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Tuesday, August 12, 2014

Hospitality Robotics Experiment at Starwood

Robots in Hotels.  Perhaps not really as multi-functional as what we could call butlers. But you can see how they can be applied. Now how will this influence employment in the hospitality industry?   I do have some experience with office mail delivery 'robotics', and the economics were marginal. Experiments at Starwood:

Forget your toothpaste? Need more towels? How about a late-night chocolate bar? All guests of the hotel have to do is call the front desk, where staff will load up the Botlr with requested items, punch in the guest's room number and send it off to make the delivery, navigating hallways and even call for the elevator using Wi-Fi. .... 

According to a study done at the University of Oxford, 47 percent of U.S. employment is at risk of being replaced by computerization, but Starwood says these robots are not intended to replace any employees. Rather, they are there to free them up from small tasks, leaving them more time to deal with customers face to face. ...." 

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