Home / 40.9% Reduction in Energy Consumption per Overnight Stay at a Hostel in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany
CASE STUDY:

40.9% Reduction in Energy Consumption per Overnight Stay at a Hostel in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany

🇩🇪 Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany

Our client

Building type: Hostel Building  

Client Name: Youth Hostel moun10

Partner Name: Betterspace

Location: Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany

Building parameters: 1 building, 4 floors, 53 rooms

Product(s) implemented:
106 Vicki LoRaWAN® Smart Radiator Thermostats

“Sustainability has always played an important role in the philosophy of youth hostels and is firmly embedded in our concept.”

Kevin Kirschke, Hostel Manager

About Betterspace

Betterspace develops smart software solutions that make buildings more energy-efficient, digital, and user-friendly.

With better.energy, users can make their non-residential buildings more energy efficient. The system automatically controls radiators and fan coil units, whether it is a hotel or office building, a clinic or care facility, or a school or other educational institution, better.energy reduces energy consumption.

The online management platform better.energy helps users manage their buildings. It allows them to keep an eye on their company, locations, devices, users, and better.energy modules, enabling the automated control of radiators and fan coil units as well as continuous monitoring of energy consumption.

Hotels also benefit from the better.guest digital guest directory. With its telephone feature, chat, push messages, green option, and ordering function, the digital assistant simplifies communication with hotel guests, helps generate additional revenue, and reduces costs.

With its intelligent software solutions, Betterspace creates digital, connected, sustainable, and efficient places.

Challenges

Built in 2018, the moun10 Youth Hostel combines modern comfort with Alpine charm and Bavarian hospitality in the heart of Garmisch-Partenkirchen. The hostel features 53 rooms with 192 beds, a panoramic sauna overlooking the Zugspitze, as well as a dining area, meeting room, fitness room, and dedicated bicycle and ski storage facilities. Operating under a strong sustainability concept, the management places particular emphasis on responsible energy use, environmentally friendly catering, and preserving the building. While internal operations were already optimized, most of the energy consumption was driven by guest activity. To improve efficiency without compromising comfort, the team needed a durable and easy-to-integrate solution that fits the needs of busy hospitality settings.

Solution

By integrating the better.energy platform with the existing BMS and installing 106 Vicki LoRaWAN® Smart Radiator Thermostats, the hostel improved temperature control in its common areas while reducing the need for manual adjustments by the staff, particularly in large rooms previously prone to over- and underheating. The installation was in 2023, quick and straightforward, and carried out during normal operations, with staff simply replacing the existing thermostat heads with Vicki TRVs. Within two years, the hostel reduced its base load with the municipal utility from 172 kW to 65 kW, saving more than €3,500 annually. Energy consumption per overnight stay fell significantly from 10.28 kWh in January 2023 to 6.08 kWh in January 2025 under comparable conditions, a reduction of approximately 40.9%. Smart thermostat features such as occupancy-based heating and open-window detection now ensure efficient energy use while maintaining guest comfort. With a battery life of up to 10 years, among the longest on the market, the devices offer predictable maintenance cycles.

Combined with the better.energy platform, MClimate devices help reduce staff workload, maintenance requirements, and overall energy costs.

Results

40.9% reduction

of consumption per overnight stay

Up to 10 years

of battery life

Open Windows

Detection

Supports FUOTA

Firmware Upgrade Over The Air

Gallery

Products in this case study

Vicki LoRaWAN® Smart Radiator Thermostat

Vicki LoRaWAN is a radiator thermostatic valve fully compliant with the LoRaWAN standard. It is the perfect choice for large-scale projects as it offers amazing battery life, RF performance and no maintenance for years as well functionalities such as Child Lock, Detection of opened windows and much more.

Recommended products

MClimate Wireless Thermostat LoRaWAN®

MClimate Wireless Thermostat is a stand-alone thermostat powered entirely by solar energy using an organic solar panel. The device features a 2.9" e-ink screen, sensor for movement (PIR), temperature and humidity sensor, LUX sensor and 3 buttons. The user can change the target temperature and see current indoor conditions. The device sends an uplink after any event as well as periodically.

MClimate CO2 + PIR lite LoRaWAN®

The MClimate CO2 + PIR lite LoRaWAN® combines an NDIR CO₂ sensor, a PIR sensor, and temperature and humidity sensors to deliver comprehensive monitoring and optimization of indoor climate conditions. Powered by two AA batteries, the device can operate for up to 15 years under default configuration mode. The data from the CO2 + PIR can be integrated into any LoRaWAN®-compatible system, including Building Management Systems, and exposed as datapoints in Modbus, BACnet, and KNX systems through a dedicated gateway.

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