Hey Hotels! These Are the Robots You Need to Know About Right Now

Offer guests morning lattes, all-night dining, contactless room service and more.

Photo by Marten Bjork on Unsplash

Look, it doesn’t take a genius to see the market opportunity and fit between hotels and robots/automation (← I alluded to this in last week’s newsletter) (← you should subscribe!)

According to the American Hotel and Loging Association, there are:

• Nearly 56,000 hotel properties in the U.S.

• 5.3 million guest rooms

• 1.3 billion guests stay in hotels each year (not sure if they’ve adjusted this for the pandemic)

• Guests spend roughly $550 billion a year at hotels and local businesses

At the same time, hotels are feeling the same pressures as every other corner of the hospitality sector. After being decimated by the pandemic last year, the hotel industry’s ability to rebound faces challenges from labor shortages and rising costs.

Compounding these complications is the fact that hotels are in the business of attracting and guests and keeping them loyal through superior service and various amenities — not the least of which being food and drink.

While we’re already starting to see more hotels in the U.S. adopt robots for room service, I thought I’d help push things along and help hotels discover new automation services to augment their food and beverage offerings.

So, whether you run a big hotel chain or a single boutique hotel, these are the robots and automation companies you should be in contact with right now.