Properties / Hotels

Ready for the hotel industry’s first robotic butler?

A robotic butler (dubbed a Botlr) has started work at the Aloft hotel in Cupertino, California.

Aug 16, 2014 | By AFPRelaxnews

Aloft hotel robot Butler

Aloft Hotels, part of the Starwood Hotels & Resorts group, will on August 20 be introducing its latest hire, A.L.O., a roving cyber ‘Botlr’ that acknowledges requests with a few peppy beeps and flashing lights.

Its main role will be to deliver amenities to guest rooms in the aim of freeing up the hotel staff — the human variety — to carry out other tasks.

But it’s also a marketing strategy aimed at appealing to the brand’s main target demographic — tech-savvy millennial travelers — who are invited to ‘tip’ the robot bellhop with tweets that compliment its service.

“As soon as A.L.O. entered the room, we knew it was what we were looking for,” said global brand leader Brian McGuinness in a cheeky statement.

“A.L.O. has the work ethic of Wall-E, the humor of Rosie from The Jetsons and reminds me of my favorite childhood robot, R2-D2.”

Despite being a robot, it may be hard to resist the urge to give it a friendly pet with its chirpy beeps, little black bow tie and requests for approbation!


 
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