The Elevator Consultants (TEC) has worked with hundreds of buildings with elevators and building owners’ concerns are typically the same. They were told by their elevator company some version of “You need a modernization”, “We can’t find parts”, “You need an outrageous repair”, and the most dreaded, “It’s not covered.”
The hospitality industry has been hit especially hard the last year and is challenged with making ends meet. Managers and building engineers have more on their plates than ever before, and the last thing they want to be concerned with is the elevators or escalators; however, these are critical transportation routes for guests to get to their rooms. Take this away and you have angry guests who write bad reviews… not to mention the risk of being shut down because in some cases the hotel is not following the ADA (Americans with Disability Act) requirements for elevators. People are always asking how long an elevator can be out of service for and what are the ADA requirements. Significant or frequent downtimes are simply not acceptable.
Hotels are typically overpaying and underserved in all aspects of elevator maintenance. It is common for hotels to not receive the code-required maintenance. In many cases, requests for costly repairs were billed when, in essence, it was for a minor repair. A hotel was told they needed an entire modernization when they only needed a repair that was covered in their contract. Another hotel was told that the parts were not available and they actually were. TEC assist is getting these issues resolved.
Hotels just don’t know – nor should they know. They are not elevator industry people. Hotels that have hired an elevator consulting firm have received their return on investment immediately. It is common for hotels to have an elevator audit report completed so they can have an understanding of their equipment. This allows the hotel to know what is in the contract, whether the contract is being fulfilled, what is the deferred maintenance, capital planning and much more. This simple elevator audit report is the start to outlining and abolishing the headaches.
Just like using a smartphone and apps to do more with less, there are modern tools that hotels can take advantage of to keep things on track and even increase their property value. These include leveraging elevator monitoring software (The ElevatorApp, for example), and a platform to order services as needed. These simple steps have shown to help hotels get control of their elevator equipment operation and save money for their bottom line, remain ADA compliant, and keep their guests happy and returning.