HVAC and Ventilation Solutions for Better Hotel Air Quality

Your hotel’s air quality makes a huge difference to your guests.

Make sure your hotel has great ventilation, in-room temperature control, and even air filtration to keep the rooms fresh, healthy, and appealing to patrons. Here’s how to improve the air quality in your hotel and some HVAC concerns you should be aware of.

HVAC systems are lifesavers, especially in the blazing heat of a southern summer or the bitter cold of a Wisconsin winter. But a closed system comes with other issues—where do the chemicals and germs go if the windows don’t even open?

The growing popularity of wellness travel has sparked demand for hotels to clean up their acts, including indoor air quality. It’s not easy to eliminate airborne particles, but modern HVAC systems can significantly reduce allergens and other nasties that can ruin an otherwise healthy vacation spot.

How Important is Indoor Air Quality in Hotels?

While it’s not a traditional hotel amenity, a 2020 survey conducted by Carbon Lighthouse found 77% of consumers said proof about a hotel’s indoor air quality (IAQ) would impact their decision on where to stay.

Poor indoor air quality can affect the health of your staff and guests alike. Potential problems include short-term issues guests might experience:

• Eye and respiratory tract irritation
• Headache
• Dizziness

Long-term exposure issues that could affect your staff include:

• Memory impairment
• Neurotoxicity
• Cancer

In the same study, 52% said they would pay more to stay at a hotel with better IAQ. In the long run, breathable air is a sound investment – and a great selling point.

How to Improve the Indoor Air Quality Standards for a Hotel

Clean air is clearly essential, but how can you improve it? Replacing carpeting with hard floors is an excellent move, but the most effective answer lies within your HVAC and ventilation system. Here are nine ways to improve hotel air quality standards.

1. Have Your Ventilation System Evaluated

Before you can improve your air, you’ll need to find out if your system is up to the task. Your HVAC system must be clean and working properly to inhibit mold growth and prevent the spread of allergens and disease.

Dust in the duct system can contain up to 50,000 bacteria per gram of dust. Dirty HVAC filters can contain up to 6,700 bacteria per gram of dust, and changing filters is a cheap and easy fix.

Still, leaky ductwork and dirty filters are common, and they make your system work harder and cost you money. To lower your energy costs and improve your hotel indoor air quality, change your filters frequently and have your ductwork tested on schedule and whenever you suspect a problem.

Your hotel room air ventilation system does more than circulate the air inside your hotel, it pulls in fresh make-up air from outside to replace vented air from exhaust fans, water heaters, dryers, and other equipment.

2. Use Your Kitchen and Laundry Ventilation

Your kitchen and laundry can be surprising sources of pollutants. When tap water is heated in a washing machine or dishwasher, toluene, ethylbenzene, and cyclohexane are released and become airborne. Make it a housekeeping policy to keep ventilation fans running in those areas and have the fan assemblies and filters cleaned regularly.

3. Switch to Environmentally Friendly Cleaning Supplies

Green businesses attract more guests. Many commercial cleaning supplies and solvents can raise the levels of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in the air. Look for greener cleaning solutions for improved hotel air quality and healthier staffers and guests.

4. Fight Humidity

Humidity is the amount of moisture in the air, and controlling it is tricky. Too much moisture and mildew, mold, and bacteria will flourish. Too little, and your guests will be uncomfortable. Depending on where you are located and what season it is, you may be dealing with one or the other, but rarely both. Humidity is measured by RH (relative humidity)—0% RH means the air is desert dry, and 100% RH is basically any given day in Florida.

The RH measurement is affected by your HVAC system, which dehumidifies the air, and the ambient temperature in the room matters. The air in warm rooms holds much more moisture than cool rooms. This balancing act is called the dew point. Generally speaking, a humidity level between 40% RH and 60% RH keeps the room comfortable with low humidity.

The source of humidity can be a result of the ambient humidity in the air, from condensation pulled in from HVAC fans running constantly, or from water leaks, dripping faucets, or other unexpected issues. Keep an eye on your hotel water usage to monitor for leaks and keep mold at bay.

You can’t control what guests do, but you can make a few changes to your hotel room air ventilation and HVAC system to keep in-room humidity stable:

• Set HVAC fans to auto and disable always-on, if possible, especially in humid climates. If the fan cycles off with the compressor, condensation will evaporate and not blow back into the room.
• Use sensor-based thermostats to adjust HVAC use when rooms are empty.
• Verify that your bathroom exhaust fans meet ASHRAE standards: per-room ventilation of 30 CFM. Otherwise, the room ventilation system may pull too much outdoor air into the room.

5. Replace HVAC Air Filters

HVAC filters can vary enormously in quality. Do you know what kind of filters your system uses? If replacing the entire HVAC system is out of reach, thorough duct cleaning and repair, coupled with more efficient filters, can make a huge difference in air quality.

The key is the MERV, or Minimum Efficiency Reporting Value rating. MERV ratings are determined by the American Society of Heating, Refrigeration, and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE). Filters with MERV 16 ratings and lower are HVAC-system-grade filters for commercial and general hospital use. MERV 17 + ratings have pores small enough to trap even the smallest bacteria and are used in hospital operating rooms. However, most HVAC systems are not equipped to handle the increased load generated by filters with the highest MERV ratings

Choose the highest quality filter that works with your system and fits your budget. ASHRAE recommends a MERV 13 or higher rating—only after consulting with your HVAC maintenance company to ensure your system is up to the task.

6. Air Purifiers

The American Hotel and Lodging Association’s 2018 Lodging Survey found that 16% of mid-price hotels and 38% of luxury hotels offer in-room air purifiers.

7. Update your HVAC System

A new HVAC system represents a significant investment, but new equipment usually will pay for itself over time in energy savings and guest satisfaction.

8. Bipolar Ionization

One of the newer types of HVAC systems in hotels uses bipolar ionization technology, a technique used to reduce allergens in large spaces. Bipolar ionization uses an electric charge to destabilize positive and negative oxygen ions. To stabilize, the unstable ions combine with molecules in the air, including bacteria, viruses, pet dander, mold, and other allergens, which can then be caught in HVAC filters.

Older HVAC systems can be retrofitted with this technology by installing a needlepoint bipolar ionization unit to an existing system.

9. Energy Management Software

HVAC data collection software such as Sensorflow, WiSuite, and SmartIncome monitor what’s happening in every room of your hotel. You can collect all kinds of data, such as energy consumption, average humidity and specific rooms with higher humidity, average room temperature, and trends of occupancy.

Your guests expect high hotel air quality, and you can’t blame them for wanting clean air—it makes for a better night’s sleep. But pleasing guests is not the only benefit. Clean air is just as important for the people who work in your hotel, and it will impact your budget in several ways. Your staff will be healthier and more efficient, you’ll attract more business, and a new, upgraded, or repaired HVAC and ventilation system that’s properly maintained will lower your energy bill.