🎯 The business: energy audits and efficiency plans for hotels and resorts in the Caribbean, where electricity costs two to four times the U.S. rate and air conditioning runs all year. The audit travels over the internet from utility bills and building data, with a site visit to the island when the project is sold.
Independent hotels and resort groups in the Bahamas, Jamaica, Barbados, the Dominican Republic, Aruba and the Eastern Caribbean, and the development banks that fund efficiency programs for them. An audit bills $5,000 to $25,000 depending on property size; implementation management and verified savings contracts bill more. A resort spending $1.5 million a year on power will pay for a plan that cuts 20 percent.
| Certified Energy Manager or Certified Energy Auditor credential | $1,500 to $3,000 |
| Measurement tools (power loggers, thermal camera, data loggers) | $4,000 to $8,000 |
| LLC, professional liability insurance | $2,500 to $5,000 |
| Energy modeling software | $0 to $2,000 |
| Website with case studies, one Caribbean hotel conference | $3,000 to $5,000 |
| All-in | ≈ $11,000 to $23,000 |
Get the credential if you lack it; hotel owners and banks ask. Audit a U.S. hotel at cost for a case study. Learn the island utilities’ tariff structures, which decide where the savings are. Join the Caribbean Hotel and Tourism Association and attend its investment conference. Offer a free remote screening from twelve months of bills, which finds the quick wins and sells the full audit.
A $12,000 audit is about two weeks of work including a three-day site visit, with travel at $2,000. Two audits a month is a strong solo practice. The larger money is in implementation: managing the chiller replacement, the solar array and the controls, and in savings-share contracts where you take a slice of the verified reduction for several years.
No license for auditing, but implementation work on the island needs a local licensed electrical or mechanical contractor as your partner. Work permits for your site visits in some islands if you stay or work beyond a short business trip. Professional liability insurance that covers your recommendations. Contracts that state the savings method and who verifies it.
A hotel that implements half the plan and blames you for the result. Hurricane season disrupting visits and budgets. Utility data that is incomplete. Long sales cycles with family-owned resorts. The auditors who last specialize in hospitality, partner with a local contractor on each island, and put the measurement protocol in writing before the work starts.