Iberostar adopts AI to reduce energy consumption and improve guest experience

In line with its goal of achieving carbon neutrality by 2030, 20 years ahead of the industry target, Iberostar Hotels & Resorts is taking a further step in its ambitious decarbonization strategy and joining forces with the engineering and technology group Sener to create BRAIAN, an artificial intelligence-based solution that improves the energy performance of hotels by optimizing the HVAC system, their main energy consumer.

BRAIAN (a play on words between brain and artificial intelligence) will help the company in its commitment to climate action, one of the key areas of the Iberostar Wave of Change movement, and addresses two objectives: achieving 35% energy savings and an 85% reduction in Scope 1 and 2 emissions by 2030, while ensuring an excellent experience for its guests.

This system allows guests to anticipate the influx of guests in a given space and adjust its air conditioning in advance, helping to save energy and ensure a higher level of thermal comfort. Furthermore, BRAIAN acts as a virtual operator that works hand in hand with hotel technical service professionals, facilitating their daily work.

By using artificial intelligence, BRAIAN is able to more accurately predict hotels' energy performance and optimize their operations through a system that anticipates needs for better decision-making. To do this, the tool collects and analyzes energy data from different sources within the chain's management systems, such as the hotel's Building Management System (BMS), hotel occupancy over a given period, or the Property Management System (PMS); as well as external information such as weather forecasts, integrating them into a single platform.

Iberostar aims to implement this tool in up to five hotels in the chain by 2025. It is currently available at Iberostar Waves Royal Andalus (Cádiz), Iberostar Waves Alcudia Park, and Iberostar Selection Playa de Palma (Mallorca), and will soon be available at the Iberostar Selection Cancún hotel (Mexico).

This operator is based on a solution previously developed by Sener, Respira®, designed to centralize and analyze energy data. Respira® has been successfully implemented in infrastructure such as subways and airports, for example, in the air conditioning systems at Manises Airport in Valencia and the Barcelona Metro.

For Álvaro Sánchez López, Global Director of Sustainability, Integration, and Impact at Iberostar Hotels & Resorts, “this project reflects our commitment to innovation, sustainability, and providing our guests with an excellent experience. We have a solid vision for decarbonizing our operations, and BRAIAN contributes to this journey. We greatly appreciate the support it offers our maintenance staff.”

For his part, Guillem Peris, director of Sener's Respira® project, emphasizes that "Iberostar has adopted an ambitious goal to reduce its emissions and move toward a more sustainable model, investing in technology and artificial intelligence to achieve this goal. We are delighted that they have trusted our AI capabilities to achieve this goal. BRAIAN is the embodiment of Iberostar's commitment to new technologies to take its hotels to the highest level of efficiency, improving the customer experience."

BRAIAN was awarded in the Smart Buildings category at the 12th edition of the enerTIC Awards, prizes for innovation and improving energy competitiveness through digitalization, held in 2024 and organized by enerTIC.

Source: Iberostar Hotels & Resorts