Crowne Plaza Hotel Employs Robot

The Crowne Plaza San Jose-Silicon Valley hotel has employed a robot.

Named Dash, the robot was created by Savioke, a company which specializes in robot solutions for the hospitality industry.

Dash has been employed to provide the delivery of snacks, toothbrushes and other amenities to hotel guests.

Approximately 3-feet tall and weighing less than 100 pounds, Dash is designed to travel at human walking pace and can independently navigate between floors, even calling the hotel elevator using a special Wi-Fi connection.

When Dash arrives at the guest room, it phones the guest to announce its arrival, delivers the requested items, and makes its way back to the front desk where it can dock itself into its own charging station.

Gina LaBarre, Vice President, Americas Brand Management, Crowne Plaza Hotels & Resorts, IHG, said, "We are delighted to introduce Dash to our guests at the Crowne Plaza hotel in Milpitas. Given the hotel's location in the heart of Silicon Valley, it is a natural fit to enhance our service delivery program with the addition of the latest in robot technology. We expect our guests to be impressed by the technological sophistication of Dash and its ability to deliver the quality service they’ve come to expect from the brand. Crowne Plaza hotel team members are also excited to explore new, innovative ways to serve our guests using Dash."

Dash is Savioke's latest version of its autonomous delivery service featuring automatic docking, improved autonomy, and an all new design enabling Savioke to scale in response to demand.

Steve Cousins, CEO of Savioke, said, "We're excited to see the updated version of our Relay robot find a home at this Crowne Plaza hotel. With more than 300 guest rooms, this is the largest hotel to use our robot technology, and as Dash becomes a fixture at the hotel, we look forward to hearing some great stories from guests and staff alike."

Based on testing at the Milpitas hotel, the Crowne Plaza brand will determine whether or not to roll out the robot at other properties.