HOYTS

HOYTS, facing rising energy costs and fragmented operations across its cinema network, partnered with Avani to centralise building management and link operations to business data. Avani deployed its platform across 59 locations in Australia and New Zealand, integrating building systems with HOYTS’ ticketing data to enable occupancy-based automation. The result: significant energy savings, reduced maintenance costs, and improved operational visibility.

Rising energy costs: Millions of dollars in increased electricity costs to run its cinemas.

Inconsistent systems: No standardised approach, some cinemas had automated lighting and climate control, others relied on manual operation.

No central visibility: Head office had no visibility of maintenance calls or contractor charges until invoiced.

Reactive maintenance: Individual staff at each location called contractors to fix issues, with no coordination or oversight.

Complex operations: Facilities managers were operating 40-50 different systems within each building without centralised support.

Avani audited approximately 45 HOYTS sites and deployed its platform across 59 cinema locations:

Integration with business systems: Connected to HOYTS’ ticketing database to access ticket sales data, enabling automation based on actual occupancy rather than fixed schedules.

Centralised control: Electrical systems (lighting, HVAC) centralised and automated across all locations, with the ability to deploy strategies from one central point.

Occupancy-based automation: HVAC and lighting schedules adjusted based on ticket sales, when a cinema has zero tickets sold, systems can be scaled back or shut down automatically.

Operational visibility: Real-time visibility into equipment operation and issues across all 59 sites, enabling comparison of running costs against tickets sold.

Automated fault detection: Issues identified and flagged automatically, reducing reliance on individual staff to identify and report problems.

• Energy reduction: 11% reduction in total energy consumption; equipment run times reduced by 20% initially, with a further 15% reduction after ticketing integration
• Maintenance efficiency: 50% reduction in unscheduled maintenance calls; 80% reduction in maintenance staffing headcount
• Carbon reduction: Approximately 2,900 tonnes of CO2 saved per year
• Total savings: $10 million saved (cumulative)
• Labour reallocation: Staff resources redirected from reactive maintenance to higher-value work