Emergency Power Needs for the Hospitality Industry

The hospitality industry refers to all businesses that offer services to customers and guests either on a long-term or short-term basis. Nonetheless, to keep your hospitality business afloat in the current competitive and ever-changing market, you have to be unique, resilient, and offer quality services. The core of these values is the availability of a backup power system.

Furthermore, the National Fire Prevention Association (NFPA) has established various emergency power preparedness and requirements for the hospitality industry. Read more to discover why emergency power is critical to this industry.

What are the Various Classes in the Hospitality Industry?

• Food & beverages: This is the largest and accounts for all businesses that deal with preparing and/or serving clients with meals, snacks, and beverages. E.g., restaurants.
• Travel including air travel, train, and bus services.
• Lodging: Every now and then, people are out of town for leisure or business travel, and hotels and motels offer them temporary residences.
• Recreation: Resorts and recreational places serve customers all year long, especially during the holidays. They include resorts, casinos, theaters, zoos, museums, and sporting activities.

The hospitality market is worth billions of dollars and contributes more than 1.5 trillion dollars in revenue every year in the USA. It's one industry that primarily deals with many people, raising safety concerns, particularly during emergencies. This has led to regulations by both state and federal agencies to tighten to ensure that these businesses are operating safely.

Grid outages can be caused by natural disasters such as floods, hurricanes, or hailstorms, while sometimes it's due to other reasons. In any case, hotels, motels, and resorts rely on backup power systems during such circumstances. 

Diesel backup generators offer the reliability required during these outages and ensure critical circuits of the hotels have steady electricity. These circuits ensure that no guest will get stranded in a dark elevator or corridor when the grid power is off. Some of the things that must have a dependable power supply include:

• Fire systems including fire pumps and fire alarms.
• Building exits and emergency exits.
• Elevators and lifts.
• Building emergency lighting.
• Emergency communication systems.
• Ventilation system and smoke management system.

Diesel generators rate higher than other options for emergency power. One study that was conducted after the historic 2003 Northeast Blackout exemplifies this. It revealed that an astounding 85% of hotels that relied on backup generators stayed up and running compared to just 16% of those who used battery storage.

Testing, Maintenance, and Repairs are a Must for Backup Generators

While it's essential to have an emergency power system for the hospitality industry, it's perhaps more vital to be sure that the system can provide electricity when it's most needed. NFPA 110 Standards for Emergency and Standby Power Systems Handbook defines maintenance and testing criteria for emergency generators.

One major test that is crucial is load bank testing. This enables an expert to ascertain that the generator can effectively provide enough power to all connected circuits. Periodic load testing significantly reduces the likelihood of failure. Other maintenance and repair activities can include: 

• Fuel filtration, helping in reducing any possibility of contaminants.
• Maintenance and, if need be, battery replacement to be sure that the generator will automatically start any time an outage occurs.
• Ensuring proper ventilation to avert fire and other dangerous hazards.

We recommend annual maintenance services for your emergency power system, which by far ensures that your hospitality business is always well-prepared for a power blackout.

We Got You Covered!

At Power System Services, we specialize in diesel and gas generators. Our expertise and years of experience have equipped us to efficiently provide all generator needs for the hospitality industry – from design to completion or anywhere in between. We aim not only to equip you with the right generator but also to ensure that it's ready for operation anytime. Get in touch with us today to learn more from our helpful team.

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