precisely each of these factors, commenting that aspects of the feasibility of assembly and the ease and cost of subsequent maintenance must be taken care of in the design.
Likewise, the technology to be applied must be adequate. Nowadays talking about incandescent or halogen systems is obsolete. "We must turn the designs to the use of professional fluorescent technologies, such as the case of low-mercury T5 tubes and solid state technologies (SSL) represented by the well-known LEDs," recommended the RGB representative.
It is very important that the elements associated with the lamps and luminaires are of good quality this ensures that maintenance costs are drastically reduced since a dichroic lamp would not have to be changed every 1,500 hours.
As far as control is concerned, it is clear that the greater the ability to regulate the intensity of lighting and restrict its active use to the times when its use is necessary, the greater the savings.
The control systems that have been developed for lighting have the ability to census the light, so that the lamps can be turned off when their use is not necessary due to the entry of sunlight, offer programmable states of dimerization as the presence or movement of people through the corridors is detected.
In this way the guest who passes through the corridors will have during that moment the appropriate level of light for their circulation, and seconds after having left the corridor, the light will be dimmed to a minimum rest level, reducing consumption significantly.
For the rooms, a touch control system has also been developed that allows the guest to use scenes or modify them if they prefer.
More than replacing a light bulb
According to Juan Pablo Granados when a hotel, or any other architectural project thinks about changing its lighting system, either for saving, ecological or decorative purposes, the first thing you should do is contact a professional lighting designer. These people who bring together a great creative versatility, excellent taste and a magnificent technical preparation in lighting systems.
"There are still few companies that hire lighting designers, but in Europe, the United States, Brazil and Argentina the trend of hiring this staff is increasing. I do not recommend companies that specify and also sell their own luminaires, to specify a lighting project it is necessary to be free of the weight of having the stock of the warehouse, "said the designer.
In the same way, Fernando Pons said that many sellers have established the concept of replacement stating that a dichroic LED light replaces a halogen, and unfortunately many people not only bought this idea but also the products, and what is worse, at a very high cost.
"Likewise, many companies have launched countless products called retrofit, that is, replacement. Unfortunately they do not work, and not only because of the quality of the product, but because they are housed in luminaires that are not suitable or compatible and in places with little ventilation, which dramatically shortens their useful life"
Therefore, the first tip is not to replace incandescent or halogen lamps with retrofit lamps with LEDs, so as not to enter a vicious circle of failure.
For Granados, representative of Smart Tech. efficient lighting systems are designed, built and installed from scratch, no energy is saved just by replacing bulbs.
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