Optimize energy and comfort in hotels: integrate HVAC variables into the BMS with Intesis gateways

One platform to control every HVAC unit in the hotel, whatever the brand: HMS Intesis solutions for the hospitality sector.

In a hotel, the air conditioning system is the single biggest driver of energy consumption — and also the first thing a guest notices when entering their room. Between guest comfort and the energy bill, the real lever for hotel management almost always comes down to one thing: integrating HVAC systems into the BMS (Building Management System). Intesis, an HMS Networks brand, offers a range of gateways built precisely to close this gap, distributed by MT Distribuzione.

HVAC challenges in hotel buildings

Anyone managing HVAC in a hotel will recognise a few recurring pain points.

• Mixed HVAC brands and types. Hotels often host a variety of HVAC systems: split ACs, VRFs, heat pumps, IR-based units, from different brands. This fragmentation makes unified control and BMS integration complex and inconsistent.

• Room-by-room comfort control. Guests expect individualized comfort (temperature, fan speed, mode) per room or suite. Without proper integration, reliable central control is not possible, resulting in HVAC energy use in unoccupied spaces and the need to optimize costs without compromising guest comfort.

• Legacy or back-of-house AC units. Many older or budget units rely on infrared controls. Integrating them into the BMS or hotel control systems, especially in a secure and bidirectional manner, is often a task that facility managers cannot achieve.

• Energy and efficiency management. Several hotel-energy studies show that HVAC consumes between 40% and 60% of a hotel's total energy use. Without full visibility and control over all units, optimizing energy use and reducing operational costs is challenging.

Intesis product families for HVAC control

To address these needs, Intesis offers four gateway families, each designed for a specific scenario.

700 Series Air – Multi-Indoor Unit Gateways

The Intesis 700 Series Air gateways provide centralized, bidirectional integration of multi-indoor, multi-brand HVAC systems. They support up to 84 indoor units and connect them to standard BMS protocols such as BACnet, KNX, Modbus, or Home Automation.

Key features: supports VRF/VRV, multi-split, commercial, and air-to-water systems; multi-indoor, multi-brand, and multi-protocol compatibility; automatic indoor unit discovery and mapping for faster commissioning; native communication with proprietary HVAC communication protocols; direct interface to the outdoor unit's communication bus.

Benefits for hotel buildings: consolidated control of multiple rooms from a single gateway, reduced installation and wiring effort in large buildings, energy usage estimation and monitoring per room unit, licenses available from 4 up to 128 indoor units, facilitates centralized HVAC scheduling, mode control, and maintenance.

1×1 Brand-Specific Gateways

Intesis 1×1 brand-specific gateways connect hotels' indoor units (from a given manufacturer) to the BMS, allowing full monitoring and control of each unit via standard BMS protocols such as BACnet, KNX, Modbus, or Home Automation.

Key features: common data model across brands on the BMS side; direct access to the remote controller bus or the logic control card of the indoor unit; energy savings through window contact or room occupancy functions; remote and setpoint restriction to ensure AC behaviour follows hotel policies and energy rules; powered directly from the indoor unit, no external power supply required.

Benefits for hotel buildings: error codes with descriptions reduce maintenance costs, enables per-room monitoring (status, faults, runtime), supports BMS-based HVAC scheduling (e.g., check-in/check-out), simplifies maintenance and guest comfort management, full integration with any room controller.

1×1 Universal IR Gateways

Intesis Universal IR gateways allow IR-controlled AC units to join a BMS. Using an IR receiver and auto-learn database, they offer bidirectional control and feedback even on legacy or IR-only systems.

Key features: built-in room temperature and humidity sensors; AC unit control by both the IR remote and the BMS; automatic IR remote control via auto-learn; remote and setpoint restriction to ensure AC behaviour follows hotel policies and energy rules; binary inputs for occupancy sensors, window contacts, or any digital input to reduce energy waste.

Benefits for hotel buildings: integrate legacy AC units into any BMS, avoid full replacement of IR-based units, gain remote control and status feedback (not only manual remote control), enable uniform HVAC control even in older rooms, secure, encrypted communication and compliance with cybersecurity standards.

Air-to-Water Heat Pump Gateways

Intesis air-to-water heat pump gateways provide bidirectional integration of heat pump systems with building automation networks, enabling detailed control and monitoring of hot-water production and system status for efficient hotel HVAC management.

Key features: full BMS integration for read/write control of heat pump operation and hot-water production; access to detailed telemetry, including temperatures, modes, errors, and energy-related variables; support for optimized heating curves and DHW control; built-in diagnostics and alarms, enabling predictive maintenance; simple installation and configuration.

Benefits for hotel buildings: unified BMS control of heating and hot-water systems across all hotel zones, lower energy consumption thanks to monitoring and optimization of heat-pump performance, reduced downtime through early error detection and proactive maintenance, consistent guest comfort with stable hot-water supply and optimized heating control, lower integration and commissioning costs due to easy setup and standardized data access.

All gateways are certified for the major BAS protocols (BTL, UL Listed, BACnet, KNX, Modbus, Home Automation) and developed in collaboration with all major HVAC brands: Bosch, Daikin, Fujitsu, Hisense, Hitachi, Haier, LG, Midea, Mitsubishi Electric, Panasonic, Samsung, Toshiba, York, and more.

Real-world applications: what they're for

• Multi-brand hotel chains: a single 700 Series Air gateway manages up to 84 indoor units from different brands, simplifying centralized supervision even in properties with systems installed over time.

• Boutique and upscale hotels: 1×1 brand-specific gateways enable precise room-by-room control, integrated with booking management (check-in/check-out) and energy-saving logic.

• Renovations and older properties: Universal IR gateways bring even the oldest units under BMS control, without replacing existing equipment.

• Hotels with heat-pump systems: air-to-water gateways unify heating and domestic hot-water control across all zones, with predictive diagnostics to reduce downtime.

• Facility management and sustainability: full visibility into HVAC consumption (up to 60% of a hotel's total energy use) supports efficiency goals, ESG reporting, and lower operating costs.

Want to discover all the Intesis solutions and find out which one fits your project? Contact your sales representative or write to [email protected] | +39 045509826