case study
A Jewel of the Inland Empire
At the border of California’s famed
Inland Empire, Hotel Paseo is located
in Corona, “Gateway to Riverside and
Orange Counties,” east of Los Angeles.
For the past 15 years, the establishment
was known as Dynasty Suites Corona.
After the 56-unit hotel went through a
meticulous million-dollar renovation,
the name was changed to Hotel Paseo
in summer 2006.
senses. That’s what dictates comfort,”
Patel says. To achieve this goal, he knew
he had to remove the wheezy, ugly,
noisy under-window air conditioners in
each room. He started searching for the
system that would deliver the highest
level of individual room satisfaction,
comfort, Indoor Air Quality (IAQ),
climate control and quietness.
Believing that satisfaction is defined by
how well one’s expectations are fulfilled,
owner Pete Patel calls this project his
laboratory. The lessons learned from
this transformation are guiding plans
for his second hotel, Riverside, Calif.,
that will be twice as large. Wanting
his guests to feel at home, just like the
$750,000 to $1 million homes found in
the Inland Empire, Patel hired a wellknown Orange County interior designer
to orchestrate all the furnishings
and color of the new Paseo interiors.
Upgrades included 250-thread count
cotton linens, luxury pillows, pillowtop mattresses, granite counters, plush
carpeting, down comforters and a 42inch plasma television in each room.
Sounds of Silence
Comfort Equals Satisfaction: It’s
the Air that Matters Most
According to Patel’s “satisfaction
quotient,” none of these guest amenities
compare to the significance of the feel
of the air in each room. “The AIR is
what matters most! It is what the body
Discovering the Comfort Solution:
In January 2005, Bobby Hahn,
Mitsubishi Electric HVAC
manufacturers’ representative, Pacific
Systems Group, Torrance, Calif.,
received a call from Patel inviting him
to visit the hotel. Patel had conducted
his own HVAC investigation and was
intrigued with the technology promise
and “Redefining Comfort” tagline of
split-ductless systems from Mitsubishi
Electric Cooling and Heating Solutions,
Suwanee, Ga. On the initial tour,
Patel described his “comfort quotient”
demands and demonstrated the
substantial noise-level problems caused
by the existing PTAC units. Half the
hotel rooms were located a few feet
from the freeway. Hahn confirmed that
the installation of split-ductless units
in each room would not only remove
the annoying noise factor, but would
provide Patel with the special comfort,
IAQ and climate controls for which he
was so earnestly searching.
Project Name
Hotel Paseo
Project Location
Corona, Calif.
Completion Date
Febuary 2005
The Team
Owner
DiVita Hotel Company,
Corona, Calif.
HVAC Contractor
W.H. Smith Company
Corona, Calif.
Manufacturer’s Rep
Pacific Systems Group,
Torrance, Calif.
September 2010
case study
Cutting Annoying Noise Levels
in Half
Patel’s research was thorough. He
commissioned a local sound engineering
firm to study the problem. Results
confirmed that, according to guidelines
from the Air-conditioning and
Refrigeration Institute (ARI), noise
levels generated by the nearby freeway
(California Highway 91) reached in
excess of 80 dB(A). Patel learned that
the human ear is comfortable with
sound levels of half that amount,
approximately 43 dB(A). Further,
the study showed that his old PTAC
units were allowing freeway noise to
penetrate the rooms at a level that
measured well above 50 dB(A).
Hahn demonstrated to Patel that
the Mitsubishi Electric units he was
recommending for installation in
each room and the hotel offices would
cut the current noise levels in half.
Not only would the units run with
extreme quietness, 25dB(A) on the
lowest setting, but the main source of
the trying noise would be eliminated
because Mitsubishi Electric units only
require an opening the size of a tennis
ball in the exterior wall for refrigerant
piping and electrical lines.
Mitsubishi Electric Specifications
for Hotel Paseo: Improving the IAQ
Hahn specified indoor wall-mounted
air conditioners and heat pumps which
would provide each room with the
perfect year-round comfort, dryness,
climate control and IAQ so important
to Patel. With the EPA reporting
today’s indoor pollution levels at two to
five times higher than outdoors, and with
travelers facing a variety of health risks,
from driving in cars and flying in planes
to staying in hotels, Patel understood
the importance of controlling indoor
pollution for Hotel Paseo guests. He
was attracted to the cost and timesaving convenience of the long-life and
washable Mitsubishi Electric filters that
help create a better indoor environment.
Patel was attracted to the MSH systems
because they are easy to install, are
mounted high on each wall (over each
desk at Hotel Paseo), and blend into
the room environments without taking
up any window space. He saw that each
MSH09TW indoor unit would be
connected with lines to an MUH09TW
outdoor unit masked with landscaping
on the hotel’s exterior.
For the hotel office spaces, Hahn
specified the MXZ30TN 3:1
INVERTER-driven multi-zone heat
pump system. He told Patel that each
outdoor unit is capable of delivering
powerful cooling and heating to wallmounted units in three different rooms.
This 3:1 multi-system provides up to
30,500 Btu/h of cooling or 38,000 Btu/h
of heating.
The $1 Million Renovation
Patel acted on Hahn’s specifications
and spent most of 2005 extensively
refurbishing each room, starting with
the extraction of the old PTACs and
adding masonry to the exterior walls
to cover the holes through which most
of the freeway noise entered each
The Mitsubishi Electric system installed at Hotel Paseo enhanced guest comfort by reducing indoor noise and
providing temperature control.
case study
room. Following the installation of the
primary “satisfaction” component (the
AIR), Patel then added hardwood floors,
shutters, custom counter tops and
furniture, plasma TVs, Berber carpet
and porcelain tile.
Individual Comfort Controls with
Motion Sensors
Finally, Patel had another demand
for Hahn. He wanted the individual
room controls to come from another
manufacturer who makes controls with
motion sensors especially for hotel
rooms. To further demonstrate the
flexibility and innovation of the splitductless product technology, Hahn sent
the system schematics for the indoor
fan coils to the manufacturer who then
hard-wired their control units to work
seamlessly with the Mitsubishi Electric
indoor air handlers.
An energy-saving device, the motion
sensors turn the Mitsubishi Electric
units on ONLY when a guest enters
the room and the door closes. When
housekeeping is cleaning, the doors are
left open signaling to the controller
NOT to turn the system on. This has
worked flawlessly, according to Patel,
and his guests like the feature. “It is
still too early to measure the success of
my cost savings,” Patel says, “but I am
measuring the savings each month, and
this time next year I will have another
Mitsubishi Electric benefits story to
tell.”
See if the Red Light Is On
Patel says that his choice of selecting
Mitsubishi Electric split-ductless
systems has paid off handsomely.
Frequent guests now request rooms
right on the freeway because of their
comfort and low noise levels. “The
only way a guest knows that his/her air
conditioner is running is by looking to
see if the red light is on,” Patel says.
“Finally, the quality of the air in each
one of my rooms matches the high
quality of the furnishings.”
The Comforts of Home
“Hotel Paseo is not about royalty,” Patel
says. “We didn’t design this renovation
to give our guests the feeling of being
in a five star, luxury hotel. We were
consciously striving for a feeling of
comfort, satisfaction and value received.
It’s all about having the right kind of
experience. You know that you can
expect all the comforts and amenities of
home. You know your experience will
be enjoyable, satisfying, and you won’t
overpay.”
Mitsubishi Electric Equipment Installed
(42) MSH09TW Wall-mounted Indoor Air Handlers
(5) MXZ30TN INVERTER Outdoor Units
(37) MUH09TW Outdoor Units