Energy costs in ski resorts: the line item eating your winter margin
A chalet let all winter can post flattering revenue and disappointing profitability. The cause is almost always the same: energy. Heating, hot water, hot tubs and towel rails run non-stop from December to April, controlled by guests who never see the bill. September is your last window to act before the meter takes off.
Why the bill explodes in short-term rental
An owner-occupied mountain property consumes intermittently: you heat when you are there and switch off when you leave. In short-term rental the logic is completely reversed. The property is held above freezing between stays, brought back up to temperature before every arrival, then used without restraint by guests for whom thermal comfort is part of the product they bought. A window left open with the heating on full, a towel rail running permanently, a hot tub held at thirty-eight degrees seven days a week, a tumble dryer used daily: each of those behaviours is entirely legitimate from the guest's point of view, and each one costs money. On top of that comes the Alpine building stock itself: older chalets, often poorly insulated in the roof and the joinery, absorb a thirty-degree gap between inside and outside. The outcome is mechanical: on a four-bedroom property with a hot tub, energy is frequently the second largest cost after service charges, far ahead of insurance or routine maintenance.
Measure before you optimise
You cannot manage what you do not measure, and that is precisely the problem for most owners: they discover their consumption at the annual reconciliation, six months after the season, when nothing can be corrected any more. So the first September action is a baseline reading. Record your meter indexes today, and above all rebuild the previous season month by month from your invoices so you can set it against your actual occupancy. You get a simple but revealing ratio: energy cost per night let. It is the only indicator that lets you compare two seasons, two properties or two heating configurations. A sharp gap between December and February at comparable occupancy almost always points to a setpoint issue or to equipment left running empty. If your property has a hot tub or a sauna, isolate it with a sub-meter: it is often the single item that explains a third of the bill, and the only way to know whether it truly pays for itself is to know what it costs.
The levers that actually pay
Not all savings measures are equal, and they need ranking by return on investment. The most profitable lever is regulation: a zoned smart thermostat, driven remotely from the booking calendar, lets you hold sixteen degrees between stays and bring the property back up four hours before arrival. The gain is immediate and the installation pays for itself within one season. Next come the settings invisible to the guest: domestic hot water brought back to fifty-five degrees, towel rails on a timer, the insulated cover systematically replaced on the hot tub, filtration hours reduced. The third level is the building fabric: draught-proofing the joinery, insulating the loft and any ducting in unheated volumes. More expensive, but it is the only lever that durably improves your energy rating, and therefore your resale value. Finally, review your supply contract and your subscribed capacity: many chalets pay for a tariff sized for a permanent occupancy they simply do not have.
What SmartStay manages for you
We treat energy as a management item in its own right, not as an unavoidable cost. In practice, we synchronise thermal regulation with the booking calendar: the property is never heated empty, and it is always up to temperature when the guest arrives, including for a late check-in. Our teams apply a closing protocol after every departure — setpoints lowered, hot tub covered, auxiliary heaters off, openings checked — built into the housekeeping checklist and photographed as proof. On the guest side, the digital welcome guide explains how the equipment works without lecturing anyone: a guest who understands the thermostat uses it better. Finally, your monthly statement shows energy cost against nights let, so you can make informed decisions about keeping a hot tub or committing to an insulation investment.
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