Business Model for Hotel Charging Changing?

[phil]

Personally think hotels are outsourcing charging as they are so abused and become more of a headache than an "amenity" . Folks often just drop them on ground, don't hang cords, people argue over who "deserves" the charger, PHEV shouldnt use, expecting people to move their car at 3 am. , a Tesla was using it, its ICEd, etc. In last 4 years it has gone from almost always available to almost always full.

People suck. Folks, too. No doubt companies will be lining up to service this outsourced business.

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[shutterbug]

I think that the way hotel's/motels view having charging stations may have changed or be changing from an guest attracting amenity to a profit center.

Just stayed overnight at a Marriott TownePlace with a ChargePoint L2 charger - between the $.50/hour connection fee and the $.75/kWh rate which was about 60% higher than nearby DFC stations.

Last year I stayed at Cambria in LA area. They didn't have L2 chargers, but instead had EvGo at standard EvGo rates. The hotel enforced iceholing. I think this is the best.

 

[RickMachE]

@RickMachE Well Rick, "people" here. This person was aware that it is crowd sourced, but had not needed to correct information about a charger. The PlugShare edit button on the Android app does not present, so you have to know that it is there and how to get to it. Not hard, but not intuitive either. Now that I know where it is I will be inclined to use it. And I have.

The Edit button does exist on the Android app. When you see the row of buttons, scroll to the right...

 

[apwelsh]

I think that the way hotel's/motels view having charging stations may have changed or be changing from an guest attracting amenity to a profit center.

Just stayed overnight at a Marriott TownePlace with a ChargePoint L2 charger - between the $.50/hour connection fee and the $.75/kWh rate which was about 60% higher than nearby DFC stations.

I stayed at Hilton Resorts World Las Vegas. They had lots of chargers on many levels And the cost was around $0.26-$0.34/kWh no per minute charge until after charging is complete.

At The Plaza Las Cegas, charging g was free

At Treasure Island, I paid around $0.36/kWh and they only had a dozen chargers

Indian Wells Resort in Palm Spring area was free.

All these were in the last few months.

Undoubtedly many hotels are going to take advantage, and many DCFC stations are starting to raise their rates in areas where chargers are in demand. The availability of Tesla charging will be key I think to leveling out the rates.

 

[VaporTrails]

I think that the way hotel's/motels view having charging stations may have changed or be changing from a guest attracting amenity to a profit center.

This may be an unpopular opinion…but I think destination charging is probably done. It won’t scale, it hasn’t kept up, and hotels now view it as a chargeable amenity.

I made a reservation at a hotel that listed an L2 charger as an amenity…but it wasn’t their charger and it was $8 per hour. You had to physically move your car out of their garage to the L2 deck and then move it again after a few hours. If that is the way it is going to be, then I AM DONE with hotel charging.

The right answer for traveling is L3 infrastructure in my opinion.

I think an interesting question is around what model works for folks that don’t own a home. It will be interesting on how that plays out. I think the profit center move may play here as well.

 

[Thunderbuck]

On my recent 2500 mile West Coast road trip, in addition to the normal “free” L2 charging that smaller hotels have, I ran into 3 different “large hotel” models, all using ChargePoint.
1) Hotel gave us a code to put in the CP app and the charging was free. BEST!
2) Hotel had L2 and DCFC for a similar price, plus idle fees, so we fast charged to 90%, then L2 charged while we ate dinner. WORST!
3) Hotel charged $2/hr for slow L2, with a maximum $12 charge and no idle frees We put in 54kWh over night which worked out to be $.22/kWh, which is a fair price. GOOD!

I honestly think #1 is the best model overall. #3 is a reasonable model, and #2 was ridiculous.

This is where PlugShare shines. No surprises if you check the hotel reviews first.

The great thing about Case 1 is that it makes the charger available to non-guests while still providing income to the hotel. For instance, if the hotel is in a business park a day-worker from a nearby building might use it.

 

[Thunderbuck]

Personally think hotels are outsourcing charging as they are so abused and become more of a headache than an "amenity" . Folks often just drop them on ground, don't hang cords, people argue over who "deserves" the charger, PHEV shouldnt use, expecting people to move their car at 3 am. , a Tesla was using it, its ICEd, etc. In last 4 years it has gone from almost always available to almost always full.

There’s an easy answer to this: install more chargers. I get that we’re still in the chicken-egg days, but in some regions EVs now represent more than 10% of the overall fleet and if the demand isn’t quite there now, it will be soon.

 

[phil]

The right answer for traveling is L3 infrastructure in my opinion.

In my opinion, the best answer for travel is gasoline.

 

[milepost1]

There’s an easy answer to this: install more chargers. I get that we’re still in the chicken-egg days, but in some regions EVs now represent more than 10% of the overall fleet and if the demand isn’t quite there now, it will be soon.

Yes simple till your the business owner. Who is going to pay for install? Who is going maintain it? Who is going to pay for electricity? Who is going to monitor it's use and handle conflicts?
Now is it going to pay for itself? Is it going to increase my business enough to offset costs?
Personally think like internet was a charge at hotels that had it available. Then most had it, but still charged, today most have it and is included.

 

[Thunderbuck]

Yes simple till your the business owner. Who is going to pay for install? Who is going maintain it? Who is going to pay for electricity? Who is going to monitor it's use and handle conflicts?
Now is it going to pay for itself? Is it going to increase my business enough to offset costs?
Personally think like internet was a charge at hotels that had it available. Then most had it, but still charged, today most have it and is included.

When enough people are driving EVs that they start avoiding your hotel because you have a flaky charging experience, yes, you’ll look at investing. If the charging companies are smart they’ll find ways to help minimize the upfront capital cost, too.

 

[Thunderbuck]

In my opinion, the best answer for travel is gasoline.

In many places this is still true but not all. And as public charging in general improves in more places this will be less true over time.

 

[Space_Pony]

When enough people are driving EVs that they start avoiding your hotel because you have a flaky charging experience, yes, you’ll look at investing. If the charging companies are smart they’ll find ways to help minimize the upfront capital cost, too.

That will be years down the road.

 

[Iceslicer39]

Not all chargers in hotel parking lots are owned and operated by the hotel. I was at a hotel in Wisconsin last year and thankfully read about the charger in PlugShare. Someone commented about a very large idle fee. I went out and moved the car to avoid that problem.

Not sure where you were, but the Hampton in La Crosse is free for 4 hours, the $5 each hour after. On the days that I go there for meetings, it’s handy to get done at 430, plug in, get my room, walk to dinner, etc. then get back, unplug, and move. I got in the night before once, arriving at 11 pm, nope I’ll use the other options.

Due to the wording of the new WI state law allowing EV chargers to charge by kWh and the 3 cent adder for the road tax, chargers are no longer allowed to be free. Existing are OK, but new ones cannot be free.
A bit unfortunate, i don’t use the pool, I generally skip the breakfast , have ny own WIFI, but that is one amenity I’d use. I still chose the hotel that has the charger and hope it’s available, but have a backup plan.

I’d be curious to know how many kWh/year that they provide at the hotels. Likely more than a roadside level 2, but I know of two level 2’s along the highway at local parks that saw about 350 between the two in a year and a half. They are owned by the local utility and are free. It would cost more to switch them to pay chargers than the energy has cost them.

 

[CarsIMBwife]

Not sure where you were, but the Hampton in La Crosse is free for 4 hours, the $5 each hour after. On the days that I go there for meetings, it’s handy to get done at 430, plug in, get my room, walk to dinner, etc. then get back, unplug, and move. I got in the night before once, arriving at 11 pm, nope I’ll use the other options. .

Back in October I posted this . . .

TRAVELER BEWARE. Was recently on a road trip. Stayed at a hotel in La Crosse Wisconsin. Hotel app said there was charging and there was … BUT … the charger was NOT affiliated with the hotel even though it was in the hotel parking lot. First four hours free, then $5/hour while charging, then $25 PER HOUR idle fee. I was suspicious when I had to download yet another app to activate it (EV Connect). Checked PlugShare. Needless to say, I went out at 11pm to move the car. Some poor guy on PlugShare went to sleep and paid $135 for charging/parking.
….
A subsequent post mentioned the Hampton Inn in downtown LaCrosse. Sounds like you move to avoid the idle fees too ?

 

[Thunderbuck]

That will be years down the road.

I suspect it’s already reality on the west coast.

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