Hotel Tech-in is our regular feature that takes a closer look at emerging technology in the hospitality industry.
The workload just got lighter (literally) for staff at one California hotel, thanks to a robot that transports laundry around the property, among other supportive tasks.
The hotel is a Homewood Suites in Del Mar, where artificial intelligence-enhanced service-robotics platform TechForce Robotics recently installed its autonomous logistics robot, dubbed Things in Motion — Everywhere (or TIM-E, pronounced “Timmy”). The robot, designed to reduce manual labor and help teams operate more efficiently, supports daily back-of-house operations at the hotel, including automated linen movement.
Following the installation, TechForce President Ried Floco shared with Hotel Dive how the subscription-based model works and why robotics are becoming pertinent to hotel operations.
Robot co-worker
TIM-E is a modular, autonomous service robot designed to move items like linens or waste throughout a property with minimal human input, according to TechForce’s website.
With autonomous navigation, the robot can seamlessly avoid obstacles as it moves around a hotel or commercial property. The system also features elevator and door integration that enables continuous operations across multiple floors.
At the Homewood Suites, TIM-E accompanies housekeeping staff as they clean rooms, helping to create a more time- and labor-efficient workflow, Floco explained.
Typically, workers would need to collect dirty laundry and waste from each room into a bin, wheel that heavy load around the hotel as they clean and then carry it to a laundry room or trash dumpster for disposal — a process that “takes a very long time, [is] very inefficient and hard work,” Floco said.
TIM-E “eliminates the toughest job,” delivering collection bins to the rooms and taking filled bins back to the laundry room or trash dumpster as needed. The robot works around the clock, traveling up to four miles per day, he noted.
“Instead of a human having to move several hundred pounds throughout the day, the robot does that task,” Floco said. “A housekeeper who has to clean, let's say, 16 or 18 rooms in a day, who normally would also have to move a lot of their trash and linens throughout the day, no longer has to do that, so they can focus more on the task versus the heavy lifting.”
TIM-E was “developed to seamlessly integrate into the daily operations of hospitality venues like the Homewood Suites, augmenting staff rather than replacing them,” Floco said.
Seamless integration
As for on-property integration, TechForce installs the robotics map for TIM-E, trains the team on how to work with the technology and oversees the system on a daily basis, taking care of any maintenance or operational issues that arise.
The hotel team gets access to an app, which they can use to override the robot if needed, but ideally the robot should do tasks on its own without much team involvement, Floco said.
TechForce “does all the work,” making it so “hospitality staff can focus more time on guest service and experience,” Floco said, noting that in addition to being convenient, TIM-E is cost-effective.
Historically, to integrate a similar system, a hotel would need to pay upwards of $50,000 for the robot alone, then the team would need to code and map the bot and train staff on how to operate and manage the device. With TIM-E, TechForce handles all of that for roughly $150 per day, on a subscription model.
“The goal is for the robot to be cost-neutral on the property,” while allowing team members to focus their time and attention on other necessary tasks, Floco said.
Tool, not takeover
TIM-E especially shines amid a challenged hotel labor market, according to Floco.
The robot takes “routine, heavy pressures off the team,” which can be massively important when hotels are understaffed or a worker calls in sick, he explained.
“What the robot does is put a backbone support system in place every day of the week,” Floco said, noting that the technology is not intended to replace or eliminate roles — something hospitality workers have feared in recent years.
“The robot should really be a tool,” Floco said, adding that hotel owners and operators “owe it to their team members to give them the tools to be successful.”
The Del Mar installation expands TechForce’s hospitality portfolio. The company has operated TIM-E at a Hilton Garden Inn in Rancho Mirage, California, for roughly a year.
