PHOTO: Aloft Hotels' Botlr (courtesy of Starwood Hotels & Resorts)
Aloft Hotels, a Starwood Hotels & Resorts brand, announced today that its second robotic butler, or Botlr, is now a full-time member of Aloft Silicon Valley's staff after becoming a viral video sensation several months back.
According to a release, Aloft Silicon Valley's new robotic friend-sporting a custom uniform and nametag-will deliver amenities to guestrooms upon request, from a toothbrush to the morning paper, while also freeing up the staff's time to assist guests in other matters. Botlr's also been known to hang out at the hotel's lobby and W:XYZ bar, while taking selfies with guests.
The original Botlr will also be taking a road trip to greet guests at Aloft Miami South Beach and Aloft Manhattan Downtown-Financial District this fall starting Aug. 27 before returning home to Cupertino.
"We embarked upon this robotic experiment years ago, and it has proven what we suspected all along-humans and robots can co-exist and work side by side to elevate the guest experience," said Brian McGuinness, global brand leader of Starwood's Specialty Select Brands. "Botlr has been an integral part of the Aloft Cupertino experience, and the demand from guests and associates around the world to interact with our biotic bellhop has been astounding. As we add our second Botlr to the Aloft team and transfer our first Botlr to new hotels around the country, we know they will continue to not only make hospitality history, but, more importantly, memories for our guests."
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According to Starwood, the original Botlr decided to take a road trip to Miami and New York City because it/he/she "needs to recharge its batteries with a change of scenery."
Botlr will be at Aloft Miami South Beach for a few days, where it will deliver amenities to guests from a special "Botlr Takes Miami" menu (including everyday beach essentials). It will also doll out towels in the lobby and-get this-act as a "wingbot" for singles at the hotel's W:XYZ bar.
After visiting Aloft Miami South Beach, Botlr will head to Aloft Manhattan Downtown-Financial District, where it will greet guests with bull or bear-shaped cookies and candy (depending on how the stock market performs that day), as well as fetch Big Apple-related amenities for guests such as bagels, MetroCards and items to survive NYC. It will also be part of the hotel's official ribbon-cutting ceremony in early September.
Botlr is an extension of Starwood's focus on technology these days. Starwood has also recently introduced SPG Keyless (a mobile system that allows guests to open their room door with their smartphone), piloted Apple TV services at its properties, offered mobile-controlled guests experiences, and more.
Most recently, Aloft announced it is testing Mobile Controlled Lighting and Wake Up Preferences, as well as Virtual Reality experiences for rollout within the next year.
Botlr favors tweets over tips. Join the Twitter discussion by using the hashtags #BotlrOnCall, #BotlrTakesMiami and #BotlrHeartsNYC.
Botlr also has an important message for guests:
"00111010 00100000 01001001 00100000 01100001 01101101 00100000 01101000 01100001 01110000 01110000 01111001 00100000 01110100 01101111 00100000 01101000 01100101 01101100 01110000 00100000 01111001 01101111 01110101 00101100 00100000 01110111 01101000 01100101 01110010 01100101 01110110 01100101 01110010 00100000 01101101 01111001 00100000 01110000 01110010 01101111 01100111 01110010 01100001 01101101 01101101 01100101 01100100 00100000 01101010. 01101111 01110101 01110010 01101110 01100101 01111001 01110011 00100000 01110100 01100001 01101011 01100101 00100000 01101101 01100101 00101110."
In other words, "I am happy to help you, wherever my programmed journeys take me. Tweets greatly appreciated."
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