The Issue

A hospitality REIT with 30,000 guestrooms in 87 markets was looking for a cost-effective opportunity to perform water efficiency assessments in a drought-sensitive region of the country. The goal was to identify projects with under a 3-year simple payback in order to reduce operating expense as well as increase sustainability efforts.

The Burton Solution

As experts in the water efficiency market, Burton was aware of numerous utilities that offered incentives, however the challenge was selecting the right hotels in the right markets that would not only maximize returns, but also minimize upfront fees.

Ultimately, five (5) hotels were selected in Austin, TX, a region that not only had water scarcity issues, but also had a utility that covered 75% of the cost of the water assessments.

During the assessment, all water using equipment was evaluated, including plumbing fixtures, irrigation, kitchen equipment, swimming pools, and cooling towers. In total, 5.6 million gallons of savings were identified, a 27% reduction in total usage. This reduced operating expense by $90,000 annually and offered a payback of 2.3 years.