Hotel Energy Solutions That Cut Costs Without Touching Your Capex Budget
Hotels, resorts, and casinos run 24/7, with guest rooms, kitchens, laundry, pools, and HVAC systems drawing power and heat around the clock. When energy costs climb, or the central plant fails, the hit lands on NOI and the guest experience. Catalyst Power’s hotel energy solutions pair traditional retail electricity and gas supply with onsite generation, which Catalyst owns and operates at your property with zero upfront capital.
Upfront capital. Catalyst designs, finances, owns, and operates the CHP system at your property under a long-term Energy Services Agreement.
Thermal efficiency for combined heat and power, against roughly 50% for grid electricity plus a separate boiler.
Source: Catalyst’s CHP guideEnergy cost per guest room per year across America’s 47,000 hotels, which makes energy one of the largest operating costs in the industry.
Source: U.S. DOE Better BuildingsContracted savings at a 275-room Massachusetts airport hotel after Catalyst repowered its CHP system with no upfront capital.
Source: Airport hotel case studyWhy Are Hotel Energy Costs So Hard to Control?
Unlike offices or retail, a hotel never shuts down. Occupancy rises and falls through the year, but hot water, HVAC, and back-of-house operations never stop, and even empty rooms need heating and cooling. That leaves properties exposed to rising utility costs, often while running on central plant equipment that’s nearing replacement.
Exposure to Rates You Don’t Control
A hotel that buys all of its power from the grid is exposed to rate swings it has little ability to predict. Commercial electricity rates in New England ran 74% above the national average in March 2026, and Mid-Atlantic rates 35% above, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.
Onsite CHP generates electricity at the property, so less of your load rides on the utility rate, and the energy you buy from the system is priced under a long-term contract.
Back-of-House Projects Lose the Capex Fight
Many central plants are aging, but back-of-house projects lose the capex fight to lobby, room, and F&B renovations guests can see, so boilers and chillers run until they fail.
Catalyst finances, owns, and operates the replacement, so the mechanical room gets modernized without a capital request.
Energy Is One of the Few Large Cost Lines You Can Act On Now
Margins are tight: RevPAR growth is flat while labor, debt, and renovation costs keep rising, with construction costs up 3-5% a year. Energy is one of the few large cost lines hotel operators can act on now. For a typical 150-room hotel, a 15% cut in energy spend adds as much to the bottom line as a nearly $4 RevPAR lift, without selling another room.
15% contracted savings at a 275-room Massachusetts airport hotel, with no upfront capital from the operator.
One-Stop Shop for Energy Solutions
Catalyst owns, operates, and maintains the CHP system at your property. You get lower, more predictable energy costs, and the maintenance risk sits with Catalyst, not your engineering team. All at zero CapEx.
Lower Supply Costs (Electricity and Gas)
Competitively priced supply contracts that reduce cost without new equipment. A rate review is often the fastest first step, with no renovation cycle required.
Commercial electricity & gas →Onsite Power and Heat Generation
Power and heat generated onsite and integrated with your existing systems, with no added staff and no impact on guest comfort.
Cogeneration →Modernization Without New Capex
Catalyst can finance the replacement of aging boilers and water heaters alongside new onsite generation, so your capex budget stays focused on the guest experience.
How the no-capital model works →End-to-End Energy Management
From energy procurement and system design to monitoring, maintenance, and performance, Catalyst handles the full lifecycle. Your team runs the hotel. Catalyst runs the energy.
Lower supply costs first
Catalyst reviews your utility bills and consumption history, then secures electricity and natural gas supply priced around the property’s load. Nothing changes with the utility that maintains your lines, poles, and meters.
CHP at a Massachusetts Airport Hotel
A 275-room Massachusetts airport hotel needed to modernize an aging CHP system serving a property that runs 24/7, without taking systems offline or affecting guests.
By repowering the hotel’s CHP system at zero upfront cost, Catalyst Power installed a new 75 kW CHP module, hot water boilers, and water heaters within the existing footprint. The system generates more than 450 MWh of electricity a year, recovers about 3,000 MMBtu of heat, and delivers 15% contracted savings.
Hospitality Properties Catalyst Serves
Whether you operate one property or a portfolio, each solution is sized to the site, with the goal of lowering energy costs, modernizing the central plant, and keeping capital focused on the guest experience.
Full-Service and Convention Hotels
Guest rooms, restaurants, spas, ballrooms, meeting rooms, and laundry, served by central plants running around the clock.
Airport and Extended-Stay Hotels
Steady year-round occupancy with predictable hot water and HVAC loads.
Casinos and Resorts
Some of the highest, most constant energy loads in commercial real estate, with pools, spas, and amenities adding heavy thermal demand.
Frequently Asked Questions
Properties with steady, simultaneous demand for electricity and heat are the strongest fit: full-service, convention, airport, and extended-stay hotels, casinos, and resorts with central boilers or chillers. Catalyst reviews your utility bills and plant equipment to confirm fit.
Nothing. Catalyst finances, owns, and operates the system. You buy the energy it produces, and the equipment stays off your balance sheet.
Systems are designed to fit within the existing mechanical room and are installed while the hotel stays open. At the Massachusetts airport hotel, the repower was completed without interrupting operations.
Catalyst does. Catalyst monitors performance and handles ongoing operation and maintenance, so your engineering team doesn’t take on new equipment or staff.
Catalyst serves customers in 12 states and 41 utility territories across the deregulated markets of the Northeast, Mid-Atlantic, and Midwest. Hotels, resorts, and casinos in those markets can be evaluated for retail supply, onsite CHP, or both.
Go Deeper
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Ready to Lower Your Energy Costs Without the Capital or the Risk?
A short conversation covers your property’s energy profile, the state of the central plant, and where the savings are. No commitment, no capital.