How to Build a KNX Hotel Room: Layout, Devices and ETS Setup

A KNX hotel room is laid out around one controller in the room panel: ALLinBOX Hospitality v2 or MAXinBOX Hospitality v3, each with 6 inputs and 2 hospitality thermostats^[6][7][3]. A door sensor and motion detectors in the room and the bathroom tell whether someone is inside^[8]. At the entrance, Tecla RGB 70 keypads set Do Not Disturb (DND) or Make Up Room (MUR), next to a RingBOX doorbell; in the room, a CX40 room controller^[8]. At the door, IWAC Display v3 controls room access with cards and Bluetooth^[9].

Together they form the room's GRMS (guest room management system), and each device has its own logic^[8]: occupancy is worked out by the Motion Detector module, climate by the hospitality thermostat, the DND and MUR statuses by keypads in Room State mode^[5][1][2]. What a GRMS gives the hotel and how it relates to the PMS is on the smart hotel page, the basics of the standard in What is KNX. Below: how to link the devices with objects and what to set in ETS.

How Zennio automation was used in the modular Hotel Ogar is shown in a short official Zennio video.

Watch the video

The occupancy logic is built by the Motion Detector module, whose inputs receive the motion detectors and a trigger from the door. One detector is the master, the others are slaves; the master collects their detections and its own and decides whether the room is occupied^[5]:

1. 1The room starts as unoccupied.
2. 2Opening the door sets it to occupied at once.
3. 3After the door closes, the Waiting Time runs: detections are ignored (2 s by default).
4. 4Then the Listening Time runs (3 s by default): if someone moves, the room is occupied; if not, it is unoccupied.
5. 5From then on, any movement sets the room to occupied again^[5].

The Waiting Time of every slave detector must be at least that of the master. The False Non-Occupied Detection function guards against a false "vacant": when the door opens in an occupied room a scene is saved, and if there is movement again after "unoccupied" without the door opening, the scene is restored (with the detection filter enabled, only after a set number of detections) — for example, when one of two guests has left and the other is asleep. This check can be enabled for sold rooms only. The Guest/Employee object lets the module send different occupancy values for a guest and for staff, and First Access sends a separate scene when the guest enters for the first time^[5].

For the false ceiling above the entrance and in the bathroom, EyeZen IN fits: a passive PIR detector with a range of up to Ø 6 m that connects directly to an input of a Zennio device, up to two detectors per input; the detection time on the input must be at least 5 s^[12]. If the detector has to be on the bus, there is EyeZen TP v2 with its own occupancy channel^[13]. The door is monitored by the flush ZACWDF1W magnetic contact for wooden, aluminium and PVC doors; for a metal door there is 990004607^[14][15]. Without the magnet the contact is open; a surface-mounted version is 990000312^[16]. The inputs of ALLinBOX Hospitality v2 take dry contacts and cables up to 30 m^[6].

The hospitality thermostat describes the room with two flags: sold or not, from the hotel management system, and occupied or not, from the presence detectors. It works with a fan coil, driving the valves and the fan, or with a split unit, to which it sends the setpoint, mode and fan speed^[1].

The hotel limits the guest's Comfort setpoint and can hide the limit: the status is not clipped, so the guest does not notice it. A hidden offset can be set between the guest setpoint and the real one, 2 °C by default. If the sold/unsold object is not used, the room is always treated as sold^[1]. The room climate devices are in the Climate category of our catalogue.

ALLinBOX Hospitality v2 covers the room panel in one housing: it powers the bus itself and gives an IP connection for ETS. MAXinBOX Hospitality v3 is chosen for a 4-pipe fan coil or motorised curtains; note that a 4-pipe fan coil with three-point valves takes both 16 A outputs^[3]. With MAXinBOX, the line power supply and the IP interface are added separately; they are in the System category of our catalogue. If the climate of several rooms is run by separate actuators, their hospitality thermostats can be gathered in one MCC — up to 13 rooms, with a second MCC as a backup^[17].

In its hotel catalogue Zennio puts Tecla RGB 70 keypads at the entrance — the guest chooses DND or MUR and controls the lights — and a RingBOX doorbell^[8]. Inside the room the button works in Room State (Indoor) mode: a press switches on Do Not Disturb or Make Up Room and returns to the normal state. Outside, Room State (Outdoor) shows the status with the backlight, and with a long press the staff ask whether the room is occupied — the indicator flashes for 5 seconds — or mark the start of cleaning^[2]. In the room itself, Zennio's hotel catalogue places a CX40 room controller^[8].

RingBOX is a KNX doorbell with 4 doorbells and 8 tones^[18]; in Do Not Disturb mode the doorbell commands are ignored^[19]. IWAC Display v3 receives the room state as an object (0 — normal, 1 — make up room, 2 — DND)^[20] and shows the icons on its display^[11]. For staff groups you set what happens when the room is in DND or occupied: let in, let in on the second attempt or deny; the guest of the room always gets in^[20]. The lock is opened by the Securel v3 secure relay over an encrypted serial link; IWAC Display v3 needs an external 24 V DC supply^[9].

If the hotel keeps Vingcard or Onity locks, the door state, the guest/staff flag and the room status are passed to KNX by the KILock interface, and for SALTO InRoomNode by KIRN^[21][22]. Link the door and guest/staff objects of the interface to the door trigger and the guest/employee object of the Motion Detector module: the module takes the door signal not only from sensors but also from devices that report the door state^[5]. The data types match — DPT_Window_Door for the door, DPT_Switch for guest/staff, DPT_Bool for sold — and the polarity can be set on both sides^[21][22][3].

For the room logic, the hotel is first of all the sold/unsold object: both the hospitality thermostat and the Motion Detector module receive it. In the module, the guest's first-entry scene depends on it and, if configured, so does the false-vacant protection, which then works only in a sold room^[1][5]. The status comes from the PMS integration — Zennio receives check-in and check-out from it^[8] — or from the KILock lock interface, which has the same object^[21]. The central level is the Reflecta software (in our catalogue, a per-room licence ZLIREF) and the link to the BMS over the hotel's IP network^[8]. Which room points the BMS receives is listed in the guide What KNX sends to a BMS.

• A slave's Waiting Time shorter than the master's. The algorithm then misbehaves: the slaves' time must be at least the master's^[5].
• The sold/unsold object is not linked. The thermostat then treats the room as always sold^[1].
• A short detection time for EyeZen IN. The input parameter must be at least 5 s^[12].
• IWAC without time on the bus. The access module requests the date and time over the bus with the Request Date and Time object^[20].
• IWAC Display v3 programmed without 24 V. The external supply must be connected during the ETS download too^[9].
• Curtains on ALLinBOX Hospitality v2. It has no shutter channels, so curtains need MAXinBOX Hospitality v3^[7].

We are the official Zennio distributor in Kazakhstan. For a hotel project here, we help choose the room devices by room type and prepare the bill of materials — send us the room types and the HVAC data.