Room service by robot at Aloft
A new bellhop has reported for duty at Aloft Hotel, Cupertino, CA and promises to change the face of customer facing hospitality.
The Starwood owned Silicone Valley area hotel is trialing the first Botlr (robotic butler) on call day and night to attend to guest requests.
Once guests call the front desk for a room service request, the hotel’s human staff simply load up the Botlr with an extra towel or a late night snack, input the guest’s room number and the Botlr does the rest.
It can navigate hotel corridors and use the elevator using a Wi-Fi signal.
The pilot program officially kicks off on August 20 and may be deployed at almost 100 properties if it proves a success.
Starwood says the robots will augment rather than replace existing staff.
The Botlr was built by California tech firm Savioke which believes there is great potential for service robots.
"There are all these places, hotels, elder care facilities, hospitals that have a few hundred robots maybe but no significant numbers and we think that’s just a huge opportunity," said Savioke CEO Steve Cousins.
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Editor for TravelMole North America and Asia pacific regions. Ray is a highly experienced (15+ years) skilled journalist and editor predominantly in travel, hospitality and lifestyle working with a huge number of major market-leading brands. He has also cover in-depth news, interviews and features in general business, finance, tech and geopolitical issues for a select few major news outlets and publishers.
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