ISO 50001 for hospitality: the energy certificate for hotels and restaurants

Energy is one of the largest running costs in a hotel, and a restaurant kitchen is close behind. Buyers know this. When a company books a block of rooms or an event organiser shortlists venues, the supplier questionnaire can include a line on energy management. A certificate number answers that line.

Tenders from larger groups and public bodies work the same way. The purchasing department compares venues on price, location and proof. A certificate with a public verification page is proof that takes one click to check. Hotel groups and franchise partners may also ask each house for energy figures, and an energy management system gives you those figures in order.

Some buyers expect the classic route with an on-site audit by a certification body. Read the tender wording before you decide which route fits.

• Compare the certification routes

The standard asks you to identify your significant energy uses. In hospitality the list is short and easy to recognise.

Heating and hot water

Guests shower and bathe throughout the day, and the kitchen needs hot water as well. In a hotel with many rooms this is a candidate for the largest single use.

Kitchen and cold storage

Ovens, fryers, dishwashers, walk-in cold rooms and extraction hoods that run from the first prep until the last plate.

Ventilation and cooling

Air handling for dining rooms, seminar rooms and corridors, plus chillers in warm months.

Laundry

Towels and bed linen washed and dried in-house. If you outsource laundry, the contract still belongs in your energy picture.

Pool and wellness

Water heating, circulation pumps, sauna, steam room and dehumidification in the pool hall.

Guest rooms and lighting

Rooms heated while empty, minibars, televisions on standby and lighting that burns all night in corridors.

The requirements of ISO 50001:2018 are the same for every sector. What changes is the evidence. This is what it looks like in a hotel or restaurant.

Seasonality distorts raw consumption. A full house in August uses more than a quiet week in November, so a bill alone says little. Indicators per room night or per cover, set up under the planning clause (6), separate real waste from busy periods.

Idle consumption is the second risk. Rooms stay heated without guests, kitchen equipment runs hours before service, pool pumps run at full output overnight. The standard makes you find these cases and write an action against each one.

The third risk is price. Room rates are often agreed with tour operators and corporate clients months ahead, while energy contracts can change in between. Lower consumption protects the margin you have already promised. The performance evaluation clause (9) asks you to check regularly whether the actions work.

Most of the work is collecting what you already have.

1. 01

   Collect the energy bills

   Gather twelve months of invoices for every energy source, together with your occupancy and cover figures.

2. 02

   Name a responsible person

   The owner, general manager or technical head. Leadership (clause 5) requires that someone is accountable.

3. 03

   Walk through the building

   Boiler room, kitchen, laundry, pool plant, cold rooms. Note what runs, when and how long.

4. 04

   Write down two or three objectives

   Each with a date and a person. Keep them small enough to finish this year.

5. 05

   Answer the 32 questions

   With these notes at hand, the questions can be answered in one sitting.

• Start the free self-assessment

The Zertify certificate rests on an online self-assessment for ISO 50001:2018. There is no on-site audit. Of the 32 questions, 13 are mandatory requirements of the standard and all of them must be answered yes. Among the other 19, at least 13 must be yes. SICE reviews every assessment, and the certificate is issued by G6 Agency AG under licence from SICE.

The price is CHF 749 (€749) in the first year, then CHF 499 (€499) per year including the yearly online re-audit. The certificate is valid for 3 years. The subscription renews each year and you can cancel it at any time in your customer account, effective at the end of the paid year. Customers in Switzerland and Liechtenstein pay 8.1% VAT, already included in the prices. You do not need an account to buy.

Every certificate carries a number and a QR code that lead to a public verification page. A purchasing department or a customer auditor can check yours without contacting you.

• ISO 50001 at Zertify
• Pricing
• Start the self-assessment