Idiosyncratic influences of hotel occupancy on energy consumption: Moderating effects of service style, hotel size, and hotel class

With the growing attention to sustainability and energy management, understanding the dynamics of energy consumption in hotels has become increasingly important. We confirm that the utility expenses (e.g., electricity and water expenses) of a hotel generally follow a logarithmic increase with occupancy. A hotel’s energy consumption rises rapidly when occupancy is relatively low but increases gradually once occupancy reaches a certain high level. In addition, full-service hotels exhibit a positive moderating effect at low occupancy rate but a negative moderating effect at high occupancy rate. Similar moderating effects are observed in large and high-class hotels. The findings indicate that full-service, large, and high-class hotels have opportunities for energy efficiency improvements when their occupancy rates are lower relative to those of limited-service, smaller, and lower-class hotels.