Last month I had the pleasure of visting the Starwood Hotels & Resorts’ headquarters in Connecticut, USA for a preview of the company’s select service brands’ second generation designs. I was also delighted to meet Botlr, a surprisingly likeable robotic butler designed for the company’s Aloft brand.
The robot was developed by Savioke ,and at three feet tall and weighing less than 100lbs, he is physically unthreatening. He has a carrying capacity of two cubic feet, and is designed to travel at a human walking pace, with his main purpose being to deliver items to rooms.
Botlr was introduced last August at Aloft Cupertino in California, and is going to be rolled out gradually to more Alofts. The thing I like most about him is that he looks like a robot, unlike the creepy ‘humanoid’ robots that will make up almost the entire staff count at the Henn-na Hotel in Nagasaki, Japan when it opens this summer. However, while Botlr is quite clearly not a human, he does display personable qualities to ensure the guest is left with a smile after dealing with him.
He made me chuckle when he came to the door of an Aloft mock-up room to deliver a toothbrush during a demonstration. His screen allows the guest to rate him on his service, and when the staff member removed the toothbrush from under his lid and tapped five stars on his screen, Botlr did a little twirl and made a ‘hurray’ sound before moving back along the corridor.
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While some argue that robots eliminate the ‘personalised service’ element in hotels, I would now tend to disagree having met one in the...er... flesh. Botlr is endlessly polite, amusing, and asks for nothing in return for his immaculate service. In fact, he is reminiscent of the loveable extraterrestrial machines from childhood movie favourite Batteries Not Included.
No small talk is required, Botlr doesn’t need a tip, and I wouldn’t even feel bad about calling down to reception to ask someone to bring me a toothbrush if I knew it would be Botlr who would greet me at the door. After all, he is a robot, therefore even if he wanted to give a judgemental tutt, I doubt he’s been programmed to do so (yet).
I think his services are particularly suitable for brands such as Aloft, which are looking to attract millennial guests. A millennial myself, technically, I don’t like fussy service, so someone like Botlr could really help to take the edge off.
Not to mention, in a region like the Middle East, where hanging on to talent is notoriously difficult, and language and cultural barriers between guests and hotel staff abound, I’m surprised there aren’t more hotels using this sort of technology. As long as Botlr never starts to take on the eerie semblance of a human, I’d love to see him the next time I forget my toothbrush in a hotel.
Crystal Chesters, editor
crystal.chesters@itp.com
@HotelierME
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