Holiday Parks & Lodges Case Study

Shorefield Holidays: smarter heating around changing lodge occupancy.

Shorefield Holidays deployed Energenie smart heating control within its holiday accommodation estate to improve visibility and manage heating more closely around changing occupancy.

The project provides a live example of how retrofit connected controls can help a holiday park move beyond fixed heating schedules and manage accommodation differently when occupied, empty or preparing for the next guest.

The customer

A holiday accommodation estate where occupancy changes continually.

Shorefield Holidays operates accommodation that repeatedly moves between occupied, turnaround, empty and pre-arrival states.

Unlike a conventional office or school, lodge heating demand can change with every booking. The challenge is therefore not simply setting a weekly heating schedule, but managing accommodation around the actual operating cycle of each stay.

The challenge

Guest comfort is essential. Heating empty accommodation is not.

01

Changing occupancy

Individual lodges can move from occupied to vacant and back again over relatively short periods.

02

Fixed schedules

Conventional schedules do not always reflect when individual accommodation is genuinely required.

03

Guest expectations

Accommodation still needs to reach the appropriate condition before guests arrive.

04

Empty-period heating

Lodges can remain at normal occupied temperatures even when there is no guest present.

05

Distributed accommodation

Large numbers of separate accommodation units make manual heating management difficult.

06

Seasonal conditions

Operators need to balance energy reduction with minimum temperatures and asset protection through colder periods.

The intervention

Add connected control without replacing working heating infrastructure.

Energenie introduced connected thermostat control within Shorefield's holiday accommodation, allowing heating behaviour to be managed more intelligently and reviewed remotely.

01 — MONITOR

Understand conditions

Create visibility around accommodation temperature and heating behaviour.

02 — ANALYSE

Compare operation

Identify when heating behaviour differs from the expected accommodation state.

03 — OPTIMISE

Adjust control

Align heating more closely with guest stays, empty periods and pre-arrival requirements.

04 — REPORT

Review the result

Use connected data to understand how the accommodation behaves after operating changes.

The operating model

Occupied → Turnaround → Empty → Pre-arrival.

Shorefield illustrates why holiday accommodation benefits from more than one heating profile.

Occupied

Guest comfort

Maintain appropriate room conditions while the accommodation is being used.

Turnaround

Operational transition

Move away from the normal guest profile while teams prepare the lodge for its next operating state.

Empty

Protect rather than overheat

Reduce unnecessary operation while maintaining suitable minimum conditions for the accommodation.

Pre-arrival

Prepare at the right time

Bring accommodation toward the required guest condition before the next booking begins.

Operational evidence

What changed More control Heating can be managed around the accommodation operating cycle rather than relying solely on static local settings.

The value is knowing when accommodation does not need its normal heating profile.

Shorefield gives Energenie a live operating environment in which lodge heating can be understood in the context of changing guest occupancy.

That creates the ability to distinguish between periods when guest comfort is the priority and periods when the accommodation only requires an appropriate protective or setback condition.

The project also provides practical evidence for evaluating how the approach could be applied more widely across a larger holiday accommodation estate.

Asset protection

Empty does not simply mean “switch the heating off”.

Holiday accommodation may still require minimum temperatures during unoccupied periods for frost protection, moisture management or wider asset protection.

The operating opportunity is therefore not uncontrolled shutdown. It is the ability to distinguish between guest comfort temperatures and appropriate unoccupied conditions.

Connected control gives estates teams a more flexible way to manage that distinction.

Remote estate management

Move the heating decision beyond the thermostat on the wall.

Distributed lodge estates create a practical management problem: each accommodation unit has its own heating environment, but estate teams need a broader operational view.

Connected controls allow heating behaviour to be reviewed remotely and operating strategies adjusted without relying exclusively on local manual changes.

ESTATE

Connected control can support

  • Remote thermostat management
  • Occupied and unoccupied operating profiles
  • Setback temperatures
  • Pre-arrival heating strategies
  • Seasonal operating adjustments
  • Estate-level visibility

From deployment to wider estate opportunity

A live deployment creates the evidence needed to consider scale.

The Shorefield project provides more than a technical demonstration. It allows the operating model to be tested within real holiday accommodation.

That matters when considering a wider rollout because the decision can be based on observed accommodation behaviour and real operating experience rather than theoretical savings assumptions.

Energenie's preferred approach is to prove the model on a representative deployment and then expand where the evidence supports further investment.

What the project demonstrates

Holiday accommodation creates a distinct heating-control opportunity.

Occupancy

One heating profile does not fit every lodge state

Guest stays, void periods and pre-arrival preparation create materially different heating requirements.

Retrofit

Better control does not require wholesale replacement

Connected intelligence can be added around suitable existing accommodation heating infrastructure.

Scale

Start with evidence before estate-wide rollout

A live deployment allows operators to understand the operational value before deciding how widely to expand.

Holiday park energy questions

The wider operating opportunity.

Sector

Holiday Parks & Lodges

Explore how occupancy-led heating, monitoring and estate visibility can be applied across holiday accommodation.

Explore Holiday Parks →
Control

Smart Heating Control

Understand how connected thermostats and other retrofit controls can add more flexible heating management to existing buildings.

Explore Smart Heating Control →

Frequently asked questions

Understanding the Shorefield project.

What problem was Shorefield looking to address?

The project focused on improving visibility and heating control across holiday accommodation where occupancy changes frequently between guest stays.

Does Energenie replace the existing lodge heating system?

Not necessarily. The Shorefield approach is based on retrofit connected control around suitable existing heating infrastructure.

Can lodge heating be reduced when accommodation is empty?

Yes. Connected control can allow an unoccupied heating strategy to be used instead of maintaining the normal guest profile, while retaining suitable minimum temperatures for the property.

Can accommodation be prepared before guest arrival?

Yes. Heating strategies can be configured so that accommodation moves toward the required guest condition before arrival rather than maintaining that temperature throughout the entire void period.

Can the system be managed remotely?

Yes. Connected controls provide remote visibility and management, reducing dependence on local manual thermostat changes.

Does Energenie guarantee a fixed percentage energy saving?

No. Occupancy, weather, accommodation type, heating technology, previous operating practices and energy tariffs all affect the result. Energenie prefers to establish a project-specific baseline and measure the outcome after intervention.

Heat for the booking

What happens to your lodge heating between guest stays?

Start with a representative group of accommodation and understand the current heating profile across occupied, empty and pre-arrival periods. Energenie can then help build the evidence required to assess whether wider control is justified.