An appliance for conditioning air of an associated room and an associated method for controlling an air conditioner are disclosed, the controller selectively adjusting operation of the air conditioning appliance based on historical operating data. The controller adjusts a set-point of the appliance for a preselected period of time in response to the historical operating data of the appliance when the appliance operates in an energy savings mode. The controller is configured to receive and process data relating to the rate of change in the temperature. Further, an override feature may be included to maintain operation of the appliance in a normal operation mode if ambient temperature reaches a predetermined threshold value. Another feature is that the controller determines whether the compressor has been operational less than a preselected period of time and, if so, the compressor is operated until such time period has elapsed.