How One Hotel Saved on Operating Costs With New Washing Machines

Saving money by buying new things might seem a little crazy, but when it comes to your hotel’s operational costs, your old equipment could actually be costing you thousands of dollars.

Look at the Hilton LA/Universal City Hotel. By upgrading to Hydrofinity near-waterless laundry machines, the hotel is saving over $66,000 per year in water, energy, detergent, and maintenance costs—all factors that contribute to high operational costs for hotels.

How the Hilton LA Saved by Upgrading

Laundry is often overlooked or combined with other line items when it comes to a hotel’s operating costs, which makes it more difficult to truly understand what a laundry operation’s costs are and how to manage them.
In order to get a picture of how the Hilton LA could save so much by upgrading their laundry machines, let’s look at a much smaller example of savings in hotel laundry: asking guests to reuse towels.

The American Hotel and Lodging Association estimates that asking guests to reuse towels reduces the number of loads of laundry washed and the costs of doing so by 17%. The Association for Linen Management says hotels can save up to $6.50 per occupied room per day by implementing this type of program, and today, most hotels have.
For a 495-room hotel like the Hilton LA, operating at an occupancy rate of 65%, that equals a savings of $2,091 per day. Just from reusing towels and linens!

The Hydrofinity machine uses up to 80% less water and up to 50% less energy than traditional washing machines. With the purchase of three brand new machines, the Hilton LA still saw a return on investment within a single year.