Critical Importance of Indoor Air Quality (IAQ)

The hotel guest experience is critical to the highly competitive and ever-changing hospitality industry. Excellent Indoor Air Quality (IAQ) is a key component of that experience. In a hotel, convention or casino environment, people spend 80% of their time inside the buildings. The indoor environment is therefore the most fundamental element of service quality. Guests want a healthy and comfortable environment in order to be productive at meetings and enjoy their leisure time, be it in their rooms, in restaurants, or around establishment premises. At the same time, employees need to be able to concentrate to work efficiently. To meet these expectations, good IAQ is essential.


The Air Inside These Facilities Can Contain:

  • Moulds, spores, pollens
  • Carbon monoxide, radon, volatile organic compounds (VOCs)
  • Bacteria, viruses and by-products
  • Vehicle engine exhaust, exhaust from industrial plants
  • Asbestos, clays, elemental particles and man-made fibres

Extensive Studies Show:

In the United States alone, hotels represent more than 5 billion square feet of space, nearly 5 million guest rooms, and close to

$4 billion in annual energy use


56% of commercial maintenance teams actually admit that their

IAQ maintenance is not carried out per IAQ guidelines


Lack of proper air filtration is the

#1 cause of poor IAQ

Optimise Your Environment

Air filtration systems in hotels must handle relatively large volumes of air. Approximately 50% of a building’s energy consumption goes to the heating, cooling, and moving of air. In considering the Total Cost of Ownership (TCO), it is important to keep in mind that in order to have a cost-effective building, planning maintenance is an important step in maintaining energy efficiency, minimizing costly downtime, and extending the lifespan of your equipment.

Cost-Efficient Green Building Design

Green buildings use on average 26% less energy, emit 33% less carbon dioxide, use 30% less indoor water, and send 50%-75% less solid waste to landfills and incinerators. The opportunities for hospitality venues to integrate green building strategies into their design, construction, and daily operations makes business sense and can be an important part of a company’s commitment to sustainability.

AAF International can assist you in the processes required to earn certification by the Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Method (BREEAM). The longest established and leading method of assessing, rating, and certifying building sustainability, BREEAM sets the benchmark for green building in 78 countries around the world.

Air filtration strategies also contribute to earning credits toward certification by Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design® (LEED®). Administered by the U.S. Green Building Council, the LEED® Green Building Rating System™, which has previously been used primarily in the U.S., is now being used around the world to assess the environmental performance of buildings.