Integrated Framework for Identifying Energy-Use Behavior of Hotel Guests

There are about 47,000 hotels in the United States that spend an average of $2200 per room on energy annually, averaging $6 per hotel room per night. The average total energy cost per room represents approximately 6% of a hotel’s operating costs. Studies found that guests’ energy-related behavior is one of the main factors that affects energy consumption in hotel buildings. However, there has been little or no research study that provides practical and efficient energy-use reduction strategies based on guests’ energy-related behavior in hotel buildings. Existing research studies are either limited to offices and residential buildings or lack analysis showing occupant impact on hotel buildings’ energy consumption. To address this research gap, this study aims to develop an integrated energy-use framework in two steps: (1) identifying and synthesizing four energy-related behaviors models (i.e., Motivation-Opportunity-Ability, Norm Activation Model, Theory of Planned Behavior, and Pro-environmental Behavior) adopted from the field of social psychology; and (2) developing a set of hypotheses and their relevant measures to examine the relationship among the energy-related behavior models and hotel guests’ energy-use behavior. The findings of this study will provide decision-makers in hotels with a better understanding on how to measure their guests’ energy-related behavior; and accordingly develop effective strategies to reduce energy consumption in hotel buildings.