Mas de la Sala Hotel
If you’re ever in central Catalonia you might see Mas de la Sala, a traditional-looking Spanish hotel with the cuisine to match. However, after a recent renovation, the functionality now offered is anything but traditional…
Picturesque views, great wine… and amazing automation!
The hotel is set in idyllic surroundings with a local vineyard just a stone’s throw away. The rural environment inspires calm and tranquillity for all visitors and guests. To add to the relaxing theme at Mas de la Sala, you’ll now find Loxone technology in some of the rooms. The management decided to install Loxone here to offer their guests the best experience possible. They now have an extremely versatile system which can adapt to the hotel’s requirements.
Intelligent rooms
In the first phase of the project, two rooms have been completely remodelled: one of the master suites and a standard double room.
However, this type of technology is not exclusive to luxury rooms. The benefits it brings are perfectly adaptable to any type of room – maximising comfort and wellbeing whilst minimising energy consumption and costs.
One common theme for guests and hotel owners alike:
Ease of operation
The intelligent rooms at Mas de la Sala have a basic principle:
Automation
Guests get a unique experience, quickly realising that they don’t need to touch anything since intelligent sensors pick up on their behaviour and automatically take care of things for them.
The blinds work completely automatically at Mas de la Sala. In summer, when it’s usually quite hot in the region, the blinds are lowered as soon as the sun comes up. Then, in the evening, when the sun goes down they are raised. Don’t worry these are exterior blinds, they have curtains providing them with privacy 😉. By the blinds operating in this way, significant amounts of energy are saved – as the air conditioning does not need to be brought on as frequently.
The lights intuitively turn on only when they’re needed and turn off when that’s no longer true (without switching off while you are still in the room – which is all too common with other systems which label themselves as “smart”).
Temperature control. If a room is soon to be occupied, the air conditioning or heating kick in to ensure that the room is the perfect temperature for when the guests arrive. When a room is not in use, the air conditioning system is switched off to avoid unnecessary energy expenditure.
Intelligent audio integration. A guest welcoming function, automatic activation of music when someone enters the bathroom, easy switching of music through conveniently placed Touch switches all improves the quality of people’s stay.
Our Loxone Partner suggested transforming just a couple of rooms, as a test run. Implementing different functionality that we did not currently have in order to know what to install in the future.
We already knew about the existence of the Loxone system, however, when we met with our Partner they explained everything they could do and we did not need much time to understand each other.Â
So we started a three-pronged project, coordinated by the excellent interior designer Marta Castellano, which consisted of the complete renovation of a suite and a standard double room. The result, for us… spectacular! Not only is it optimal in terms of energy-saving, thanks to the control you can have, but you also get a changing aesthetic with the possibility of different environments, increasing the comfort and welfare for our customers.
We can assure you that, although we knew previously what the Loxone rooms would do and how they would work, when we saw them finished it was a huge surprise. In this case, the saying ‘a picture is worth a thousand words’ is certainly true.
Our recommendation to any business owners is: “If you’re extending or renovation, keep Loxone in mind, its system and its equipment”.
Finally, we would like to thank the whole Marta Castellano estudio de interiorismo team, Loxone and our usual contractors for their work.
Loxone Touch Switches
Should you need to change the lighting mood, manually raise or lower the blinds or turn the music up, or down then simply tap on one of the Loxone Touch Switches which are conveniently placed around the room.
The Loxone Touch Surface (which has also been used on this project) is also worth mentioning, as it can be integrated under wood, glass, ceramic or stone surfaces to turn them into intelligent points of control. The Touch Nightlight also gives users intuitive control while also functioning as an alarm clock, ambient source of light and much more.
When we consider automation in a hotel, we think of the following aspects:
Experience: As guests use a hotel room slightly differently compared to a normal bedroom – the room should reflect this. However, everything should still be automated.Â
Savings: Make the hotel as efficient as possible.
Control: Having a comprehensive overview of the whole system and receiving automatic alerts if there’s an incident, gives the owners maximum peace of mind.
Access: Thanks to the Intercom, access can be granted 24 hours a day – even if nobody is at the reception desk – allowing visitors to arrive at any time of day.
Energy efficiency
Loxone technology has allowed a comprehensive automation system to be put into place at Mas de la Sala – which is great for energy efficiency.
Controlling the air conditioning systems (which are notorious for high energy expenditure), automating the blinds, lighting, access control and also giving intelligent facilities management to the team all help keep the energy costs down.
Automation based on room status
As previously mentioned, the temperature of a room can be intelligently controlled based on the status of that room. The lighting is also automatically turned off when no one is in the room.
Window Status
If a window is opened while the heating or air conditioning is on then they will be temporarily halted so that energy isn’t wasted.
Automated shading
Automatic shading prevents the hot sun from penetrating the rooms during the summer months – reducing the need for air conditioning. In a similar fashion, during winter the automatic blinds allow maximal sunlight into the rooms to support the heating system.
Unparalleled Comfort
The renovation of the rooms has provided guest of Mas de la Sala with unparalleled levels of comfort. Automation improves visitors experiences in the rooms. For example, the lighting mood can be combined with the colours from the whirlpool in the bath for a truly unique experience.
Night Mode
A cool feature which has been implemented at Mas de la Sala is Night Mode. When a guest goes to sleep, they simply need to triple tap on the Touch Switch or Touch Nightlight next to the bed – then the lights will be turned off, the blinds will go down automatically, and any music playing will be stopped.
If they get up in the middle of the night, a dim coloured light will be gentle brought on – lighting the room just enough so they can see but not enough to startle them.
I would define my stay at Mas de la Sala Suite as “carefree”, in the best sense of the word. The lights go on and off without doing anything, you forget about the blinds as they function on their own, the whirlpool bath is a real luxury, and you can also change the lighting while bathing from the switch embedded in the wall. The service is impeccable, from the reception to the hotel’s restaurant services.
Interested in Loxone?
Whether you want Loxone installed or you want to start offering your customers Loxone, speak to us about making that happen.